A Day of Reflection

This morning we went and had some fun at a water park with some great friends.  Now that we’re home with some lunch in our stomachs we’re having a little down time before we go over to the pool.  

This week is busier than usual.  VBS, Scout camping trip, sleepovers, IRS audit meeting (yes, you read that right), homeschool planning.

But I wanted to find a pocket of quietness in the day to just reflect on the past year.  You see, my dad passed away on this day last summer.  He has been gone for a whole year.  It seems a long time ago, and yet it doesn’t.  I knew my life would be different without his presence in it, and it has.  

I would have called him about getting a letter from the IRS.  He would have told me there’s nothing to worry about as long as we’ve been honest.  He would be the first person to call me to follow up and see what happened.

He would have called every other day when we were on our road trip.  He would have wanted to talk to the kids and hear about everything they did and saw.  In fact, he would have really wanted to go with us.

He would have taken me out to dinner on my birthday, like he did every year.

We would have spent Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Easter together.  And it would have involved food.  In a restaurant.

He would have come over for Christmas, with a huge pile of gifts.  He loved watching the kids open up gifts he got for them.  It made him so happy.

He would have asked if we wanted to go to a buffet for Thanksgiving so nobody had to do dishes, and I would have insisted on a homemade turkey dinner at our house.

He would have come to every birthday party for the kids, even if it meant sitting in Peter Piper Pizza for 2 hours listening to a bunch of screaming kids run around.

He really wanted to go on one last family trip before it was too late.  We talked about going on a cruise, going to Hawaii, and even taking an RV trip road trip.  He loved to travel, especially with his family.

We would have done that this last year.  But too late came too quickly and we never went on that last trip.

A lot of changes have happened in my life since I turned 40 last summer.  I have chosen some new paths along the journey, and God has shown grace and mercy and blessing to me and my family.  I’m thankful, thankful that even in the midst of great loss, God reveals a new birth, something new and wonderful and lovely.  

I miss my earthly father deeply, but I take great comfort in knowing my Heavenly Father is forever, eternal, never changing, always present.  I can always come to Him with my problems, I can always tell Him about my dreams, I know He loves my children more than I ever could, and He cares about every minute aspect of my life.

Besides, I know my dad is having the time of his life now.

Fix-It Friday

Here are my contributions to I Heart Face's Fix-It-Friday edit.

This time I tried a few different approaches.

When I saw the original (below) I immediately wanted to make it edgier, so I did that with the black and white.

Here's a "boost" version:

This is PW's Heartland action:

And here are a couple where I tried the technique from a few weeks back.  I added a fill layer with a canvas pattern.

Let me know what you think.  Which is your favorite?

Rain in Vegas

Road Trip Linky List

If you're just checking in to read about our summer family road trip, you may want to start at the beginning.

But if you read blogs, you know the most recent posts are at the top, and you're pretty much reading backwards.

So here is a list of links in order if you want to read from Day One.

Or you could just cut to the chase by scrolling down and reading about our long drive home.

Day One

Day Two

Day Three

Water Park

Salt Mine

Tea Party

4th of July

Tallgrass Prairie

Birthday Dinner

Halstead

Last Day in Kansas

Denver

Rocky Mountains

Green River, WY

Yellowstone Day 1 Part 1

Yellowstone Day 1 Part 2

Yellowstone Day 2 Part 1

Yellowstone Day 2 Part 2

Yellowstone Day 2 Part 3

Yellowstone Day 2 Part 4

Yellowstone Extras

The Long Ride Home

Enjoy!  And leave a comment if you feel like it!

The Long Ride Home

After leaving Yellowstone we had a 3 hour drive to Pocatello, Idaho.

It was our least favorite hotel of the whole trip.  But we were all exhausted and knew we'd be home in our own beds the next night.  Hotels booked through Priceline don't guarantee how many beds you'll get.  You can request, but nothing is guaranteed.

Well, the Red Lion in Pocatello only had rooms with 1 bed.

Wade had to make the executive decision of who slept where.

I'm so glad I'm married to the executive decision maker.

After the prime spot of the hotel bed (which the executives automatically get), the next coveted place was the hotel's roll-away, which Davey was granted since he had already slept on both the cot and the floor previous nights.

One notch below that was our cot, given to Lucas.

Annette got the sleeping bag on the floor.

After the lights were out for 10 minutes it didn't matter to anybody, because we were *out*.

We decided we would bite the bullet and drive the whole way to Vegas from Pocatello in one day. I have to do a little bragging here and say the kids were great. With no DVD player and the Gameboy lost somewhere in the van, they kept themselves entertained with the mp3 players, I Spy books, Lemony Snicket's audio books, Mad Libs, naps, snacks, and various games with Davey's bag of small plastic animals he got in Mammoth. I was pretty impressed for spending 10 hours in a minivan.

We also stopped at my *favorite* restaurant for lunch.

Can you guess?

Here are a couple clues.

If you've ever eaten here, you know what these taste like.

In the store there is always a wide variety of old time toys and treats.

Look who I found hiding up on the shelf.

Bring back memories for anybody?

Have you guessed?  It's Cracker Barrel!  I love that place. Curses on Vegas for not having one!

Well we made it home safe and sound.  I had cleaned the house from top to bottom when we left and it was just as clean when we got back (thanks Amanda!). It's so nice to come home from vacation to a clean, tidy home. Especially when you pull in at ten o'clock at night.

We're already thinking about next summer, and turning this whole road trip thing into an annual event for our family. Might even rent something from Cruise America.

Trust me -- it is sooooo much better than flying!

Yellowstone Extras

Here are some extra pictures I didn't put in the previous posts.

I can't even tell you how many bison we saw, as well as deer & elk, and various bird species.

I also liked capturing images of wildflowers along the way.  Enjoy!

Yellowstone Day 2 Part 4

We left the piece de resistance for the end of our day at Yellowstone.

Even though over half of the world's geysers are in Yellowstone, Old Faithful is one of only a few that erupts with predictable regularity.  I had read that it's not the biggest or the most regular geyser in Yellowstone, but it is the biggest regular geyser.  Yeah, took me a second to figure that one out too.

As we were walking across the parking lot a man told us it was about to go off in ten minutes.

Of course, the kids had to go to the bathroom.  Wade & I were like drill sergeants standing outside the bathroom stalls.

We ran outside, where a large crowd of people had already gotten their front row seat.

And we ended up waiting.

And waiting.

And waiting.

It was stinkin' hot out there, babies were crying, moms were losing some serious patience with their melting four year olds (uh, yeah, that includes me).

Every now and then Old Faithful would taunt us as it would cough up a puff of steam.

But eventually Old Faithful pulled through and exploded.

Big time.

And the kid's complaints with the hot sun and dry mouths quickly changed to sounds of wonder and amazement as they watched the eruption go on for over five minutes.

When it was all done and people started pouring out into the parking lot, we knew our day at Yellowstone was coming to a close. Wade & I were not excited about the 3 hour drive to Pocatello that was still before us.

As we winded down the last few miles of the loop, we decided to make one more stop that had been highlighted on the map by the Lake Lodge Lady called Fountain Paint Pot.

This area has geysers, mud pots, hot springs, and fumaroles.  

The mud bubbles rapidly and constantly due to steam changes.

It's actually pretty creepy.

The day was full and we all saw things we'd never seen before.  But we decided we would need to come back someday, because there were still so many things we didn't get to experience.

Possibly for a camping trip next spring?

Yellowstone Day 2 Part 3

From the falls we made our way up to the northwest corner of the park to check out Mammoth Hot Springs.

The upper part of the map was not marked by the Lake Lodge Lady because she said there was only so much we could do in one day, and the best sights were in the lower part. But we were determined to drive the whole loop around the park, even if it meant just leaning out the window to snap a picture as we drove by.

But we were doing good on time and were able to walk around this large hot spring complex.

Algae buildup in these warm pools is what gives them orange and brown tints.

Let's take a closer look.

Little closer.

Okay, that's close enough.  Movin' on. (*gag*)

These are called travertine terraces that have been formed over thousands of years.

Hot water from the spring cools on the rocky ground and leaves behind this white stuff, called calcium carbonate.

The calcium carbonate is what killed these trees.

Terrace Mountain at Mammoth Hot Springs is the largest known carbonate-depositing spring in the world.

A nice lady offered to take our picture.  I think it's the only one we have of all five of us!

It was a lot of fun learning about this incredible creation.

But Annette was still having a hard time with the smell.

Afterwards we drove down the hill to the "headquarters" of Yellowstone in the little town of Mammoth.  We spent some time souvenir shopping and on the way out saw this guy with his whole family hanging out in someone's front yard.

By this time we were hungry, and the Lake Lodge Lady had told us a perfect place for a picnic lunch. The rest area was near a river where the water had risen so high some of the tables were under water. 

Annette had this creative idea to chop down one of the trees, lay it in the water and we could all walk across it and have lunch at this table.

I made an executive decision just to stay on dry land.

Next stop:  Old Faithful.