Summery Summary
It's Labor Day, my deadline for writing about summer activities, so here is a summary.
We set out for Chicago at the end of June, stayed one night at my sister isabeaus_mom's house, and then headed to Yellowstone. Just getting off the plane at Jackson Hole and looking at the wall of Grand Tetons was stunning, and the beautiful scenery just kept coming. The wildflowers were particularly enticing to me. I found it incredibly refreshing to be in a national park with no strip malls, lights, billboards, etc. We stayed at Old Faithful Inn, which is mere yards away from the eponymous geyser. (A word to the wise: all of the cafeteria food at Yellowstone is done by the same company, and it is horrible. The smaller diners are greasy but yummy.)
rt_hon_rackman and I didn't get to hike and do as many activities as we would have liked because Elliot had firm time limits on walking and sightseeing, not to mention that he kept waking us up in the middle of the night. He also refused to have anything to do with other family members until halfway through the trip. Once he finally stopped looking at his relatives as if they were Sweeney Todd and allowed us to go, rt_hon_rackman and I took the opportunity to hike to Observation Point. The hike up was, in my opinion, better than the view at the top. We went the long way down, past Solitary Geyser, which is aptly named. We saw no one on the trail and no one at the geyser. Standing there in the absolute quiet, watching a storm come over the mountains, I felt for a few moments that I had completely escaped civilization. It didn't last long enough.
Gillian spent time with her cousins who were there, and earned her Junior Ranger badge. She also went to Grand Teton national park, and managed to throw up on her ranger hat and get soaking wet, requiring her aunt to lend her a comically large shirt.
On the way home we got delayed by thunderstorms at Denver and finally got in to O'Hare at 3:00 am. My sainted mother doktorjo still came to pick us up, for which I am eternally grateful.
The kids and I stayed with my sister while rt_hon_rackman went back to hold the fort in Orlando. Gillian enjoyed zoo camp at Brookfield Zoo with her cousin Isabeau, although Elliot and the adults didn't enjoy the commute that week. During our three weeks in Chicago, we also celebrated my mom's birthday and Gillian's birthday (she had an Atomic Rainbow cake, with two kinds of cake, strawberries, bananas, custard, fudge, and whipped cream), had fun visits with m00nglum and mrs. m00nglum, crouchback and moontoad, and various friends and relatives, went to the Renaissance Faire, and generally had a fun but exhausting time of it. The highlight for me was seeing so many friends, particularly at my yearly gaming session with m00nglum, desdenova, prince_corwin, Mr. verin_the_brown, kmriley, and A. (This year, Keef got to use his rockstar skills to defeat some ancient lich musicians, take over an island, and become its king for a night. At least he thinks he did.)
I moved base camp to Hyde Park just in time for rt_hon_rackman to return for our last side trip to Seattle and Mount Rainier. We all made it to Seattle in one piece and settled in with rt_hon_rackman's cousin Iggy. We spent most of our time there playing Rock Band. Gillian and Elliot both wanted the microphone, so we settled it by the simple expedient of giving him a much larger microphone that wasn't plugged in.
My family reunion on Mount Rainier was pleasant but too short (as was all of our travel this summer), and then back in Seattle we crammed in a few visits with friends before we had to take off for Chicago again. (More about Seattle here.) Since we were in Hyde Park, kmriley kindly agreed to host a get-together at her house. rt_hon_rackman hadn't gotten to see our Chicago friends, so we managed to squeeze that in, and visits to two more sets of relatives, before we came back to the palm trees and gators. Whew.
My thanks to all of you who hosted us, or went out of your way to visit with us this summer. We love all youse guys. Stay tuned for pictures.
(P.S. - Multiple time zones and young children do not mix well.)
We set out for Chicago at the end of June, stayed one night at my sister isabeaus_mom's house, and then headed to Yellowstone. Just getting off the plane at Jackson Hole and looking at the wall of Grand Tetons was stunning, and the beautiful scenery just kept coming. The wildflowers were particularly enticing to me. I found it incredibly refreshing to be in a national park with no strip malls, lights, billboards, etc. We stayed at Old Faithful Inn, which is mere yards away from the eponymous geyser. (A word to the wise: all of the cafeteria food at Yellowstone is done by the same company, and it is horrible. The smaller diners are greasy but yummy.)
rt_hon_rackman and I didn't get to hike and do as many activities as we would have liked because Elliot had firm time limits on walking and sightseeing, not to mention that he kept waking us up in the middle of the night. He also refused to have anything to do with other family members until halfway through the trip. Once he finally stopped looking at his relatives as if they were Sweeney Todd and allowed us to go, rt_hon_rackman and I took the opportunity to hike to Observation Point. The hike up was, in my opinion, better than the view at the top. We went the long way down, past Solitary Geyser, which is aptly named. We saw no one on the trail and no one at the geyser. Standing there in the absolute quiet, watching a storm come over the mountains, I felt for a few moments that I had completely escaped civilization. It didn't last long enough.
Gillian spent time with her cousins who were there, and earned her Junior Ranger badge. She also went to Grand Teton national park, and managed to throw up on her ranger hat and get soaking wet, requiring her aunt to lend her a comically large shirt.
On the way home we got delayed by thunderstorms at Denver and finally got in to O'Hare at 3:00 am. My sainted mother doktorjo still came to pick us up, for which I am eternally grateful.
The kids and I stayed with my sister while rt_hon_rackman went back to hold the fort in Orlando. Gillian enjoyed zoo camp at Brookfield Zoo with her cousin Isabeau, although Elliot and the adults didn't enjoy the commute that week. During our three weeks in Chicago, we also celebrated my mom's birthday and Gillian's birthday (she had an Atomic Rainbow cake, with two kinds of cake, strawberries, bananas, custard, fudge, and whipped cream), had fun visits with m00nglum and mrs. m00nglum, crouchback and moontoad, and various friends and relatives, went to the Renaissance Faire, and generally had a fun but exhausting time of it. The highlight for me was seeing so many friends, particularly at my yearly gaming session with m00nglum, desdenova, prince_corwin, Mr. verin_the_brown, kmriley, and A. (This year, Keef got to use his rockstar skills to defeat some ancient lich musicians, take over an island, and become its king for a night. At least he thinks he did.)
I moved base camp to Hyde Park just in time for rt_hon_rackman to return for our last side trip to Seattle and Mount Rainier. We all made it to Seattle in one piece and settled in with rt_hon_rackman's cousin Iggy. We spent most of our time there playing Rock Band. Gillian and Elliot both wanted the microphone, so we settled it by the simple expedient of giving him a much larger microphone that wasn't plugged in.
My family reunion on Mount Rainier was pleasant but too short (as was all of our travel this summer), and then back in Seattle we crammed in a few visits with friends before we had to take off for Chicago again. (More about Seattle here.) Since we were in Hyde Park, kmriley kindly agreed to host a get-together at her house. rt_hon_rackman hadn't gotten to see our Chicago friends, so we managed to squeeze that in, and visits to two more sets of relatives, before we came back to the palm trees and gators. Whew.
My thanks to all of you who hosted us, or went out of your way to visit with us this summer. We love all youse guys. Stay tuned for pictures.
(P.S. - Multiple time zones and young children do not mix well.)