The Great Western Trek, part the second

Another long post!

I feel like the next leg of the journey was the most difficult part of the trip.  We had a couple long days of driving, and we hadn't found our rhythm yet, so it was hard on the kids (not to mention their parents...).  Several unplanned potty stops made it take longer, and hungry baby alarms made it seem even longer.  It happened that on the trip Daniel transitioned from nursing as primary source of nutrition with solids as supplementary, to nursing as supplementary with solids as primary.  So the poor kid was always hungry until we figured out what kind of baby foods were car-trip worthy.  Mr. Pickles and I spent a lot of time twisted backwards, passing him Os and baby puffs, to keep his mouth occupied in a way that didn't involve screaming.

Well, the first leg of the continued west-bound journey was actually very short (would have been shorter were it not for an extra potty stop).  After we left Steubenville, we stopped in Akron, Ohio to visit some good friends from college whose wedding we had attended ages ago, and whom we hadn't seen since our OWN wedding!  They graciously housed us for one night.  Of course, we neglected to take any pictures of them and their awesome family of 4 boys (see: sucky picture taker, below).  A house full of boys is such an interesting dynamic.  At one point three of them were entangled in a wrestling match on the floor of the den.  I'm sure it's a common sight for their parents, but it was the first time I'd seen so many white athletic socks locked together.

Even though we hadn't seen these friends in years, we can still call them friends; most of our close friendships from college have been like that.  It's like you pick right back up where you left off, regardless of how much time has passed.  It is always so joyful visiting with people who are trying to live their lives and raise their families with the same goals as you.  It's one of the blessings of friendships built on the Lord.

The next day was a long one -- we drove all day to Chicago, where we stayed at an Embassy Suites.  (We have standards -- we only stay in hotels with a pool and free breakfast, if we can help it.) :)  I think taking a dip in the hot tub helped ease some of the achiness of a long day in the car.  The following day was another long one -- from Chicago we made it all the way to our final destination in Minnesota, after getting stuck in miserable traffic around Minneapolis/St. Paul (or "the Cities").  We finally stopped for dinner outside Minneapolis, because we were all sick of driving by that point and everyone was beginning to melt.  A brief stop at a McDonald's revived us enough to be able to finish the day's trip.

It was interesting comparing notes with Mr. Pickles to see how our different personalities handled the end of the trip.  We'd been reading The Temperament God Gave You out loud to each other along the way.  Mr. Pickles is a classic Melancholic, while I'm a classic Phlegmatic.  So at the end of the day when the girls were horsing around in the back and making lots of noise and Jo-jo was "singing" at the top of his lungs and the baby was screaming for a diaper change and his dinner and just LET ME OUT ALREADY, Mr. Pickles and I would have very different reactions to the situation.  I would find my happy place: I would retreat into myself, tune everything out, and tell myself, "it's okay, we're almost there, and then everyone will be happy and all will be well,"  while Mr. Pickles would think, "oh, what a horrible idea this was!  Everyone is miserable!  We're all dooooomed!" -- he would find his UNhappy place.  But there was always a moment when it was the most ear-splitting, and we would catch each other's eye, and just smile at each other.  We always felt like comrades in arms at such moments.  Often we would lay out a plan of attack before we stopped: "Okay, you take the baby and the child doing the potty dance to the bathroom while I find a table and then when you're done I'll nurse the baby while you make lunch and then afterwards I'll take the remaining children to the bathroom while you clean up and get coffee and we can leave okay ready set GO!"  We always aimed for speed, but no matter how efficient we tried to be, a quick potty stop always took 30 minutes, while a quick lunch break always took an hour.  Why is it that an hour at a rest stop passes by like the blink of an eye, while an hour in the car is an eternity of torture?

But we finally made it to St. Cloud, and unloaded the suitcases, and threw away several days' worth of fast food residue, and collapsed.

And then it was playtime!  We got to see the cousins almost every other day.  The kids seemed to pick up right where they left off last fall.

Bethany and Miriam -- the big girls! (wish I'd taken a second picture!)

The Catherines built (with Paul's help) a SECRiT GiRlS ClUB

complete with bathtub

Paul willingly hauled water from the lake for them

cold! cold! cold!

apparently the best way to fetch water is to swing the bucket around your head as fast as you can...

and then cast it out into the water

meanwhile Jo-jo found some wheels!

Grandma's bike repair shop

including, but not limited to, the removal of training wheels!

way to go, Catherine!  all the kids were so excited for her!

lookit all this crawling space!!

bah, crawling is for babies!  look what I can do instead!

for dessert, Grandma and Aunt Mary made root beer floats!

what a beautiful day it was...

Apparently we brought the warm weather with us -- it was absolutely glorious while we were there!

We got to spend lots of time with Grandma, too.

what a great-looking brood!

Daniel helped clean Grandma's kitchen

scrubbing the floor is fun!

 One day we took the time to visit the area where Mr. Pickles grew up, including his old parish.

you know, just a quaint little country church...

...with an interior like this!  it was so beautiful.  Mr. Pickles made his First Holy Communion here

the lane leading down to the 50 acres where Mr. Pickles' family's home was

The kids have heard so many stories about Mr. Pickles's childhood here, so it was fun for them actually to be able to see it.

Another day we drove out to visit with Grandpa Gene and Betty.  They're in the process of trying to sell their house.  I think the kids will miss their awesome driveway!

about 5 seconds after this photo, Daniel fell off

Grandpa is very handy -- he made his own "Polish bowling" game out of plastic piping and golf balls!

you throw the linked balls and try to ring them around one of the pipes

it's pretty fun!

Of course, I have to say something about the generous family who hosted us while we were there.  It was the same who opened their home to us last fall.  We have so many bodies in our family now that whenever we visit someone, I feel like we take over their lives. 

...and their basements!

 So we really do appreciate it so much when people let us stay in their homes.  And we had such great fun!  Even though we saw family a lot, we made sure to spend time with our new friends too.

our kids get along so well

Miriam proving how responsible she would be if we had a dog...

Daniel showing how he would help care for a dog (giving it shiatsu massage, maybe?).  i have to say their dog is amazingly patient and good-natured

We spent a whole week in Minnesota, but the time passed really quickly.  We spent a lot more time driving than we had thought we would -- the house we stayed at was amazingly convenient in that it was almost halfway in between Grandma's and Aunt Mary's houses.  However, that meant we spent every day driving to and from one or the other.  We were happy to do it, although we're thinking maybe next time we'll rent a house on a lake and invite everyone to come stay with us! :)

(P.S. Can everyone read the picture captions?  They just seem awfully small to me...)