Our summer vacation

The kiddos and I returned today from our first summer-time visit to my parents' new house and farm that spans dozens and dozens of acres of field, stream and forest in the Pacific Northwest.

During our 17 days there, we didn't leave a single river rock un-turned, salmon berry un-plucked or tadpole un-prodded (perhaps slight exaggerations) and while I dump at least 400 photos from my camera and approximately 80 pounds of laundry from their suitcases, here's a taste of our trip in photos. They happen to be the first four in the batch.

 

 

 

 

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Upon returning to our southern-California nest this afternoon, the children embraced their homecoming in the following ways:

-- Henry reached to get down and tromp in the grass as soon as I carried him through the gate to our backyard.

-- Lili shot through the house, flopped onto her bed and opened a book, then promptly asked if it would be OK if she did some pages in her workbook.

-- Calvin ran into the kitchen, embraced the fridge and howled: "I love this place!" He then grabbed his bin of plastic animals and headed for the back yard.

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In less than a week, Nick returns home from his month of training on his new airplane. Yahoo!

In less than two weeks, we'll be packed and headed east to our new home on the east coast. Yippee!

Meantime, we're set to savor these fleeting days of island living.