Road Trip: Driving Miss Crazy

Convalescing: Spring Break Road Trip

I’m back from Spring Break, which I spent epic-somely.  On a Road Trip.  With five children  (all mine, minus one plus a cousin) and my wounded husband. Our epic adventure began two days after I was taken by the plague, three days after Frank kicked a bucket in the pantry(so weird trying to explain this at the clinic) and lost his toenail, and three days into antibiotics for my youngest (ear infection, out of the blue).  We are all better now…well, mostly.  Frank is still missing the toenail.

We owned the road for three days in a minivan, traipsing through bits of Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon, and stopping randomly at Subways,  bathrooms, and particularly fetching views.  Oh yes, and we stopped for gas.  We spent  four days clear of the minivan (more or less) and in the company of Our Folks (His People and Mine).  Sometimes we kept company in densely populated quarters, and sometimes…well, I think whether the quarters were densely populated or not before we arrived, they were once we integrated ourselves into them.  We might have been like a really bad Chevy Chase movie… except we weren’t.  We may be numerous, but we’ve got pretty decent manners.  For Hillbillies.

Here’s some of the highlights of our Road Trip.  Or rather, highlights of some stops along the way (I spared you the crumb laden someone’s foot in someone’s ear minivan scenes).  We actually had a lovely time, cheezits,  jerky, and five kids in very close quarters notwithstanding.  Mostly because, generally speaking, we all really like each other.  Even love.  Yes.  We do love each other.  Plus there were beautiful sights (the fetching ones I mentioned earlier) along the way.  And The Folks, who we really, really love.

First Folk Stop: Morning at Mara’s, Bless Her Heart

Two of my daughters, little and not little…having found a couch and floor space at my sister Mara’s house (air mattresses are such a luxury!)

two more of my chitlins in graduating stages of waking…from sound asleep to groggily alert.  Yes, a contradiction in terms… waking up often is.

Morning snuggling: my niece (Mara’s middle one) with my parents.  This little girl is wonderfully affectionate and amazingly independent.

Mara and a daughter, and her son…who is still young enough to need lots of sleep, but old enough to be cool.

My youngest and her cousins (Mara’s kids)

My son and his cousin, not one of Mara’s kids, but beloved anyway. We like to mix things up.

My brother David. He is eight years younger than me. I’m glad he outgrew putting keys in electrical outlets.

Candid moment…one of Leah’s daughters on my daughter’s left; Mara’s baby looking curious.

My daughter with my sis Leah laughing in the background. Leah’s laugh is contagious.

A Fetching View…

A poplar orchard. They’re grown for paper; always a little otherworldly to encounter a forest, artificial with straight lines.

At a Park Late Afternoon with His Parents

My mother in law. I love her smile.

My mistah. On a lovely day. With a tree backdrop. And shades.

Flying high…

And…The End.