More pictures taken by Corinne:

Karen and Corinne

Liz, Annie, Brian, Jen and Joshua

June 14, 2010

It's a cloudy, coolish day - very humid. The kids are having a ball playing with each other.

Yesterday we went to Liz's church, then came home and quieted the kids down. Then Corinne and Bill Zembrowski arrived, then Brian and Annie. It was so wonderful to see them again, and since the kids were doing "quiet time", we had some good quality visiting time while we waited for Jenny and her kids to arrive. All I can say is that the Zembrowski's have been our dear friends for 37 years, and they are still the most fantastic people I know!

Jenny got stuck in some thick Sunday traffic on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and was arriving later than planned, so we went ahead and ate - feeding the kids first, then we adults were able to have a kid-free meal. The kids were slowly revving up as they anticipated Jenny's arrival. When Jenny drove in it became a madhouse! Kids, grandma, mothers, all yelling hello's and hugs and tears.

Corinne took some pictures that I'll post when she posts them on facebook. Liz cooked a fantastic Lasagne dinner and Corinne's family brought some exceptional desserts.

Today everyone is just playing, and Jenny and Liz will hopefully get a nap to get rested up for their trip to 6 Flags tomorrow.

June 12, 2010

It's a misty, humid day here in New Fairfield, CT. Liz took Riley and Cookie on the train to New York City to see the sights - I wondered if Jude and Calvin would feel slighted, but they didn't mind at all. Jon mowed the lawn and is running errands, while I watch the grandkids and read.

I found the book"Auntie Mame" by Patrick Dennis - excited to read the book (which is good) after watching the movie, and assumed it was a real story by Mame's nephew Patrick Dennis. Looked him up on Wikipedia - found some interesting facts (one of which is that Mame is fictional...so sad"). So if you're interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Dennis

JUNE 11, 2010

We arrived safely at 6:30 p.m. Today was a MUCH better day - got off that horrid Ohio Turnpike and onto some beautiful roads and scenery of northern PA! We went through rolling mountains of trees - with blue sky and white clouds above. The kids were pretty much plugged in all day to their game machines and DVD player, so I listened to "The Trial of Mary Lou", chuckling all through it, then some talk radio, then golden oldies. No demonic outbursts (even though I was really worried, because I had insomnia the night before, not getting to sleep until 3 a.m. Luckily Liz called me at 9:20 that morning and woke us all up, or we would have snoozed the morning away) But I felt rested and alert and did well.

When we crossed over into New York, I got SOOO homesick for Tony.....we spent 2 1/2 years in Connecticut, then 6 years in New York, so I was flooded with memories of our time together in these states. Lucille (theGPS) directed us through little backroads through small towns through New York and Connecticut to get to Liz's house. IT WAS AWESOME! As I wound around the narrow roads, with trees canopying the stretch of road, I felt like I'd come back home.

Enough of that sniffy stuff - - we pulled into Liz's and Jon's to a yard and driveway full of wonderful kids. It was sooooo good seeing Liz and Jon again, and all the little Vancies!! My, how they've grown! They've got a nice place here - quiet and trees all around - neighbors, but you have a lot of privacy because of the trees.

All in all, it was a very good trip - now we can't wait to see Jenny and kids, and Mary's daughter, Hannah - they'll be coming Sunday, as are Corrine and Bill Zembrowski, and their son, Brian and his girlfriend.

JUNE 10, 2010

Day Four - random things from a very long day:

Riley's losing her purse full of her camera and mp3 stuff (luckily her mp3 player had fallen on the car floor) really got me down. Not so much that she left it there - easy mistake - but it was left in an LDS run establishment, and wasn't recovered.....sigh.....I really feel let down by our fellow man!

At the Nauvoo restaurant, Jude had made an ice cream cone, but when he'd licked it to a flat-top, he didn't want to eat the cone. He ended up shlurping up all the ice cream in the cone and swallowing it all. He got red in the face and said he was having a cold throat attack. As the ice cream went down, he clutched his chest and said he was having a cold heart attack. I think he'll think twice before swallowing that much ice cream at once.

Today we hit some pretty irritating places - at one gas station, the bathrooms didn't work, so we went to the Wendy's next door. I stood outside the bathroom, waiting for the 3 kids to come out (a one seater), when I heard Calvin yelling at the top of his lungs. I went in, and he and Jude were fighting over the hand dryer. Because there was a long line of women waiting for the bathroom, I shouted in a demonic whisper and told them if they didn't stop fighting I was going to chew my finger off and spit it into the trash can....WHERE IN THE HECK DID THAT COME FROM?!?!? I've been chuckling semi-hysterically about this one all day long.

We've named our GPS "Lucille". Sorry Patricia Lucille - it definitely was named because sometimes it just gets confused about where it is! hahahahahha

The last stretch of today was stop and go traffic in the middle of nowhere that lasted about an hour.....it was sooooo frustrating, because I had to pay $15.00 in tolls for that wonderful experience!

Now that the kids are done swimming and plugged into the Disney channel - I got to watch the Glee finale and am definitely relaxed - I'm ready for another day. I need to get us all to bed because WE GET TO SEE LIZ AND FAM TOMORROW - YAYAYAYAYAYAY - AND JENNY'S FAM SOON, WITH HANNAH YAYAYAYAYAYAY

JUNE 9, 2010

Day three has gone wonderfully! We got up when we wanted to, then drove for 4 hours to Hannibal, Missouri. We didn't stay long - would have loved to have taken a riverboat ride, but not enough time.

Then on to Nauvoo, Illinois - what a BEAUTIFUL drive - first over the Mississippi River, then following it north on the Illinois side until we got to Nauvoo. We only spent a little over an hour there - got to see the General Story, Brigham Young's House, The Nauvoo Mansion, then to the park where the kids dressed like the 1800's and played with 1800's toys. They had great fun.

I told the kids that I just gave them a taste of Hannibal and Nauvoo - that when they're older, they can go there again and stay longer to enjoy more of it. I think that if we'd stayed any longer at either place, they would have gotten bored fast. It was hot and humid, so getting into an air-conditioned car was a great incentive to get on the road again.

The backroads of Illinois were a nice change from the Interstate travel we've done and will be doing again tomorrow.

Now we're in Montrose, Illinois -relaxing and swimming and getting rested for two straight days of travel.

Yesterday, I had a tough time with my orientation - although I was driving due East through South Dakota, I felt like I was driving North and North East. It was freaking me out. Today the compass in my head finally swung the right way, and I did fine.

Also, I feel like David Seville with very loose dentures - instead of yelling "Alvin" all the time, I'm yelling "Calvin" over and over. Not that he's doing anything wrong - he just focuses so hard on what he's doing, that it's hard to get his attention.

(More pictures from today will be posted tomorrow)

JUNE 8, 2010

Whew, Loooong Day! But wonderful!

The kids loved Mount Rushmore - even wanted to go in the Museum and watch the video. They were so excited. What a contrast to a father and son that sat in our row at the movie. The kid walked in with so much boredom on his face, that his neck couldn't hold his head up, so his head bobbed limply to one side as he tried hard to convey to his dad that his being there was the pits!

And the kids were very good about not begging to go to all the other attractions in the area - except when we passed a waterslide park, Riley said: "I want to live in South Dakota and Mom be rich."

The tedium of crossing South Dakota was broken by stopping at Wall Drug - the kids loved it!

We got to our hotel here in Rockport, Missouri at 10:00 p.m. - popped popcorn in the microwave, so kids are watching some Disney channel and eating popcorn.

I'm ready for a shower and zzzz's.