Great Western Trek, Part 2: In Minnesota

Nicky was initially disappointed in the house.  When we told him it was on a lake, he thought we meant that literally.  He was expecting a floating house, or at the very least an island. 

Sorry, buddy.

Great Western Trek '22, Part 1: Westbound

So recently I have had several people (and by "several" I mean "more than one") ask me if we still have a blog.  And yes, technically, we DO....  but it is covered with cyber dust and spiderwebs.  The fact that anyone asked and even expressed nostalgia over our blog prodded me to get out my cyber Raid and duster, and let our adoring public peek into our lives once again.

I've realized that since we have a private GroupMe with immediate family, that's how I primarily share updates from our lives.  But obvs not everyone who reads this blog has access to that, and for some reason my brain didn't take that into account.  Anyway that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Well, going back to the start of summer, this year we FINALLY made a long-overdue driving trip out to Minnesota and back.  Our niece Bethany was getting married in June, and of course we HAD to be there, so that provided the perfect opportunity to make our usual long trip visitng friends-and-relations along the way!

It's beginning to look a lot like vacaaaaayshuuuun...

I wish I'd got a picture of the back of the van all packed up.  Truly a masterwork of Mad Tetris Skilz.

A Year In Review

I think 2020 is over... which would make a year-in-review appropriate, although I'm not 100% sure we're not just stuck in the vestibule of Hell from the Inferno.

 

At any rate, here is a summary of what we did last year (assuming it was actually a year ago).  Surprisingly I have remarkably few pictures.  I guess we weren't very busy for some weird reason.

January

The year began as usual, with the disembowling of the gingerbread monstrosity house.

this would be Day 2.

Father's Day weekend

Hello friends-and-relations!

It's SUMMER!

Things have finally calmed down here a bit.  Like every other parent of school-aged children, our Spring was filled with performances, recitals, friends' performances, and end-of-the-year presentations. It's delightful seeing the evidence of all the talent and hard work that the kids put into their year.  But, you know, it's also nice to have a little more breathing space to the days.

so many colors!

Our June was very full -- especially the last couple weeks.  The funnest part was driving out to Ohio to spend Father's Day with family.  Katie had been attending horse camp with her cousin for a week, so since we had to pick her up anyway we decided to make a mini-vacay out of it.

Winter photodump

January

umm, don't think you fit there any more, Baby

arrr, fercious pirate kitteh wants all yer catnip

Nicky "helping" Miriam to practice

California, here I come!

So in early September, my Uncle Ranger Dave became Uncle Deacon Dave!!  When I first heard that my retired California park ranger uncle was going to be ordained to the permanent diaconate in Sonoma, I hoped I would be able to make it.  And thanks to Mr. Pickles' superhero status, I was!  Sadly we are past the point where traveling by air all together as a family is within our normal means, so only a small representation of the Pickles was able to attend with me.  I decided to bring my bookend boys -- Jojo (oldest boy) and Dominic (youngest boy) -- while Mr. Pickles heroically stayed at home with the rest for the six days I was gone.

...and Back Again

The Great Midwestern Trek of 2016!  Part Dos.

So returning East from Chicago, we first stopped at South Bend to visit cousins.  The great thing about big families is that when you get just two of them together, you have an instant party!

The South Bend cousins had recently moved into a gorgeous big new house with an awesome swingset in their backyard.  We couldn't stay for long, just a few hours, but it was a good visit.  We always have great conversations when we hang with them, as you would expect from a lawyer, a mathematician, and two homeschooling mothers!  It's also encouraging spending time with other people who are in the same stage of life and trying to do this big, Catholic family thing well.  When you feel freakishly different from the rest of society, with all eyes watching and critiquing your every move, it's comforting to be with others who are struggling with similar challenges -- and appreciating the same joys.

There...

The Great Midwestern Trek of 2016!  Part Uno.

Soooo... every summer there's a big geekfest for Statisticians in a different city.  When we heard this year's conference was going to be in Chicago, we thought, "Perfect!  We can use that as the springboard for another Great Western Trek!"  But a bit of the wind was taken out of our sails when we realized that Mr. Pickles would have to come back home right after the conference, due to the need to prepare for another important meeting soon after.  So no Great Western Trek. :(  However, we could still enjoy a Great MIDwestern Trek, getting to relish our time with our Chicago peeps without having to hurry through on our way to points west or east.

And then we learned that due to a tight work schedule beforehand, Mr. Pickles was going to have to fly into Chicago.

...by himself.

And stay in a hotel near the conference.

...by himself.

Which meant that in order to make a Great Midwestern Trek at all, Mrs. Pickles was going to have to pack, close up the house, drive 700 miles, and otherwise take care of 6 minors for 5 days all on her own.

Last Family Fling of the Summer

hmm... netflix, blog... netflix, blog... oh fine, blog

Hey there!  Bet you thought I'd forgotten about you.  Nope, I've been composing posts in my head ever since the last one.  Which is unfortunate because I am easily distracted by shiny things so all those brilliant thoughts are gone and you'll have to put up with my usual pathetic-attempts-at-witty meanderings.

(Okay, I'm really tired tonight, so this oughta being interesting...)

So the main reason it's been quiet around here for a while is that we went to THE BEACH!!!  Well, it wasn't a California beach, but Bethany Beach in Delaware still qualifies as a decent beach experience: it met all the necessary requirements -- sun, sand, water, seagulls, and a delicious salty breeze.

The only thing it was missing was Harolds.

Our annual October trip

Yes, once again we went back to the Alma Mater for Homecoming weekend/Medieval Festival/general family fun times. :)

For the trip out, we FINALLY turned Joseph's carseat around so he was facing forward. He was enthralled by how much more he could see. And he was in total heaven on the highway -- all the TRUCKS!!!

The kids were happily reunited when we arrived. They spent all that afternoon playing. The next day we went to the university's Medieval fair.

All the cousins are growing so fast... and growing in numbers! Edy's family is expecting another sibling next year!

Well, since we missed the pony rides last year, we made sure to stop there first!


That is one happy girl.

Joseph didn't understand why HE couldn't ride the ponies.


As per tradition, everyone get her face painted with the usual flowers and rainbows and stars and hearts. What? No skull and crossbones?

Even little Lucy got a happy face! She is such a sunshiney girl.

The crafts were awesome -- swords and shields and crowns and bead necklaces. We spent a long time at this table!


We also went to the food tent and bought "lamb's wool" from my old household (Love of the Lamb). :)

Joseph wasn't quite sure what to make of his first cotton candy. I think he was weirded out by the texture.

The rest of the weekend was pretty unstructured. We tried to get together with some other friends who were in town, but we ended up just hanging out with the cousins, which was fine by everyone!

Playing Princess Monopoly. In a surprising turn of events, Joseph refused to sit on Miriam's lap, and insisted on sitting with Aunt Rachel!

We had lots of great times together. Lots of loud times...


...and cute times.

It's a pity I didn't keep recording -- they got very cute right after the video cuts off, talking with each other and playing with their feet. It's so fun watching toddlers together! Lucy and Joseph take the cake for cuteness. They were completely enamored with each other.



On the way home, we stopped at our favorite BK for lunch. Not only did Joseph figure out how to give his mother a heart attack by climbing up into the playtower,


...but Katie was also brave enough to make it all the way to the top!


She also braved the BIG slide and was so proud of herself!


The first time she went down, she had this same look on her face, and was jumping up and down and clapping her hands and singing out gleefully, "I'm not afraid! I'm not afraid! I'm not afraid!"


Lucy and "Buddy". Thank heaven for family.

Guess where I was this weekend

Hey, I can see my old house from here! Wait, what? You don't see it? Okay, I'll zoom in:

There it is, see it? Right there?

Okay, fine, so I went to go meet the latest family member and be present at his baptism. I went by myself. It was very weird being alone. Traveling was actually... pleasant! I couldn't stay for very long -- about 48 hours to be exact -- but that's enough time to have a good time with family and partake in some baby worshipping!

Hello, Damien Alexander!

Yes, teeth are overrated, especially when you're this cute!

Uncle Dave practicing for when it's his turn. :)

This cracked me up, because it brings back so many memories: how new parents bathe their new baby.


All fresh and fluffy! (and staring at Daddy)

Father and son. Joe is a good Daddy. (I wish I'd taken a picture of him playing WoW with Damien in his lap.)

I spent one night with Joe and Rie so I could get in some extra Damien time before the baptism. Since I was up and at 'em before 6 (technically I slept in!), I got to spend some special auntie time with Damien while the rest of the household slept some more.

Say hi to the internet!

Damien is just a cutie and a half. Lookie dat face! Chubber chubber!

I don't think he ever stopped moving while I was holding him. He's a boy, all right!



Newborn smiles are so precious.

After the last-second frenzy of getting ready and Joe's demonstration of his Pontiac's acceleratory powers, we arrived at the church, where Dad and Grandma together got the star all cuted up.


Grandma with the lucky grandchild who will get the most opportunities for spoiling.

The church was, appropriately, St. John the Baptist.

Welcome, newest Christian!


The godparents were our brother Dave, and Rie's sister Christine (you may remember that Miriam was flower girl at both weddings last summer). Fr. Patrick has been a family friend for ages -- we knew him when he was still frater Patrick, and we attended his ordination and first Masses. He also celebrated Joe and Rie's wedding (as well as Christine's), so it was very special for him to be able to perform the first baptism as well!

Although Damien was the newest Christian on the block, he wasn't the new kid any more -- his second cousin James now holds that title:

babies, babies everywhere!

Before:


After!
James was over 11 lbs. when he was born. Yes, Sara is a superwoman!

All the cousins! Martin, me, Dave, Timi (for whose wedding we came out back in June), and Joe with Damien.

Here's one for Nana. :)

Damien with his godmother, Aunt Tine. She was telling me how close she feels to him -- that when he was born (she was at the hospital, waiting), she felt that he might as well have been hers, she loved him so much. I realized I felt the same way -- when I was playing with him that morning, and snuggling with him while he slept on my shoulder, I felt all my mothering instincts focus on him as well. I never realized I could love another mother's child as if it were my own.

There's nothing like family in the whole wide world. And I'm happy to be back with mine, where I'm queen bee again, even if that involves filling soap dispensers, replacing toilet paper, turning off lights, cleaning off counters, and all those little things that tend to get forgotten when the details person is away. :)

Guess where we were last weekend

Wait, what? You don't see it? Okay, I'll zoom in:

(and that's about as close as we got)

The Big Apple! (People who actually know the city can tell me what part this is, since I haven't the faintest idea.) Miriam's reaction to this scene: "Wow, the buildings are so TALL!" DC doesn't have skyscrapers, since no building can be taller than the Capitol dome.

The Brooklyn bridge, from an extremely non-scenic, yet practical, point of view.

So the reason we were in Nyork Nyork was for the wedding of one of Mr. Pickles' former coworkers. It took place in a gorgeous little church.


The wedding itself was lovely -- the church's schola did the music, so there was chant and polyphany all over the place. The bride processed down the aisle to a chanted Introit that was exquisite. It was awesome -- I think it had to have been the most Catholic-sounding wedding I'd ever been to. :)

The reception was in the church hall, and very sweet and homey. We let Katie have the camera for a few minutes, and had it returned with lots of picture like this:


We actually had an adventure getting TO the wedding -- somewhere in New Jersey we got stuck in a HORRIBLE traffic jam, which we later learned was left over from an accident that had happened 6 hours earlier. We had planned on arriving a couple hours early so we could get together with Miriam's godmother for lunch, but as it was we only had 5 minutes to spare before the wedding started! Yeesh.

We're glad we took the trip -- the bride was radiant, the groom was bursting with pride, and everyone had a good time. Everything a good wedding should be. :)

And most importantly, the Pickles looked good. :)

New York city has always intimidated me -- just the sheer size of it. But I realized it's all neighborhoods -- when you're there you're not oppressed by the immensity of it, because you live and move within a smaller area. And each area has so much character, so much happening -- so much life. I can now understand why people choose to live there. It's a busy, exciting place, with something always going on. It's not for me -- I need more peace and open areas to thrive -- but now I get the attraction of living in the big city. I might even want to live there if I could participate in things like this. :)