The adventures that our family had getting from Derby to Indianapolis are in my blog post about the missing passport. Fortunately for our collective sanity, that was about as exciting as our two weeks got. The rest of our trip, while full of activities, was thankfully free of adventure until Kristine and I had our encounter with the snake.
Trips like this are tough because there's always more people to see than there are hours available to visit. That said, it was good to spend time on our home turf, connect with a few people, and let the girls try to spread some of their English accents. Some of the highlights (heavy on photos; light on text) are below.
I'd prepared myself before we flew back to make sure I drove on the correct side of the road. This was a long-standing joke in my family whenever we visited the US from Kenya: how many times would someone drive on the opposite side of the road and who would be the first person to correct them? I didn't have any problems with that part of re-entry. I wasn't prepared for how shocked I was at the sheer size of the roads. This was my view on the drive to West Lafayette after Kristine and the girls picked me up at the airport.
I was still in shock 24 hours later as I drove back to West Lafayette after a day in the office and dinner with Jay, Lori, and Karl Seppanen.
Clare shared a bedroom with Kristine and I. We made her a nest in the closet.
While they did a (little) bit of sleeping there, I think the main purpose of Elise and Charis's room was to assemble rainbow loom trinkets. I lost count of how many they made for good-natured friends and family.
At one point Charis got a little frustrated with a particular rainbow loom design she was working on. She and I decompressed together by having her try out my new dulcimer hammers.
Unlike Melbourne, the playground at the local elementary school is open for public use when the school is closed. It was well situated for us to take advantage of: just over 3 blocks away so close enough to walk to, and far enough away that getting there and playing was a good way to burn off energy. Elise channeled her inner gymnast.
Clare showcased her "I'm up to something" smile.
We warned the girls before we left that Indiana would be considerably warmer than Melbourne. We also told them this meant we could do a fair bit of outdoor swimming. As it turned out, it was actually warmer in Melbourne than it was in Indiana for most of our trip. That did not deter the girls from holding us to our promise to take them swimming. We visited the water park at Prophetstown State Park several times. To their credit, they handled the somewhat brisk water very well.
One of the traditions in Kristine's family is to work on puzzles during vacations. Her dad has long taken very seriously the importance of passing this tradition on to our children.
My parents drove down from Minneapolis to visit us for the weekend. 2 days of driving. 2 days of visiting. I'm grateful for that gift.
One of our errands was to check in on our house, return some items we'd decided we didn't need in the UK, and pick up a few things we'd left. We found the house well cared for and cleaner than most days we lived in it. The renters also left an incredibly gracious note for us on the dining room table. Major area of concern diffused there.
I took advantage of the visit to the house to make a stop at Pat's Philly Pretzels. I endure the praise of doughnuts that my Facebook friends occasionally engage in. I'm going to miss the breakfast cobs from the Derby office when we leave. But these pretzels are pretty much my favorite snack. Except maybe the meat samosas that we sometimes get in Derby.
The girls piled affection on "Miss Bethany" Warner, whom we met for dinner one night in Indianapolis.
The Pope joined us the next evening when we met the Fosters at Bucca di Beppo.
And the Fosters graciously let us swim in their (not so warm) pool on our last full day in Indiana.
Sunday the 10th of August saw us back at the airport and on our return flight to England. We booked a 7 hour layover in Newark so we could connect with family. More on that here. Here we are enjoying the train between terminals in Newark. All together, all happy, and with five passports.
Footnote #2: We made it to Melbourne without trouble. Everyone except me slept at least a little bit on the flight. I grabbed a couple hours of sleep when we got home, then went into the office for a bit. I had to run an errand in Melbourne when I got home, so took Elise and Charis with me. Here's what they thought of being jet lagged.
No comments:
Post a Comment