The rest of vacation. The end.

I’m going to try to wrap up the rest of our trip in one post, using The Handy Bullet Format.

• On Friday morning Andy and I met my cousin Bryonie and her husband Josh for coffee and bagels at Einstein’s. (It was the first time being with them in person since they lost their precious babies in the spring.) The Lord really blessed our time together and we all had a great time of fellowship and fun. They came with us to pick up Drew and Madeline from VBS and then we went back to my parents’ house. Visits are rarely long enough, but at least we got to spend half the day with them.

• My mom had wanted to take my kids to the North Pole/Santa’s Workshop, since we used to go there as kids. We stopped there Friday afternoon on our way up to the cabin, and then when the cashier rang up the admission price of $85 for all of us for the mere two hours we’d be there, we turned around and left. I mean, really. So we stopped for ice cream instead and then drove straight to the cabin.

• My mom roasted marshmallows for the kids that night in the fireplace. I think Madeline ate about eleven.

• After the kids were tucked away in their beds, we played a rousing game of Taboo. The twins are never allowed on the same team. I mean, fair is fair.

• I had a very hard time breathing at 9,000 feet and woke up twice during the night in a near-panic. I’m sure it didn’t help being pregnant.

• Saturday my dad took Andy, my sisters, and their friend Patrick 4-wheeling. Drew was supposed to go but chickened out at the last minute. I was so not surprised. I think it was because he wasn’t going to be buckled in a proper car seat and the boy loves following the rules. He also didn’t like that they were driving on grass.

• When they got back we took a walk to see the horses.

• Andy and dad fished a lot of Saturday. I took a nice long nap.

• Bry and Josh got back up to the cabin in the afternoon, so we had tea together. My grandparents and Aunt Becki also came up to have dinner with us so it turned out to be a good-sized crowd.

• We played Taboo again after dessert and every last adult played. (Why is “wonderbra” on one of the cards?)

• My dad, sisters, and Patrick stayed up there Saturday night but my mom and our little family drove back to their house and didn’t get home until midnight. Fortunately my parents’ church service starts a little later and we made it there (mostly) on time.

• My grandparents had all of us over to their house for lunch, including my Uncle Miles and his family. Drew found a new buddy in my cousin Julia (he didn’t seem to notice she’s about 15 years older.) We had our dessert out on the deck and Madeline pretty much just ate whipped cream. She licked it off the cake and strawberries and then kept asking for more. Aunt Becki came to the rescue with a spatula and scraped the bowl for her.

• Our drive home Monday was uneventful, save for our DVD player breaking late that afternoon. Adelaide probably pushed too many buttons with her toe and the thing decided it had had enough.

• We stopped in St. Louis and stayed with my cousin Courtney and her hubby. Too short a visit, but glad to see them anyway.

• Got home late afternoon yesterday and went straight to pick up Andy’s car from the shuttle service. I went immediately after to Walmart for a fridge/pantry re-stock and I’m so glad I did because that meant I didn’t have to go anywhere today. We had also cleaned out the car (Drew vacuumed, one of his favorite things) and got almost everything unpacked. It’s nice to start mostly from scratch the day after a long trip.

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