More memories from our trip

One of our favorite places in our hometown is a children's storybook park. It has all kinds of different characters with kid friendly houses, boats, etc that go along with each theme. This is one of the fun places to visit in the summer, and best of all, it is free. Here are a few pictures of the kids at the park.

Here are the girls at the 101 Dalmatians display.

Here is Luke by the new Pirate Ship.

Here is Padme by a climbing house.

And the extent of Yoda's fun was in the stroller. Next time we come he will be walking and will love exploring and seeing all the fun things in the park.

Here are Yoda and Padme at my sister's house for a family BBQ. The kids had lots of fun playing with their cousins.

Here are all of the cousins, minus my oldest brother's two who live in California.

My sleeping companions in the camper. The rooms was dark, but the flash makes it look like daylight. No wonder I didn't get a lot of sleep. These guys are crazy movers in their sleep!

A day spent in our friend's backyard playing in the water. Padme with Luke lounging behind her. We don't have a swimming pool of any kind for the kids, but after this, we definitely need one!

The day we were returning home, with my parents. We were all sad to leave, and they were sad to see us go. However, they were probably happy to see us go so they could have their bathroom and washing machine/dryer back to themselves!

We had a wonderful trip home. The best part of it was spending time with people we know and love, and they love us back. Moving has been hard on us partly because we went from lots of connections to people, to none. It is hard to build new connections and feel like you are part of a new community. I feel like our going home filled all of our love tanks to overflowing. It was regenerating to us and helped us to come back to our new home and to keep trying to make new friends and connections here.

I was born and raised where we moved from, went away to college and returned with a 10 month old son. All of our other children were born there. I regularly saw people who have known me most of my life. The second day we were home, I went to a homeschool book sale. It was wonderful. Many of my friends all gathered together for the sale, and I got to see them all. God planned it out. I visited with one lady who I have known since I was in first grade, and another lady who knew me from elementary school. I love those connections. I have deep roots there. I miss that in our new place. The longest we have known anyone there is since November. I know it takes time. But I love my roots!

The trip home was long. We were all tired. Leia slept almost the entire way. She was our person to get drinks out of the cooler while on the road. One time she turned around, leaned across the seat, and went back to sleep with her hand on the cooler! Yoda was not the best traveler for the last hour or so. A screaming baby is a driving hazard. Obi was the designated baby handler during the trip, and he was about fried at the end. I gave Obi the camera so he could try and distract Yoda with it, so he used it to snap some pictures chronicling the end of our journey. Here are a few of Yoda, who had HAD IT with his car seat!

And Obi's feelings on the whole deal:

Needless to say, we were all glad to get to our house. And hubby was so glad to have us home. And Yoda was happy to get down and crawl all over our baby proof house. What a relief for all of us!