Quick 2 weeks back in PA/MD

I'll try to keep my recap of going back to our hometowns pretty brief as most of you were there. We had 2 weeks of time back there and way too much planned during that time.

Back in MD!

The kids did great on the flight. Poor Paige didn't get a break from schooling and had roadschool on the plane.

No rest for the wicked

We use a CARES airplane carseat-like safety harness for Logan. For him, it was like a long car ride. His moment of freedom came and went before and after a diaper change. I think these 2 pictures pretty well sum it up:

HE'S FREE!

WAVE YOUR HANDS LIKE YOU JUST DON'T CARE!

I don't have pictures of it, but Grandma Lisa and Grandpa Alan surprised the kids at the airport. When Paige saw Grandma Lisa, she took off like a bolt of lightning; I actually worried there would be a tackle as part of it. There were huge smiles and tears all around.

We didn't waste any time jumping into activities and had a night of pumpkin carving with the Johns Hopkins Women's Lacrosse team. As they all are with the team- it was a great night.

The Pumpkins

The Team

Thank you, coaches!

A couple of nights later, we had dinner out with friends. There were many, many laughs all around.

The group

Silly Moms

Silly Dads

BFFs

BFFs

A few Harrisons (JR, Lori, Kayla, Travis, Kyle, Hailey, and Grace) joined us at Alan and Lisa's house for another round of pumpkin carving.

Cousin Kyle and Hailey

Pumpkins painting for the littles

Visiting for the adults

Cousins

We visited with Grandpa Pedro and Grandma Janet and I finally broke my slump of not taking pictures when we're around them.

Clearly they approve

Roadschool, learning to tell time

Puzzle measuring

Halloween Night, we spent it with Uncle Jared, Aunt Jennifer, Stella, and Marshall at Alan and Lisa's house.

Little Red Riding Hood & the Wolf; Jake the Pirate; and Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas

Madonna

We celebrated Paige's being back and sort of an early birthday by hosting a bowling party down in Columbia. It was great to see all of the kids (and their parents!).

Friends

Friends

Logan loving on Rehab

Food, round 1

Paparazzi

Such a wonderful group

That turned into an afterparty at LuLu and Selma's house. A horror movie was made by the kids.

Filming, take 7

Watching their movie

We broke free from that to go over to the Dustins' house for another get together of friends.

Little buddies

Big buddies

BFFs

The ladies

We got serious and attended our first Howard County Homeschool Review. Our reviewer was very helpful!

Sneaky photo taking

Listening intently

We visited with Tara and her family.

I do love my niece so very much!

Cousins

Jerome.

Got haircuts at Altland and Friends.

Cut, color, the whole 9 yards.

Paige's turn

Logan's turn

Aunt Danyiel came to visit. Sadly, I don't have any photos from it.

And we attended Marshall's birthday, but somehow didn't take any pictures there, either.

Got pictures done with all of Alan and Lisa's grandkids.

My only photo- waiting for our turn or waiting to see our pictures.

Visited with Grandpa Pedro and Grandma Janet again.

Dad and me

It's so puzzling

And then, like the whirlwind that it was- we were back on the airplane and headed "home". Interesting tidbit- I had someone ask if we felt weird to be to going "home" to our camper since it wasn't at a fixed location. Seeing and leaving our friends and family all over again is bittersweet- we miss everyone often, but really do consider out tiny house on wheels as "home". In fact, we often call it "our house" because it's more than just "our camper".

Overlooking Annapolis

We got back into Vegas late and immediately got on the road for Pahrump, NV so that we could go exploring Death Valley. But that's for the next installment....

Like I end almost every blog entry, there really are way more pictures on Flickr.