a reunion, at last!

We were more than thrilled when we learned that our dear friends, the Scotts, would be traveling through California in early September. We were hoping that we'd get a chance to see them. When their itinerary permitted them to actually stay with us, we felt like we'd won the lottery!

We hadn't seen Rick, Paula, and Emma since fall 2005, when Paula and I were both pregnant -- she with Ethan and I with Kathleen. Our children had never met, though they felt like they'd known each other because we've followed one another's blogs. (Praise God for blogs!) Our children were practically as excited about our visitors as Jim and I were!

Lest anyone accuse us of not being real here at the circus, I'll let you in on the last ten minutes before the Scotts arrived. They came in the early evening, after supper. We'd managed to clean our house respectably, Jim made it home from school, and our little people had been bathed and pajama-ed. Jim was on the phone giving last second directions to Rick when Madeline had an accident in the front, guest bathroom. When she called to me, John David went running to her. He entered the bathroom, slipped in the giant puddle (of pee), soaking his pajamas. At that point, I started to cry, depressed at the idea of mopping yet another floor and cleaning yet another child. Mercifully, Jim stepped in and, with his help, we managed to pull it together before our friends arrived... but barely!

After the pre-arrival chaos, things went really smoothly. Our reunion was so sweet! It was like no time had passed at all. Once the kids were all in bed, we grown-ups talked and talked. And even though we said we wouldn't (and we really meant it!), we did the same thing. Every night. (Praise God for coffee -- we needed it!)

I didn't take nearly enough photographs. For example, I don't have one of Paula and I together, and that makes me sad. But I did capture some of the fun -- just not enough.

Headed for the park across the street. The dads took the CalTrain up to San Francisco to see some baseball, but our littles were happy to play at the park!

We spent an evening touring around Stanford. I was amused at our little parade -- there are a lot more of us than there were in Germany!

Poor Ethan had just woken from a nap and was still so tired! He'd already had a full day playing with the Starlings in Monterey and visiting the beach...  And Kathleen wasn't upset; she was just taking her role as tour guide very seriously.

The grown-ups walked and the little people ran around campus.

I proved, yet again, that I am utterly incapable of taking good photographs of more than one child.

Predictably, Rick and Jim were absorbed in serious conversation while I ran around taking photographs.

John David really resents being confined to the stroller...

Our girls loved being able to show off their favorite spots at Daddy's school.  Consequently, the tour was fountain-heavy.  No one seemed to complain.

Racing (no, literally -- Jim's calling out, "Ready, set, gorilla!" and "Ready, set, golf!" in this photo) to the next fountain.

Ethan and his sweet mama.

Jim clowning around with Emma.  Poor Ethan didn't understand the "clowning around" part and was ready to defend his sister, standing right up to Jim.  He's a good, brave brother!

This, John David, is why we don't let you out of the stroller more often.  I pulled him away from the water more times than I can count.  (And his shoes are around.  Somewhere.)

We were so sad to see the Scotts leave.  (Though they were probably happy to move onto a house where the hot water heater didn't spontaneously, well, quit.  Sorry, guys!)  The girls kept calling Emma and Ethan their cousins and have asked repeatedly about when they'll be back.  Though we'd love to see them again soon, it seems unlikely that we'll manage that before they head to Italy (where they'll be missionaries, running a Hospitality House for Cadence, just as they were when we met them in Germany).  Perhaps the next time we'll meet up with them in Italy!

kathleen's first day of school

A mere two weeks after we returned from Illinois (a good four weeks ago now!), Kathleen started her very first day of preschool.  She's been anticipating school all summer long, frequently asking, "Is it fall yet?  No?  When?"  One day we were running errands in the minivan and Kathleen piped up, "Mama, I'm so excited to start school in the fall.  I hope they know about Jesus there."

She couldn't have been more excited when the first day actually arrived.

After a lot of thought and prayer, we enrolled Kathleen in a nearby Christian preschool, two mornings a week.  This is a huge, huge step for us because, aside from the church nursery, we've never left Kathleen in any sort of organized childcare.  Ever.  I went ahead and registered her for the CDC when we lived in Hawaii, but even when Jim was deployed and I could really have used a break, I just couldn't bring myself to leave her with strangers, even for a few hours.  (There's not a CDC here in California, since we're not on a real post, so it never came up again.)  Occasionally Kathleen (along with Madeline and John David, of course) spends an afternoon or an evening with grandparents or the Illinois cousins, and there have been a handful of times (literally, fewer than five) when we've actually hired a sitter to stay with the children.  But mostly, she's been with us.  And that's largely because of me.  (I'm the first to admit that that's not necessarily the healthiest approach -- for one, it makes date night, well, rare.)

However, although I've had all this anxiety about letting my little girl go, she had none.  She was simply excited to begin school, excited to meet her teacher, excited to do new things.  As Jim and I drove her to school that first morning, I turned around in the car and asked, "How are you feeling, honey?" and she responded, "GREAT!  I'm so excited!"  I asked more than once.  And I got the same answer each time.

Posing with Daddy, but itching to go inside!

We'd visited the preschool with Kathleen last spring, so she'd seen the classrooms and playground, but this was her first opportunity to experience it all for herself.  She was a teensy bit tentative at first, but warmed up by playing with some play food with her best friend (who's conveniently enrolled in the same school, the same two days a week!), and then dove into her first craft project.

Kathleen works on making her "doll" look like her.

By the time we left for the parents' meeting in the church sanctuary, Kathleen seemed as though she'd been going to "school" forever.  She and her classmates played on the playground while the parents, teachers (except those supervising the playground), and administrators convened.  Between the large sandbox, the playhouse (complete with loft), the slide and the teeter-totter, Kathleen was completely and happily occupied.  In fact, when we returned and informed her that it was time to go, she was in no hurry to leave.

Best friends make the best travel companions.

We had to reassure her that she'd come back in two days for more fun.  Still, only when reminded of our plans for a special "first day of school" lunch celebration with Nan and Grandpa did Kathleen finally seem interested in leaving. 

Our school year got off to a strong start!

what we did on our summer vacation (part 2)

Our second week in Illinois was just as fun as our first.  Some highlights from our stint in Daddy's hometown, where we stayed with Craig, Margaret, Matt, Ali, and Lizzy:

Clowning with cousins.  Though Madeline may have wailed when leaving her cousins in Dwight (Muh-wissa, especially), she and our other littles certainly cheered up when they realized there'd be plenty of people to play with in Kewanee, too.

What a splendid crew!  (John David should've been in bed, and doesn't particularly enjoy sitting for photographs, anyway.  But he had fun, grumpy expression notwithstanding.)

The girls (from left): Ali, Maddie, Lizzy, and Kathleen.

Yet another attempt at a group photo.  My children were just excited to have an excuse to be on the stairs...  (Well, John David would rather have been climbing on the stairs, obviously.)

I mentioned it before, but Matt and Madeline seemed to have a special connection.  She would not leave that boy alone.  And she thought that hiding in the pantry was hilarious.  Matt's a really good sport!

Another cookout, complete with the whole family, tons of tasty food, and (of course!) more basketball.  We had a truly wonderful (warm!) afternoon.  The cookout was a great chance for us to see more extended family that we haven't seen in quite a while.

Ali pulled some Indy-watch duty at the cookout.  Have I mentioned how much I loved having cousins to keep an eye on my children?  I very nearly left all my belongings behind and stuffed one of them in my suitcase instead...

The cousins have an awesome basketball hoop.  Having warmed up in Dwight, Maddie was ready to slam dunk!

But after a bit of playing, some folks needed to be carried off the court.

Tuckered out from basketball, John David (supervised here by cousin Ethan) retired to the garage for storytime with Grandma.

A gorgeous new house!   Our cousins had built and moved into a new house since we'd last been in Kewanee.  It's a beautiful home (with more than room enough for all of us to visit -- score!), but as far as our children were concerned the best thing about their cousins' new home was the field of horses behind it.

Everytime we went outside, John David would take off running across the big backyard, trying to visit the horses.  Once he got to the edge of the backyard, he'd just stand out there and sign horse.  He didn't want to be too close to those giant animals, but he certainly wanted to be nearer than the back porch.  The girls loved to visit the horses, too.

Donkey on the loose!  There was a crotchety old donkey that lived with the horses, and one day he escaped.  He was headed for the road and we were worried he'd get hurt (or someone driving would get hurt).  The owner wasn't home and wasn't answering phone calls, and though Margaret had called the police, they weren't coming very quickly.  Jim took the matter into his own hands; armed with an apple, he coaxed the stubborn animal back into his pen -- our very own donkey-whisperer!

A visit to an apple orchard.  Visiting Tanner's Orchard is practically a tradition on our Illinois trips.  We've visited with just Kathleen, and then Kathleen and Madeline, and now with all three.  Even though it wasn't quite apple season while we were there, we still indulged in some cider slushies and some apple cider donuts and took home a bag of crisp, crunchy apples, too.

Apple is one of Indy's favorite signs.  And one of his favorite snack foods, too.  He's like an apple orchard poster child.  (Of course, I might be a bit biased.)

We had tons of fun on the big playground, especially in the morning before it got too warm.

Lizzy helped John David climb up the pirate ship...

but he slid down all on his own.

Kathleen took Grandpa for a "drive" in the vintage fire truck.

Goats!  Madeline very bravely fed the goats.

John David was super-excited by the goats.  At first he tried to eat the goat food himself (much more upsetting to me than to him), but after a bit of watching the bigger kids he stepped right up and fed the goats, too!

A hay bale maze proved better for leaping and jumping over than actually wandering through.

Kathleen the superhero.

Exploring Daddy's old stomping ground.  We spent time at Jim's childhood home, too, catching up with Grandma and Grandpa, snacking, and checking out some of the toys that live at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Posing with Grandpa.

Snuggling with Grandma.

The girls tested out their tree-climbing skills on the very tree that Daddy learned to climb as a small boy.

Madeline proved fearless, as always.

We had other adventures, too, that I somehow never captured on film. We took the kids to eat at a Japanese (teppanyaki) restaurant for the first time, which was an enormous success.  Madeline was a bit intimidated by the loud noises and the bursts of flame, but she did just fine on Daddy's lap.  Kathleen and John David loved every minute of the whole thing.  And the kids and their cousins spent an afternoon playing at a big, indoor playground (an excellent choice of activity given the triple-digit heat that day).   To be fair, no photos could adequately capture all the fun we had on our midwestern vacation.  

Thank you, Margaret, Craig, Matt, Ali, and Lizzy!  You were great hosts and we can't wait to come back again.  (You know the girls have already been asking to go to Illinois!)

what we did on our summer vacation (part 1)

It seems a bit silly to talk about a summer vacation when your your days are typically full of swimming lessons, picnic suppers, trips to the park, and other fun.  (Well, that's what the days looked like for 80% of the family.  The other 20% actually worked.  He earned a vacation.)  And yet, we took our circus on vacation anyway.

We're crazy like that.

Of course, you have to be a bit crazy to take three kids on a plane halfway across the country, especially when one of them is a very large, very loud, very energetic 15-month-old boy.

But, like I said, we're crazy like that.

The five of us arrived in Illinois none the worse for wear.  And while no one would describe John David as a a perfect passenger, he actually did fairly well on the flight.  (There was only one brief period when I thought I'd lose my mind.  And then, with a little coaxing from the the dvd player, he fell asleep.  Praise God.)  The girls, on the other hand, were model passengers, despite their overwhelming excitement about seeing cousins.  We were really proud of our girls.  (And it made us realize -- one day, God willing, flying won't be the nail-biting production it is now.  One day.  You know, four years from now.)

By the time we'd secured our rental car, the little ones were exhausted.  That was probably a mercy, too, since there wasn't a lot of room to spare in the back of our standard rental car.  Sleeping makes for a lot less squabbling on a long-ish drive.

We spent two weeks in Illinois and the time flew!   We spent the first week with Jim's sister Katherine and her family, and then then second week with Jim's sister Margaret and her family.  (And we managed to spend a good deal of time with Grandma and Grandpa Golby and even see Aunt Annie, too!)  If I'd blogged about this upon our return, like a responsible blogger, I'd probably have broken this into a number of posts and given you all the details.  As it is,  I'm six weeks late.  In the interest of getting around to telling you anything at all, I'll give you two lengthy, photo-heavy posts instead.  I apologize in advance for the assault on your eyeballs.

Some highlights from our week with Katherine and Eric, Sarah, Ethan, and Melissa in Dwight, Illinois:

Cousins.  That probably goes with out saying, though...  The girls loved spending time with their big cousins, and so did John David.

Sarah reading to the girls.  And, as you can probably tell, she let them accessorize her, too.  She's basically a saint.  We especially felt that way when she'd just disappear outside with the children and we could sit and carry on uninterrupted conversations with other adults.  Seriously, it was a vacation.  (And I had thought that was impossible with small children.)

John David hams it up for Melissa.  The girls were devastated to leave Melissa when we moved to Margaret's house after the first week.  Madeline cried for almost thirty minutes of the two hour drive to Kewanee.  (She was distracted from her grief by lunch.  Barely.)

A cookout!  We celebrated the grandparents' anniversary and Melissa's birthday with the whole family, lots of food, a game of cornhole, some basketball, and lots of other fun.  Good times.

What a great game!  But watch out -- Grandpa Golby is a serious competitor.

Madeline gets a ride from Ali.  Katherine and family went above and beyond as hosts -- they borrowed a whole host of toys (including this little car) for our little ones!  I'm telling you, we were so spoiled.  All of us.

Madeline and Jim joined the teens in some pick-up basketball.

Katherine and Indy cheer on the players.

The whole family.  These photos are hard to get...  (Can you tell my children are maybe a little tired?  Or possibly over-stimulated?  Nah.)

Lots of swimming.  These photos are from the day of the cookout, when the Dwight cousins and the Kewanee cousins took our girls to the local pool.  But we swam a lot of other days, too.  We were more than happy to go swimming just about whenever -- the adjustment to the heat and humidity of the midwest was a bit of a shock after our really mild Northern California summer.

This was the first time Madeline had seen her cousin Matt in just about a year.  She was still a little tentative in this photo, but by the time we left Kewanee, she and Matt were practically inseparable.

A trip to the waterpark.  Next to seeing cousins, this might have been the activity our girls were most anticipating.  John David didn't know enough to anticipate it, but he sure enjoyed it!  (We got a great day for it, too.  It was a little overcast that day, so it wasn't nearly so hot.  Whew!)

Madeline loved the little slide.  It was exactly her speed.

Ethan helped Kathleen figure out the waterworks.

And John David just loved the water.  (Don't say I don't love you, friends.  That's a photo of me in a maternity swimsuit.  Ugh.)

Delight.

This municipal waterpark has some fun waterslides.  Jim and Katherine tested them out.  Me, not so much.

And to my chagrin, my four-year-old insisted on trying out the waterslides, too.  I wasn't about to let her,  ("She's too small!" I thought.) but her dad was all for it.  I was terrified and she was thrilled.  She loved it!  Or, more accurately, them!  Kathleen tested out all of them.  The only one she didn't like was one that was covered and so "a little too dark."  I get such a kick out her holding her nose, though!

A date.  No photos for this one, but Katherine and company sweetly watched all three of our little people so that Jim and I could go on an actual date.  We ate dinner at a restaurant and went to a movie (Inception).  That's practically unheard of!  It was a delightful evening and such a treat for us.  (Thanks, guys.  You're amazing.)  We were all sad when we drove away from Dwight after the first week -- even though we'd see everyone again (in just a few days), and even though we had another week of fun waiting for us in Kewanee!