Home again, or maybe not.

We're back! We had an amazing trip to MI, IA and the cabin. It was more than wonderful to be able to see so many family members and renew our relationships. Cora traveled so well - it was honestly an answer to prayer. We traveled 3500 miles together and were amazed at how flexible Cora was through it all. She was joyful and had her eyes glued on her little cousins every minute they were around.

Michigan was pure hangout time. We hung out at the beach, at the pool, at the park, in the backyard, on Uncle Bud's boat, and other various places. Anneke and Gideon played so nicely with Cora and Anneke loved feeding Cora her fruits and veggies. She did a great job! Gideon learned how to tackle Uncle Brad...and get tackled back.




Iowa was more hangout time but a little more structured. We had almost all of Brad's large extended family together for the weekend. Some of the girls made duct tape purses, the kids rode horses at the farm, we swam at the pool, heard stories of the uncles' and aunts' younger days, and so on. It was wonderful to meet and get to know some more of Brad's family and for meeting the new additions and seeing Grandma who will be 90 this fall!

Our time at the cabin was more relaxed again and we enjoyed the antics of the children and watched some half a million bats fly out to of the big hole to the valley to catch bugs. I know my dad told me a hundred times growing up that bats are good because they eat bugs (like spiders) but I've only recently begun to appreciate that.

After another day home we returned to Montrose for another day to spend more time with the fam. When you only see each other every couple years every minute together is precious. Josh, Anna and Aleya are so full of life and all interacted sweetly with Cora. I think Anna was the most stricken with her of the three. She constantly asked to hold her, help feed her and play peek-a-boo. Cora seemed to thrive on such attention. Even Alec, as a teenaged boy, was so intuned with her that she watched him intently and smiled at his antics.

So now we're home but leaving again tomorrow for a couple days on a church 4-wheel-drive trip. More to come about that later. We'll catch our breath some day...