Today is a driving day and we hope you make it all the way to Maine with a little daylight left so we can play before bed. We took the scenic route up through Vermont and New Hampshire and drove through Maine to the coast. It was an uneventful trip except for many bathroom stops and Brandon napped to catch up on much needed sleep. The landscape is so beautiful out here. There is water everywhere, draw bridges, and people enjoying the Sun. The closer to the coast we came, more and more coniferous trees were mixed with into the deciduous forest in a jungle of wetland greenery.

We found a camp site on the beach just south of the Maine border in New Hampshire. The beach was at a place where the river met the ocean, and the kids were able to play safely without worrying about large waves. The water was warm there, and the kids found little crabs crawling around on the shores, nibbling at their toes. Battered planks stock out into the water, showing that the shore was not always as peaceful as it now appears. We let the kids play and made sausage for dinner and then we went for a walk in the moonlight. As we walked we noticed odd lights in the sky heading out towards the sea. At first there was only one of them, but as we walked, we saw more and more until there were six or seven of them floating out over the water. We thought that they were probably some kind of floating paper balloon because over the water the flame went out, and each disappeared altogether. They were quite fun to watch, very different from anything we would be allowed to have in California. It is so wet here that even if one of the balloons fell to the ground, a fire would not start. We know from experience with difficulty starting campfires that wildfires are NOT a threat around here. It takes many matches and a lot of people to get the tiniest flame burning into a fire!

The kids fell asleep to the sound of the waves and the hope of playing on the beach in the morning.

Today we had some time to kill and so we took the kids to the Thomas Edison inventions museum in West Orange New Jersey. I have been to the museum about four times before and I was excited to bring the kids to see all of the really neat inventions thought up so long ago, and yet still used today. I thought the little lion would especially like to see the workshop and the laboratory and the motion picture studio Edison had created. The research buildings were built in the late 1800’s,  around 1880, and they are some of the only buildings still standing today, but they are no longer used for anything but to house the museum.

The industrial style buildings are built all of brick with, wooden shutters and wrought iron decorations all up the walls and copper downspouts decorating the base. The buildings have many arched windows with beautiful lattice window panes and even though those kinds of buildings were so common back then, it was so exciting to see them as if I’m a time traveler stepping back into the past. We started out with a tour of Edison’s library. The library is three floors of all wooden panels, beautiful wood detailing, and in between the bookcases. statues and portraits, and of course, his desk where he kept all of his brain storming ideas and his own drawings. It’s the kind of library that anyone who does any kind of serious reading would be happy they have in their own house. There was even a loungy bed in a nook in case Edison decided to take a nap when he got tired.

Next we went to tour the black Mariah which was the motion picture studio Edison built to test out and make some of the first motion pictures .

The building is a black shack built on a circular track with skylights that can open so that the building can be rotated maximize the sun’s light shining on the stage, and at the same time it left the person filming the movie in as much darkness as possible. In this way the picture on the stage would have maximum light while everything around it would be blocked off in the dark. It was very exciting to see, even though this building is a reproduction of the original. The kids were pretty interested, but they preferred to climb all over the railings and jump down the stairs and run around to sitting and listening to that speaker. I don’t think they understood that the movie they watch today began way back in that strange building.

The next place we went to was the chemistry laboratory where we saw the bottles and the machines that were used to research which plants could be used to make rubber during war time when there was a shortage. After all the research on all of the different materials and plants, the most interesting thing was that he made a new kind of rubber out of the goldenrod but the rubber was not even durable enough to use for tires!

We next visited the workshop building where prototypes and tools were made before testing and production on a new product. There is an entire warehouse for all kinds of materials from all over the world, such as elephant hide many kinds of metals and leathers, precious metals and minerals.

Edison wanted any material he could ever possibly need stored at his fingertips so he would not have to order it and wait months for it to arrive when he needed it. We also saw the dark room where he made all of his advertisement on site as well as the studio where his phonographs were tested, and voices and music were recorded.

The last thing we saw was his hall of inventions where many of his most famous creations, like the talking doll, which never went into production, the toaster oven, the sandwich press, the electric iron , all kinds of light bulbs, the phonograph, and many other contraptions, were housed.

I was so happy to be able to bring my kids to see the museum because they’re just at a point where there are beginning to understand that the things they use everyday didn’t just come out of nowhere. Somebody invented them!

What a great new staircase!

After we left the museum he went to visit my aunt Peg and Uncle George in Morris Plains. They were not be able to go to the wedding and so it was very important to me that we stopped to see them on our trip east . My aunt is such a lovely person and very classy but she is always happy to see us, it seems, and she didn’t mind all my kids coming in and making a mess on her floor. The kids played Chinese chess for a while while we talk and then went downstairs to watch a movie and behaved themselves very nicely. Screamer stayed with us upstairs and wiggled around and wanted to be held and smiled and charmed everybody, and by the end of our time with them he had wiggled his way into their hearts. We talked about all the things that have happened since I last visited their house, like hurricane Sandy, which knocked down several large trees in their yard. In fact, one tree was uprooted completely, leaving a huge hole in the ground. They think a tornado has been created by the store and had blown through along with the hurricane. New little trees had been planted, but the deer came around during the snow that winter and ate the tops off the new little trees! And so they are still dealing with the deer that ravage all the gardens and trees planted in the area, and growing anything is very hard to do. However the area and so lush and beautiful, and I didn’t notice a lack of plants! What we did notice was a baby dear in the back yard, as well as many different kinds of birds at the bird feeders. On the way in to see my aunt and uncle we have come across three other deer in their neighborhood, so the deer population is certainly not suffering! I love talking to my aunt and uncle. Reminds me of a different time when things were proper and in their right place.

We said goodbye to aunt Peg and uncle George, hopefully before we overwhelmed them, and made our way to Binghamton, New York where my college friend Alicia and her family live. Alicia mom made us an amazing barbecue meal of hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken kebabs. We also had wonderful corn on the cob, salad, and squash Alicia had grown in her garden. It was so lovely to sit and talk with Alicia after all those years! I have not seen Alicia in 13 years, but we sat and talked as if we talked to each other everyday. Years don’t matter to good friends. Her mom was so kind to feed us, and she then invited us to stay at her house for the night, which we were happy to do. The kids got to swim in the pool with Alicia’s kids, and Alexis particularly was so sweet with the kids. The lion loved playing video games with Austin, and I think he would have stayed downstairs playing games all night. It felt super manly to play games with a teenage boy like they were the same age!

I wish we had a week spend visiting with Alicia, but we need to move on and in the morning say goodbye. In the morning we head out to Maine.

6:00am came pretty quickly, and we had to be at the train station by 7:00 to have a prayer of making it on the planned train. We made it by 6:45. Unfortunately, the train station we went to appeared to be a bus station rather than a train station, and we frantically drove to the next station, hoping there was parking and a train that would get us into the city to meet up with Benjamin so we would have a good chunk of time with him. We made it. In fact, as we stood on the platform by the tracks, a voice declared the train to be 17 minutes late. Ah, I’ve missed the commute to NYC! The people waiting with us were in such contrast to our traveler appearance. It seems that broad stripes and dark neckties are the thing these days, and this is good to know because Brandon needs new business shirts.

The hour train ride was just the right length of time to keep the kids’ attention without becoming boring.

There was a lot to see, rivers, drawbridges, rail roads, boats, tunnels, and finally, the tall buildings of the city. We finally came into Penn station, smelled the familiar oil and steel in the air, and came out onto 7^th and 31^st.

Benjamin was on a later train, so we met up at 8:30. It was so good to hug him and see him in person after all these months! One forgets just how handsome one’s brother is when he is seen mainly in pictures for over a year.

After several hugs all around, we set off walking to a place Ben knew where we could have breakfast. It was a long walk from to the other side of town, and the kids were very tired and hungry, but despite some whining and dragging of feet, 45 minutes later we were standing in front of the restaurant.

Uncle Ben taught the kids how to safely wait for the subway.

And it was closed. Ben looked very slightly panicked, but there was a little restaurant right next door, and so we were all happy to go there instead! It was a cute little storefront with old wooden windows, the wood painted white, and a smiling, friendly waitress. It appeared to be owned by a Portuguese family and served very health-conscious menu items, most egg based. The kids had homemade granola with fruit and milk, I had scrambled eggs with herbs, bacon, and spinach, and a salad, Ben had the smoked salad with cream cheese on bread, and Brandon had fried eggs. We all shared homemade French fries, and it was all amazing at an insanely low price for NYC. The benefit of going to NYC with a local is that they know where to eat without breaking the bank!

The restaurant was just across from a 7-11, and by the end of the meal all the kids wanted was a Slurpee. Because they are classy that way. We headed to a park, Slurpees in hand, so we could talk and play with the kids in an easy environment. Benjamin is thoughtful that way! It was so wonderful to sit and catch up without the crowd of family around and all the distractions of a holiday to get in the way.

New York, on the way to the park.

This was a New York City kind of park with metal play structures, tire swings, monkey bars, swings without buckles, a sand box, a splash pad, and the entire playground was surrounded by a very tall wrought iron fence, and the gates had signs saying “No adults not accompanied by a child!” It felt like a very safe and my brother told me that in NYC people are very protective of children, immediately helping any child who looks lost, looking out for them, and reporting any strange people lurking about. I was relieved to hear this because I had been hesitant to bring the 4 kids into the city without a stroller and having forgotten our leash backpacks. It ended up that it was a perfectly safe place to be.

Benjamin had to leave for work at 12:30, and so we headed to the subway and rode down to the ferry to Liberty Island. By this time, the kids had experienced a car, a train, walking, a subway, and now a boat, had gone under a river, and now were about to go over the same river, and they were feeling pretty comfortable and excited about all of this. I love it that my kids adapt so quickly!

On the way to Liberty Island the weather got very bad. It began to thunder loudly, lightning flashed very close, and it began to rain so heavily that it was shower-like! We literally could have washed our hair in it! All of the passengers came off the deck and went inside to stay dry, but when we arrived at the island, we had no choice but to go out into the rain and just enjoy it. Judah broke out into “Singing In The Rain” at the top of his lungs and dance around through puddles in his own little world, and it was actually pretty enjoyable, but Kiki and Sunshine were not as excited about it. We were just about to look for rain ponchos or an umbrella for them, but it stopped raining, and the storm went into the City, the buildings almost completely hidden by the storm. We were too late for tickets into the statue, but we walked around the entire base and read about its history. Two things I did not previously know where that the base of the statue was a fort until they filled it in to place the statue on top of it, and I also did not know that the island was naturally made rather than man-made.

Our ride back over the Hudson was far less exciting, no rain fell, no thunder and lightning, and by the time we reached Manhattan, it was sunny, and we were nearly dry.

We had only time to peek at the new World Trade Center over the tops of other buildings, and rather than walking past it, we took the subway to Ben’s restaurant.

By now the kids had the subway mastered. They held hands at the platform and stood back from the tracks. They pushed their way on when the doors opened, and they braced themselves for the standing ride to the next stop. When there were only a few people in the car we let the kids have fun running around as it swayed and lurched. Nobody fell and hurt themselves, much to my surprise!

My brother’s restaurant where he is serving manager is has a swanky, Miami feel. It’s called Los Americano, and it’s in Tribeca on Church. Go there if you ever visit Manhattan. It’s not a block from the subway, and the food is worth the price! My brother told us that New Yorkers are far more health conscious than Californians (obvious from the restaurant menu choices!) Los Americanos serves all kinds of South American foods, and we ordered Brazilian chicken salad, empanadas, fried rice with bacon (YUUUUMMMM), plantain chips with guacamole, quesadillas, and a quinoa chili relleno. My brother also brought us South American cocktails mixed with imported liquors and jalapenos. Ayiyiyiyiyiiiii!!!! We really got the royal treatment. Ben was so happy to show us off to his coworkers. The Screamer charmed all the girls, and everyone was so sweet and elegant! And they really seemed to like my brother (Well, who doesn’t? He’s my beautiful sweetie charmer and so kind-hearted!).

We really hated to leave, but the restaurant was getting more crowded, and we needed to get the kids back to New Jersey to sleep. Ben walked us to the subway, and we said goodbye. What a great goodbye hug, and I know it’s the last I’ll have from him in a very long time.

We took the subway to the train and made it home before anyone crashed physically or emotionally. I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to take the kids into the city to visit my favorite place to live, and one of my favorite people on earth! It was a perfect day!

It turned out that the Oregon cousins could come for breakfast, so we had one last wild fling before we they headed to the airport and we headed out for our next adventure.

After the cousins said their last goodbyes, we took a dip in the pool. It was filed with vacationing southern mamas and their kids, and all the comfortable, twangie screaming those mamas project at their kids who take it all in stride.

We drove and drove up through the farms of Pennsylvania all the way to New Jersey.

It was quite an uneventful drive and we pulled into our hotel parking lot in time to get some good sleep before our big trip to NYC in the morning!

My baby girl turns 5 tomorrow. That means that 5 years ago tonight I was about 60 hours into the weirdest labor my midwife had seen in a while, and she was starting to freak out and mention going to the hospital. Nobody wants to see their midwife freak out, and so we packed up and went. Just a few hours before, we were walking around the block in the blazing sun, enjoying a little time alone in the fresh air, and I was irrationally frustrated because we had not yet picked a name for either a boy or a girl. There were several names floating around, but I remember saying, “Well, after all this hard work, I think I should get to pick Sunshine for a girl because I’ve always wanted a girl named that, and I think I deserve it!” Yep, the words of a laboring woman! Brandon’s face lit up, I remember, and he said, “We should name her after the July sun! It’s very appropriate! Sunshine Juliette!” And so she was named. What a sweet little baby. She is my baby I thought I couldn’t have after having my first baby I thought I couldn’t have! I would have ten more like her and it would not be too many. She was so ugly when she was born because her birth was so traumatic, and because she was so sick when she was born, but I didn’t really care. At 10lb 15oz, she was twice as big as Judah, who was my smallest baby at birth, at 5.5 lb. I thought she was my caboose. I knew life would be really hard for the next few years. She was my third baby in 2.5 years. I couldn’t fathom how ridiculous that was, and it’s a good thing I didn’t understand it until well after it became easy to take care of them about a year later. She was my only baby I took a semester off work for, and so she was my only baby I got to spend 24/7 with for her first 6 months. She was my second uncommonly beautiful baby, after Kiki. It only took her about a month to lose all that fat and her cone head, and then she took our breath away every time we looked at her. She looked like a little princess even way back then. She has been my only child who has distinct, consistent, well-thought-out preferences in all areas of life. She is just like my mom in that way. She does not like frills and prefers classy styles, unlike my glitter and ruffles Kiki. I am so insanely happy to have one of each! She gets along with everyone, but does not give in to what the crowd wants. Wherever she goes, she finds and surrounds herself with beautiful, kind people, and if there are not kind people around, she prefers to play by herself. Like her brother, she has her lovie, MaoMao, and she sucks the same two fingers I sucked when I was a baby. She was born on my Oma’s birthday. She still loves to snuggle and wants to be worn in her baby carrier. She is mischievous and spunky and rarely does one catch her without a smile on her face and joyful laughter on her lips. She is a smart girl, but has taken the longest to show interest in starting school. She is the kind of girl who will get frustrated when her brother or sister struggle with a math problem, and she will finally blurt out the answer for them, to my shock, and to their horror. She soaks up everything around her, and she keeps it all close to her heart. She will make a great keeper of secrets one day, a great friend. She was probably the happiest to accept her brother Kye Matthew into our family, as for the first time, she had a playmate who understood her and who didn’t treat her like a baby. She was also the one who took his death the hardest, and continues to take it the hardest. She has been through a lot in her 5 years, and has experienced it with poise and grace. She is such a lovely little girl!

And tomorrow she will be 5!

This morning we got up and went to Lydia Mountain to help clean up after the wedding. However, everything was already cleaned up when we got there, so we all just hung out and talked, and we decided we would all spend the day together.

We had lunch at one of cousin Janette’s favorite places, a Mexican restaurant called El Agave in Ruckersville, VA. The food was surprisingly good, with a full vegetarian menu, and it was probably as close to authentic as you’d get out here.

The cousins doing what they do before exploring caves

From there we headed across the Shenandoah Mountains to Grand Caverns in Grottoes, VA. Amazing! The kids were so happy to be underground, and the length of the tour was perfect for little ones. The spunky, young, beautiful, Disneyland-style cave guide with the perky, put-on voice helped hold their attention the entire tour.

This is some of the money gathered from the rainbow wishing well pool inside the caves. There was over $3000 in all at the time visitors were no longer allowed to throw money into it, but much was too decayed from the mineral water to turn in to the bank.

When the tour was over, we said goodbye to cousin Sheryl, and headed to Janette and Chris’s house for dinner.

This is what Virginia looks like once you get out of the city.

Jeanette and Chris had prepared a wonderful spread with all our particular preferences in mind. There was plenty of meat and man food as well as black bean veggie burgers and quinoa salad and piles of delicious, grilled veggies for the more health-conscious. It was all spectacular. Their back deck was ideal for hosting a BBQ with the added bonus of a baby gate at the stairs for little screamers.

Chris, Jeanette, and Daniel Thanks for such an amazing dinner!

It was another perfect night with perfect weather. There was a little thunder storm to entertain the West Coast folks, fireflies for the kids, great company and conversation for all the adults, and then homemade berries and cream ice cream to top it all off!

The California and the Oregon cousins

The little cousins played well into the night until we all realized that the wise thing to do would be to end the lovely weekend, say our goodbyes, and go to bed. It is possible that we will see the cousins one more time in the morning if they have time to have breakfast at our campsite, but for now, the expectation is that adventures with distant family are over until another time.

Yes, my son wore a cape to the wedding.

The main reason for this summer trip is my cousin’s wedding, and today is the day! I have only 4 first cousins, so its’ pretty exciting when one of them does something like get married! I was also certain there would be some extended family attending, so this promised to be a mini family reunion.

The wedding was not until 3:00 pm, so the kids spent the morning swimming and playing in our really neat campground, and I went to town for supplies.

The wedding was at a place near our campground called Lydia Mountain. It took place under a rustic pergola facing a view of the vibrant valley below, and the groundskeepers had wisely sprayed the entire lawn with bug spray, and so the wedding was perfection. My cousin had decorated the pergola with strings of crystal beads ending in a tear drop, and there vases of dahlias decorated with rose petals hung on the ends of the rows of chairs.

A lot of family members were there. Dad’s cousins Alan and Sheryl and Jannet were there, as well as my second cousins John and Daniel. Not only that, my only boy cousin Isaac, who I had not seen in about 12 years, was there! It was like a mini family reunion! And of course, the Oregon cousins were there and there was a grand reunion between our girls and theirs. Lots of girlie squealing, and sizing one another up, and tossing of hair, and happy screaming, and marching off to catch up with girl talk. There is no lack of girl pride in this family, for better or for worse.

The wedding itself was wonderful. Little Megan was magical throwing rose pettals down for Emillie to walk on, Ryan didn’t lose the rings, and Emillie was more beautiful that one would imagine. When Kiki saw my Uncle John walking Emillie down the aisle, she gasped, horrified, and said loudly, “Oh, no, Mama! She’s going to marry that grandpa!” There was a lot of explaining about what was happening in the wedding after that!

The wedding!

Megan and Sunshine – two peas in a pod!

What Ryan and Judah did during the wedding. Judah was NOT amused.

Then there was the reception. There was a playground and lawn games to play, and marshmallows to roast, and tons of North Carolina pulled pork, and amazing green beans, and slaw, and mashed potatoes, and drinks and good company. There was none of the odd awkwardness that can happen when two families of strangers and their friends come together to meet for the first time. And it’s no wonder. Emillie and Jeff are both pretty spectacular people, and so people were nothing but joyful!

As it got dark all the magic was complete when the fireflies joined in to light up the lawn. It was all warm, with cousins playing, knowing they would have only a few days before separated again for many months, that nice feeling one gets when surrounded by family distance prevents you from seeing very often.

Judah was dreaming of the playground all through the wedding.

I always thought my parents were pretty awesome for making such an effort to let us get to know the East Coast family, and I am determined to give my own kids the same sense that the distance doesn’t have to mean they are isolated. I am so happy we decided to make this trip so we could be here for this!

More wild blackberries. Virginia is magical!

Our only jobs today were to go to Jamestown and get to Stanardsvill, Virginia, at a halfway decent hour. We did both.

And we are REALLY happy to have our Popi with us!

Instead of visiting the re-creation of Jamestown, we visited the ruins, which was a very different experience than then one I had when I was 7 years old. One had to do a lot of imagining to “see” what things had been like.

The nature and swamp surrounding the island where Jamestown was founded

In and around the Fort at Jamestown

The church at Jamestown, rebuilt in the very early 1900’s

I think we will visit the re-creation next year when we visit Virginia again, and even though the kids didn’t fully recognize what they were seeing, I don’t think the experience was lost on them. What was most exciting was the excavation of a new-found site in the fort and watching the excavators do their work.

They were quite passionate about their work! The kids were very happy to be on a tiny island, and they watched the boats go up and down the James River. We saw turtles and a fawn, and walked the roads and streets of old Jamestown as they would have been walked 400 years ago.

The Lion was very bothered by Bacon’s Rebellion, and he couldn’t understand why people would want to burn a beautiful town down! The Bird thought it was fascinating to walk where Pocahontas walked, and she couldn’t understand why the Disney version of the story (which she has not seen, but has heard about from her friends), doesn’t depict the fullness of her life.

Judah built a teeny wood house while the girls explored a hole in a tree stump.

The glass blowing was as fascinating as I remembered it when I was 7 years old!

My Lion looking down the barrel of his gun

There are beautiful flowers out here!

From Jamestown, we went to Stanardsville where we found a beautiful campground to stay in nestled into the woods at the base of the Shenandoah Mountains.

It took us about 45 minutes to get the fire lit, but we are determined folks!

Tomorrow is the wedding and cousins and all kinds of fun, and we need to be well-rested for it!

Urgent care trip #2 trip avoided: Judah’s foot was as good as new this morning, no red line, no more pain, walking normally, and, added bonus, the bottom of his foot is an incredible, bright yellow from the golden seal. He thinks that’s really awesome.

Today was our power day up to Richmond, Virginia, where we are meeting up with Brandon! We were  quite excited about it, and I think the drive was bearable because of that.

Instead of taking the bridge back to the land, we decided to take the ferry over to the peninsula and peek at Fort Morgan as we drove past. This decision put us behind schedule about an hour, but as I planned on getting to Richmond to pick up Brandon with an hour to spare, I figured we would be okay, and only a little late, and so would have the best of all worlds.

The ferry loaded at 8:00, and the trip as just the right length of time such that it held the kids’ attention, but long enough to enjoy time out of the van as we crossed the bay.

When the ride was over, we drove. And we drove. And we drove. The interesting part of the trip was the drastic change in scenery as we drove. Since Texas, we have been in the land where coniferous forests and deciduous forests mixed into one forest with so much texture and color variation. As we went north, the ocean landscape turned into river jungles, and they gave way to rolling hills covered in bright green, vined trees, so thickly leaved that the ground beneath was lightless. The trees were so thick that one could hardly see past three trees deep.

Then we got to Atlanta. Atlanta is beautiful, full of culture, clean, lovely, and the traffic hellacious. When we got to Atlanta, we sat in traffic. For 3 hours we sat in traffic. I even got some words of wisdom from Opera on my Starbucks cup about how to become the most selfish person imaginable! Thanks, Opera!

Suddenly, because of the boat ride and the horrible traffic, as well as a fair amount of construction, our arrival time in Richmond was ridiculous. Instead of arriving at 11:00pm, we would arrive at 3:00am.

I have never been as happy to see a city as I was to see Richmond. And then there was Brandon, and it made the trip very worth it! And now we are a family of 6 traveling together for the next 10 days!

RICHMOND FINALLY!!!!!

We woke early to play with new friends. I saw only glimpses of the kids for a few hours, and did some laundry and enjoyed the peace and quiet. The kids eventually got hungry and came back to camp, and so we ate and got ready to go to Fort Gains. You can read all about Ft. Gaines and Ft. Morgan, and the battle of Mobile, here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mobile_Bay What really impressed me about this fort was the raw quality of the experience. The fort was partially restored, but visitors’ movement was unhindered by railings keeping them on a particular path. People could fully explore all nooks and crannies as I they were battling soldiers of the Civil war! It was refreshingly dangerous, particularly the several stone spiral staircases plunging into the rooms below the stone fort walls, no safety rails to keep small children from falling to injury or death on the jagged stairs a floor below. Good thing my kids know and follow the “hug the wall” rule in such places. The fort had a working blacksmith shop with two blacksmiths making all kinds of replica pieces for the fort and to sell. The woman blacksmith used large nails and hammered them into tiny cutlasses for the kids, stamping their initials on each. We spent several hours roaming the fort, imagining the battle, looking at maps and pictures, and generally having a great time! Everyone eventually got pretty hot, so we loaded into the car and headed to a BBQ place with an ice cream stand and bounce house out front. It was a great choice. The BBQ was phenominal, even for a meat hater like me, and the ice cream was homemade soft serve. There was not a trace of chemical flavor or gratuitous fat. And the kids got to jump in a bounce house with a family of 5 kids who loved to jostle and wrestle every bit as mine do. Splendid! Tonight we played in the water for several hours and The Screamer had his first beach experience. He LOVED it! He wore his floatie and floated around on his back the entire time, screaming and throwing a tantrum when we went to shore to build a sandcastle. It’s not that he hates sand. He just didn’t want to leave the water! I think we have another swimmer on our hands. I have also discovered that My Lion has a nasty cut on the bottom of his foot with a blurry red line running up to his ankle from it, and he is having a pretty hard time walking normally. Nice. I should probably take him to urgent care, but instead I drenched it with tea tree oil and packed it with powdered golden seal. I think he’ll pull through, but I need to watch it very closely. We don’t want to lose a foot on this trip!