New York, New York...well not really

Yesterday we set off for Rochester, New York. One of our absolute favorite long weekends of every year. Kevin's two best friends from PT school (Mario and Mike) and their wives (Michel and Karen) and all our kids (Samantha, Jordan, Erin, Taylor, Abigail, Kyle, Samuel, Cole, Amanda, Quinn, Travis, Luke and Bryan...plus Henry) get together, either in Michigan or New York, for a few days of food, laughs and making memories (notice I put food first?...it's big:-)). This year it is our turn to head east so we loaded up Clifford and left around 2:30 Friday afternoon. (only 90 minutes past our planned departure time...not bad). The ride was perfectly pleasant. It is unusual for it to be only our family in our van, usually we have extras. So there was some stretch out space. Somewhere around Toledo someone (and Travis confessed) tooted. We think it was that, and not Toledo. I've grown fond of Toledo so I will not blame the tortured city...and it's almost always Travis. By Cleveland the air was clear again. Everyone was awake so we decided to listen to some music from my Ipod. Kevin asked for the job of "picking songs". BIG MISTAKE! Kevin is not the most technologically advanced person in our family and he didn't seem to grasp the concept that it was and Ipod touch. Plus he must have overweight thumbs (it is only fair that I have some body part in better shape than him!) At any rate, he would choose a great song, we would all begin singing a long, then his monstrous thumbs would hit something else. It was painful and funny, but mostly painful. We stopped at a rest area off the New York Thruway in Angola. Honestly, I have done a lot of driving in my life and New York is one big toll road. We would just hit cruising speed and would have to stop for a toll booth.

This picture below is of Travis...really!...I wasn't just pretending to take a picture of Travis to capture the Harri Krishna in the photo. I would never be so disrespectful:-)
Below is a moment of peace and tranquility amongst my offspring. It happens! Travis is actually NOT in this picture but you can't really know that unless I told you...which I did...I am painfully honest at times. So just pretend that he is in the picture and not wandering the rest area aimlessly.
The team huddle has ended and they have moved on to the scavenging portion of the stop. Moments earlier Kevin had been in the picture too... grabbing food from in front of his children and eating it...but Kevin never stands still long.
After this stop, we hopped back in Clifford and completed our journey to Rochester. The Melidona's were patiently waiting our arrival and we shared hugs and such before all went to bed to rest up for our first big day together...more to come...:-)

Home and brothers and gardens

Well, it's good to be home. We left Chattanooga around 9:00 Monday night after the kids all went to see Ramon and Beezus (made the girls...well and Travis... cry). We said goodbye to Josh and his family and loaded up in Clifford. It had rained so hard earlier and the lightning display was spectacular. Travis said, "Tennessee is crying because we are leaving". About an hour into our trip we stopped at a Walmart to buy some snacks and some Redbox movies. By the way, Redbox? Maybe the best creation EVER, saves me stopping at Walmart to buy a cheap movie for the ride home that we will likely never watch again.

The initial plan was to stop when I got tired or in Indianapolis, whichever came first. About 3:00 AM all passengers were asleep and I took my 5 hour energy (another great creation). The GPS told me I would be home by 8:30 AM and the thought of my own bed, my own husband (not to mention my other two children and my dogs and my own shower, etc...) was overwhelmingly motivating...I just kept driving. It was one of the most peaceful drives of my life. I never felt tired at all, I got to choose my own music (and was treated to some classics), I got to watch the sun set in Tennessee and rise over northern Indiana. Lots of time for introspection and I introspected the fact that I am remarkably blessed. Gotta do something with that for sure. "To whom much is given, much is expected".

Shortly after I returned and kissed my two sleeping children that had stayed home, I went to bed. I was right to eagerly anticipate my own bed. Samantha and Cole were so happy to see their little brothers they spent the day with them. They went to Marinos for lunch and then to the mall. Samantha mentioned how much she liked the fact that Cole was having fun with Travis and Bryan...sometimes being a part for awhile gives everyone the chance to regain their perspective. Thankfully, Cole was still feeling the love for his little brother today and played indoor soccer with him.

We have talked to Cole a lot lately about being more patient with his little brothers. About how much they would look up to him if he would just spend some time with them. I don't want him to look back later in life, when they are friends (and I am confident that they will be friends) and realized how much he missed by not getting to know them better when they were little. He doesn't always admit it at first, but I think he is listening. A mother can ask for no more:-)

Having a garden as a homeschooler is almost a prerequisite, of course, I'm bad at following rules. So, although we decided to actually plant a garden this year, we didn't do it until early July. We bought some plants (on clearance mind you, so at least if it fails it only cost us a total of 5 American dollars). Kevin mentioned last week that the garden was, in fact, failing. He said nobody was watering it (pretty sure God took care of that this weekend, I know He watered our basement well) and the tomato plants needed to be staked. I, of course, professed a lack of knowledge on how to stake a tomato plant. So today, when he got home from work, he took his little homeschool geeks out in the back yard to play in the dirt. They pulled weeds and staked tomatoes. I asked Kevin if we will actually have any food out of our little garden. He said we would definitely have peppers. Ironically, I do not like peppers, but I will eat one, because we grew it ourselves.

Our plans for our third full day in Tennessee were supposed to begin with a visit to Grace Baptist Church with Josh and his family. However, I slept with my son...who sleeps like this...and he wonders why we prefer he sleeps in his own bed at home. Needless to say my sleep was broken so I failed to wake in time. We did however meet them for lunch and enjoyed their company and some fun conversation.

After lunch we decided to find something "touristy" to do. We chose the Tennessee Aquarium. Kevin and I had taken the kids here right after it opened. It was a very long time ago as we only had four kids then.

Josh and Travis entertained themselves by scaling some rocks. Travis and Bryan tried on some mood rings.

Here is our group waiting to enter the aquarium

This cool exhibit allowed the kids to go up and into the middle. Sort of like the rabbit hole at Binder Park Zoo:-)

Travis was most thrilled by the escalators and the revolving door. Strange kid.

Here they had a chance to touch sharks. You are only supposed to touch them with two fingers. I guess that is all the aquarium's insurance will cover each person losing.

They posed for this picture and asked me to take it...can you tell they've been raised with a camera in their face?

Now he is touching a sting ray...again, only two fingers.

Here they are posing in the shark cage designed and created for a documentary on sharks that I can't remember the name of. But it was the inspiration for Peter Benchley to write Jaws and it was damaged by a great white shark...probably not the one behind the boys in the picture.

Pictures here of Erin looking at Josh and Travis looking at sharks.

Here they all are in a dome seat underneath the shark tank.

There were creeks and fountains in the plaza that were full of kids wading and playing. It was 100 degrees today with high humidity.

Abby was disgusted with Bryan for dipping his sucker in this water. She was probably correct to be disgusted.
After the aquarium we went to Ben and Jerry's. There was a balloon artist out front. He made Abby a monkey tail...she was thrilled. Travis stood out and watched him for about a half hour and, of course, they became close friends.

We had another great day! We are enjoying our "adventure" in Tennessee. When we got back to the hotel, Abby took the boys to the pool and Erin and Josh went to dinner with his brother, Jeff and girlfriend Savannah (I might be making those names up but I think they are the ones I heard). Travis has proclaimed that he "never wants to go home". I, on the other hand, miss my husband, my oldest daughter and my oldest son, and my dogs...and my bed. Besides, we will barely be home a day or two before we head out to Rochester, New York to visit with some of our favorite people and make more memories.

Life is good. God is great.

Tennessee day two

Our second full day in Tennessee was a full and fun one. We woke up at Marcia and Dave's again (opps...MarMar and Poppy). We packed up and on the way out stopped to meet Korey (I have no idea how she spells it) Graham's wife and their three beautiful daughters.

This is Abby with the oldest girl Kaelyn (again not sure of the spelling)
Here we have Erin with Aryn (both Bears:-)) And below is Raely (spelling?)
We had some donuts and then took a group picture with MarMar and Poppy.

After our brief visit with the Asch girls we headed out to the "waterfall property". 40 acres out in the Tennessee "wilderness" near the original Nachez Trace. Dave and his sons have built a beautiful new cabin out there and their family spends some special times out there. We were thrilled to have them share it with us.

Upper left is the cabin the "boys" have built. The middle is a picture of Travis and Poppy on the catwalk that connects the two lofts. The picture on the right is Mutt and Jeff in one of the lofts. Travis looks like he's in a stockade.There were a lot of butterflies fluttering about. This one landed on Erin's knee.

We spent some time near the cabin then drove down to the waterfall. It was beautiful. Marcia showed us a lot of the damage and changed conditions left behind after the floods of May 2010. The kids had a good time climbing, wading, and, of course, because they are boys, they had to throw something over the falls.

div> These are the buckets the Asch family uses to collect treasures they find on the property.

Erin displayed a lot of patience while we hiked and played. But after awhile I got the idea that she was ready to head to Chattanooga.

This may be why...
So now we are in a Comfort Inn in Chattanooga. We shall try church tomorrow if we can get up that early. Perhaps a meal with Josh's family and then random fun in the south through Monday afternoon. Thanks for reading my dull story...because it took me a long time to put all these pictures up:-)