hey, it's me again

Geesh---can't believe it's been over a month since I've stopped in. So much going in the last month, too. Lots good, some really bad, some I'm not sure how to categorize yet.

On the good side...we had a totally awesome vacation! Almost two whole weeks of fun. (Of course, not every moment was fun...Gray got some kind of 24-hour bug and had it coming out both ends for a while, the kids got mighty wound up some days when we spent too long in the car, traffic jams...you know, the to-be-expected pitfalls of driving across the country.) We hit so many cool places--Presque Isle State Park (in PA), the Columbus Zoo (in OH), Indian Mounds State Park (in IN), Rock Bridge State Park (in MO)--before we even got to our wonderful friends' home in KS. Spent 2 nights with them. They took us to a natural history museum and an art museum and a nature park. We also hit the local scrapbook store (well, Kara and I did). Then we headed north to Nebraska, where we met up with Rich's parents who had driven out from Pennsylvania. Rich's dad showed us the sights of his boyhood. Then we headed to Ash Falls Fossil Beds. And then Agate Fossil Beds. After that, we split ways with Rich's parents (they headed for home). We headed into Wyoming to the Bighorn Mountains. Then we started heading back east...first to Devils Tower, then to Mount Rushmore, then to the Mammoth Site, then to Wind Cave, and finally to the Badlands. It was a looooong ride home after all that excitement.

And on arriving home, we were absolutely crushed. Taco, our big, loveable lug of a baby boy kitty, died while we were gone. It's still so hard to talk about it. He was absolutely, positively Max's best friend. And it takes a special kitty to be best friends to a 3-year-old. Taco even slept with Max most nights. Poor Maxie, being only 3, was not exactly getting a great deal out of our vacation. For the last 10 days of it, he would ask at least 20 times a day if this was the day he got to go home and see Taco. He was so excited the day we told him we would be arriving home to his buddy. Little did we know that none of us would see the sweet ball of fur again.

Okay, back to some good news...I connected with a dear, dear, dear old friend again after several years. It feels so amazing to be back in touch! We were best friends all through high school. Then we lost touch for a few years. Both of us ended up living 400 miles from our hometown, unbeknownst to each other...but we connected again and found out we were living less than 10 miles apart. Were bestest, bestest of buddies again for several years. Even when I moved away when I got married we kept in close touch and saw each other when possible. But eventually, we drifted a bit. And I didn't hear back from her after a few letters and her phone number had changed. Always wondered what had happened. And then a couple weeks ago...she found me! And we've been e-mailing away, like we've never been apart. Geez, how I've missed her! Last I saw her, her youngest boy was a newborn...now he's 10! And she's never met any of my munchkins. Hopefully that will change soon. Our lives have changed so much, and we lead very different lives from one another these days, but I hope we never drift apart again!

And finally, on to the "I don't know how to categorize yet" news. Our homeschooling adventure has begun. It's fun. It's frustrating. It's EXHAUSTING. But most of all, I think it's worth it.

Well, I think I'll try to add a few pictures here...then I better get back to working on our "matter unit".

I hope I won't disappear for quite so long again.