The pleasures of home

We've been hanging out at my parents house for two weeks now and thoroughly enjoying ourselves. This is the house I grew up in -- my parents have lived here for 40 years -- and it is always lovely to come for a visit. I love cuddling into their kitchen nook and sitting in all the beautiful spaces in their yard. It is peaceful, relaxing and homey.

The sun hits the grass in their pasture every evening in such a glorious way, changing it all to gold. I love it!

In spite of how much I love being here, two nights ago I finally said (& processed) the words  ... "we don't live in Guatemala anymore."  That opened the floodgates and I've been struggling to keep myself from crying over it since then. I am missing all that is Guatemala so much and most especially my friends there.  I am still struggling to adjust to being back. I made my first trip to Target last week and knew I'd be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of "stuff" available to buy, but I was completely blown away to see that there is now a refrigerated pet food section. After having been living in place with such poverty, it is hard for me to accept what this seems to imply about our priorities and makes me realize I still have a lot of re-adjusting to do.

Here's some of our re-adjustment activities :)

Enjoying the close proximity of the beach and these adorable otters!

A California volcano -- not quite like a Guatemalan one!

Camping at Shaver Lake --

 Spending LOTS and LOTS of time outside

Enjoying the fruits of the season -- apricots (my parent's trees were loaded!) -- and jam making

A delicious coffee date without Luke (thanks to my parents!)

Images from the road west (2700 miles with an infant)

We just completed our 10-day journey from Vermont to Spokane and boy are we happy to be here!

Overall, Luke was an amazing baby and did really well, but we are all very ready to be out of the car and to stay in one place for more than a few nights.  I realize that road tripping with an infant is a lot easier than with a toddler since Luke will literally sleep for hours everyday, but it still certainly made for a different kind of trip.  Stopping for 30-60 minutes every 2 - 3 hours to feed him made for much longer days.

This is probably the most repeated overall picture of our trip ... finding a bit of shade and grass alongside the road for the baby to stretch and eat in.

Our overnight stops => Buffalo, NY--Fort Wayne, IN -- S. Bend, IN -- Stoughton, WI -- Minneapolis, MN -- Bismarck, ND -- Big Timber, MT.  Fortunately, for six nights of our trip we had family and friends to stay with which was great for showing Luke off and reconnecting.

We had the chance to introduce Luke to some of his second cousins!  My cousin, April, had her handsome boy in January and had family from Scotland visiting at the same time which was so much fun! (these photos are from April's camera)

Luke was clearly excited to meet his 2nd cousin, Fraser.

We got to take some of Luke's footprints which was great - his first set!

Our next stop was to see Jim, the property manager of Forest Echo who has been our boss for the past two years.  We are so glad that he has become part of our lives!  Since we hadn't gotten a chance to see him during this past season of caretaking, it was lovely to stop in, say goodbye in person and thank him for the opportunity to become part of Forest Echo.




























We had three nights along the way that we camped - the first one was at Lake Kegonsa in Wisconsin. All things seemed to be headed for a better experience than our rainy weekend in Acadia until a little after midnight when we had a HUGE thunderstorm that lasted about four hours!  It was incredible to be laying in bed with only a thin piece of nylon between us and lightning, thunder and pouring rain. We stayed nice and dry inside, but ended up with a very wet tent again :(

In Minneapolis, we got to stay with Jason's cousins Todd & Jenn and also see his aunt Sharon & uncle Doug.  Luke got to meet another second cousin, Shiloh.  We had a great day seeing Minnehaha Falls --

Our favorite photo from the day -- getting caught in a thunderstorm!  Luke didn't seem to mind at all :)

Our second to last stop was in Bismarck to see Jasons' grandmother.  Elsie is 101 years old, it was crazy to think that there was 101 years between she and Luke.  She was quite taken with her great grandson and he with her.

Camping ... with a baby ... in a tent ... in the rain

Sounds like a recipe for success right??
Well, it wasn't exactly the relaxing experience that camping usually is, but it wasn't as awful as it could have been given the circumstances :)
Of course, Luke picked our camping trip to become noticeably more cranky --not sure if he was just feeling out of sorts or insecure because he'd been in one too many new places to sleep or too much being in the outdoors?
Anyhow, we had a decent time for our first try of camping with a baby (in the middle of tropical storm Andrea); and for being only two months old, I think Luke did great!

Luke's first trip to the beach!

A sweet start - the Campbell Cottage

Our first stop after moving out on Saturday was to this lovely little lake cabin in New Hampshire.  It was the last stop of our road trip last summer and we feel blessed to be able to begin this summer in the same spot.  This cottage is truly a perfect transitional place for us -- with electricity and an indoor toilet, but still incredibly peaceful and rustic.

View from the screened porch -- sooo relaxing!

Jason goes for a swim while I hang out with Luke on the dock.

Lots of photos of Luke!

We got to see a porcupine and lots of pink lady slippers!

And, arrived at New Hampshire's White Mountains yesterday!