We're baaaack...

Hello all of you out in blogdom. The family has returned from our month of travel, and boy, we are glad to be back. We had a marvelous time in Yosemite, Atlanta, and Seattle, but there really is no place like home!
Gretchen just whined over my shoulder, "We are NOT glad to be home!" So, I will modify my previous statement:

Everyone over the age of 30 and under the age of one is glad to be home. There, I am certain THAT is true.

Anyhoo, I will give a synopsis of our first-ever family camping experience in Yosemite. First off, it is breathtakingly beautiful. Really. Completely amazing. Yosemite Falls, Half Dome, El Capitan...pictures cannot do these places justice. You just really have to see them to appreciate them. The majesty of Yosemite was such a testimony to the awesome, majestic powers of the Creator Himself! The grandeur of His creativity a glimpse into His character.

I think we did a pretty good job in our debut camping trip. It was A LOT of work! Definitely not one of those sit-back-in-your-beach-chair-type vacations. The food preparation and packing for 7 was tiresome, but I have to say, it was worth it once we were there. A time in God's glorious creation, without computers, cell phones, jobs, TV's, etc. was...well....a true vacation. It was just time together with family and friends. Simple fun.

We had a wonderful time getting to know the Harasick, DeShong, Berggren, Tubbs, and Brooks families. Every one of our children had someone just about their age to play with. We ate really well, had s'mores every night, and hiked, biked, and swam as much as a family with young ones can.

On a funny and ironic note: we had a visit from a bear the first night we were there. This may make those of you in CT laugh, as you surely remember our run-ins with a different brown, four legged, bird-seed stealer in our backyard. The others in our group had collectively been to Yosemite many times, with nary a bear sighting in their campsites. How ironic that on our very first night there, a bear broke into one of our Rubbermaid bins and shredded a role of paper towels. Thankfully, we heard him and my big, strong, brave hubby scared him away. Apparently, we attract bears like others attract mosquitoes. Bear repellent, anyone?

The above picture was taken at Glacier Point. We had a picnic lunch there, overlooking the most magnificent view! We only had a three-fifths happiness rate in the offspring, as you can see, but hey, we were all in the picture!

Many thanks to the wonderful Harasick family for their invitation to camp with them. We found ourselves thankful many times that their trailer was right next to us!

Up next: "Nancy and Kurt's adventure to Atlanta" a.k.a. 'Why I may never fly again" (at least on American Airlines!)

A Glimpse into Our Home

Well, we have delayed our camping trip by one day. Therefore, you all get to enjoy some pics of the fam. Apparently, Kurt is not impressed with the book selection in the above picture.

Raspberries are a beautiful thing. There's nothing like sharing a little spit.

In the cranium size contest, Gabriel wins every time!

It's never too early to learn to play Xbox. Kurt is showing off his prowess by using his pinky finger.

My beautiful boys.

Gustav's Music Was Played on NPR!!

Click the following link to see a little blurb on Gustav's CD at NPR's website. They played a snippet of his piece Nerves yesterday on Weekend Edition as an interlude. How exciting!!

Nerves on NPR

A Month of Travel

Well, folks. After last summer's 3 month, 8,000 mile traveling bonanza, I vowed we would stay home for a long, long time without traveling.

I also said we wouldn't have a 5th child. Oh, and that we would never live in L.A. Heh. Heh.

We begin a month-long traveling spree this coming Thursday, when we venture out for our first-ever family camping trip. Yep. In a tent.

We will be camping with some other wonderful families at Yosemite (like this one and this one), and we are all very excited. It should be a wonderful time of fellowship, not to mention unplugging from society for a while. Most of you will remember the ranch in Wyoming idea? Yeah, Gustav's psyched, and may not return to society...

We return on Sunday evening and then Kurt and I are off on a whirlwind weekend getaway to Atlanta. My sister is hosting my parents, brother, and I to celebrate my Mom and Dad's 35th wedding anniversary. It is such a rare occasion that all of the Cranston's are in the same place at the same time. It will be wonderful to catch up and have them get to know Kurt.

We return on Sunday the 10th and then turn around on the 13th to drive up to Washington state for the annual family vacation with Gustav's side of the family. We will be driving 2 days up through some beautiful country. I am hoping to see the Redwoods on this trip! Once there, we will spend a relaxing week in a house with 14 other people (not counting our 7!) It is always a blast, though, where all of the cousins get reacquainted and the grown-ups stay up way too late discussing anything and everything. Gustav's family is an intellectual bunch. I, being unfit for such discussions, usually go to bed :-)

So, suffice it to say, June will be a slow month on the blog. Probably some picture updates, maybe a sentence or two. If you don't hear from us by July 1st, you might want to check the tents at Yosemite!

Escaping to the Hundred Acre Wood

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.
Sir Francis Bacon

There are certain books out there that you read and enjoy, and then replace on the shelf and only occasionally ponder or recollect what happened between the covers. As a homeschooling family, we have encountered a handful of these books...they served the purpose of giving information, or helping to drive a point home, but they didn't stick in the mind, as it were. They were tasted and returned to the plate.

We have discovered, however, A.A. Milne's writings on his beloved Winnie-the-Pooh to be exquisitely delectable, and we have savored every. single. bite. All of us. These books were read with the same wonder and love, regardless of age. From this thirty-something, down to 3. Every day, I would eagerly consume my lunch, so that we could turn the pages on Pooh's newest adventure. I read aloud at lunchtime. I have a captive audience. Lunches with Pooh were of the leisurely sort. We would sometimes sit for 2 hours.

We laughed, hysterically at times, at Pooh's lack of brain, or Piglet's panic, or Owl's inability to spell his own name. We feasted on Milne's clear, simple language...so succinct and yet so profound at times. We even got teary in some places, especially the end of the second and last book, The House at Pooh Corner. The tears came for me, because I understood what Christopher Robin was trying to say, but couldn't.

"Pooh-"
"Yes, Christopher Robin?"
"I'm not going to do Nothing any more."
"Never again?"
"Well, not so much. They don't let you."
****
"Pooh," said Christopher Robin earnestly, "if I- if I'm not quite---" he stopped and tried again-- "Pooh, whatever happens, you will understand, won't you?"

And as I sat there, cuddling with and laughing with my dear children, I felt that pang that a mother gets when she realizes that they don't stay that way. They will become too old for doing Nothing. They will become too old for sitting in my lap and reading a good story with me.
But the children, they got teary for a different reason. They were sad because there were no more new adventures to share with Pooh. Everything there was to know about Pooh, well, they now knew it. There would be no more surprises.

Pooh is now an Old Friend. The best kind.

So, we have moved on for now. We are currently reading Pinocchio and enjoying that very much. Not quite as much as Pooh, but still. It's like Hershey's vs. Dove... both very good, one just the kind you eat more slowly and savor, and then remember fondly. Over and over again.
We will visit Pooh periodically, I am sure. Just to make sure he's still there in the Hundred Acre Wood, humming and thinking and giving us a reason to love books.

"But, of course, it isn't really Good-bye, because the Forest will always be there...and anyone who is Friendly with Bears can find it." A.A. Milne

Some pictures...

Here, Kurt is helping Gretchen with her Latin :-)



These two pictures demonstrate why it's not all it's cracked up to be being the youngest of 5! Yes, those are handcuffs on his ankles below. You can thank your boys for 'accidentally' leaving them here, Suzanne!!



Mama's Big Blue-Eyed Boy!

All About GABRIEL!!!

Hi! I am Gabriel. I am 3 years old. Here are some things about me:

Favorite food: bananas

Least favorite food: rice & pasta (without red sauce)

Favorite hobby: playing on the computer (Editor's Note: He now has his own log-in!)

Favorite movie: Cars...although lately we've been hearing lots of Night at the Museum quotes..."Dum-Dum, bring me Gum-Gum!"

Favorite book: The Little Engine that Could (the new version)

Least favorite book: The Princess and the Kiss

Favorite Thing to Do in CA: Disneyland (EN: Gabriel goes on every ride except Indiana Jones, and only because he's too short. He loves Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, and Splash Mountain.)

Favorite Thing About Moving to CA: Dad has an office (EN: ? He had an office in CT)

Something I miss a lot in CT: lots of trees and grass, having stairs in our house

Favorite toy: My swords.

Most afraid of: snakes