back home in AZ!

Well, we survived it and loved it all! After 3+ years of planning and saving for our sabbatical trip, traveling to 9 places in 33 days, we are back home in sunny, hot AZ. Monday, Oct. 17th we packed up our things one last time and Andy took us to the Atlanta airport to fly home to Phoenix. We arrived back here around noon on Monday to 100 degree weather (come on Arizona! Seriously?). Our friend Renee picked us up and took us home. It's good to be back.

Many, many thanks to all of our friends and family who hosted us, cared for us, and gave us your time, energy, and love. We have hundreds of priceless memories from this past month. We are thankful to God for this incredible opportunity and for the many ways He provided for us on this trip. It was awesome to go so many places and tell Lydia that God was with her wherever she went and that no matter where she was, He loved her, heard her prayers and knew her needs. I have to say that our kids were AMAZING on this long journey with constant changes and new places and people. They adjusted remarkably well and I'm so proud of them and so happy that we were able to make this trip as a family. Sheesh, I'm getting teary just writing this.

Here are some UN-expected things from our sabbatical trip:

• leaving "the Cat in the Hat" somewhere (?) yet AGAIN
• Lydia said several times on our trip "I really miss my friends". When we drove into our neighborhood on Monday she said "Hey! We're in our neighborhood! I don't miss my friends anymore" :)
• frying my hair with the flat iron in London - brilliant.
• Ben coming home with 3 (yikes!) new "I" teeth
• I didn't work out for an entire month
• Rollie and I both gained 5lbs (big surprise, given the above)
• So few issues on our trip. Things went SO smoothly.
• coming home with new ski jackets for Rollie and I. So now we're planning a ski trip this winter :)
• 33 days of mail...
• I don't feel like cooking. New recipes in my pile of magazines should get me excited, though!
• how easy it was to pick up with old friends and some family that we haven't seen in a long time. So thankful for those relationships and the opportunity to see the amazing way God is working in people's lives.
• Rollie and I were REALLY grumpy on Tuesday, our first full day back in AZ. Definitely a reality check when we have responsibilities again and no extra family members to play with our kids.
• Lydia came home with a MAJOR twang in her speech... thanks to all the time in IN, TN, and GA!
• How well the kids did with all the changes. And how well I did with all the changes :) I knew they would be OK, but 95% of the time they handled everything so well. I love you guys!
• I still want to spend time with Rollie. We were barely ever apart and I'm still so glad that he's going to be home with us for 2 more weeks.
• We can't wait to do it again! We're ready to start saving for our next trip in 6 years! We're thinking of a week in Italy sans kids, and maybe camping at some national parks with everyone.

We'll leave you with this picture as a final thought on our sabbatical trip:

THANK YOU for joining us on this journey!

(we'll still be doing blog updates these next few weeks before Rollie goes back to work

with our family shennanigans and new recipes)

Last stop!

We had SUCH a great time in Atlanta with Andy and Emily. Andy is my older brother (even though he says he is 23 :) They are expecting their first child around Thanksgiving. We are so excited for them and can't wait to meet Hannah in a few months! Here is a pic of Andy and Emily:

We had a low-key visit with several trips to parks, movies at home for the kids, Rock Band (the kids went nuts over this!), playing with A & E's three cats, amazing grilled food courtesy of Andy... Poor Andy and Emily, they had the honor of being our last stop on our sabbatical trip, which meant that we had been on the road for 4 weeks with our 1 1/2 and 3 1/2 year olds. We were holding up really well when we got there, but by Sunday when Ben was cutting his third "I" tooth of our trip, we were finally ready to head home :)

Our little rocker! Love this girl.

Oh yes, even Momma participated.

Um... microphones are the BEST thing ever for kids.

How does Ben know how to stand like a cool guy already?

Saturday afternoon Andy and Emily took us to the Georgia Aquarium. It was fantastic and we all had a great time. In one of the really large tanks there was a glass-walled tunnel that you rode a moving walk-way through. Incredible!

the kids loved all the giant walls of glass

Lydia wanted to see the sharks... and here they were!

this is from the tunnel we rode through. A whale shark and a sting ray.

seriously, this place is huge! These were beluga whales (I think!)

giant spider crabs

goofing off... somebody was fried after a couple of hours here :)

Lydia and the lobsters ("lob-lobsters" in Lydia-speak).

These are her favorite thing at our local grocery store...

After the acquarium and Andy and Emily took us to an AMAZING coal-fire pizza place in downtown Atlanta. I could have eaten the whole pizza myself... thankfully I didn't :) Here is a picture of all of us at dinner. It was a perfect evening to sit outside and enjoy good food, people-watching, and great company.

We love you Andy and Emily. Thanks for a wonderful weekend, for taking care of us, and for making us feel so loved. We greatly enjoyed our time with you. Can't wait to see you (and baby Hannah!) for our Creek family vacation in Savannah next spring!

Smokies to Atlanta

Thursday, Oct. 13th we packed up all of our things and headed to Atlanta, our last stop on this epic midwest roadtrip. We were going to Marietta to see my brother Andy and his wife Emily for 4 days before heading back home. Here are pics of the kids on our road trip. They ate lunch and then slept the rest of the way - easy drive!

What was I thinking giving our 1 1/2 yr old a PBJ sandwich and Cheetos in his car seat???

(Notice the sandwich is next to him...) He sure was happy about it though :)

car nap!

We made great time on our drive so my brother wasn't even home from work yet. We took the kids to a park by his house and he met us there soon after. The kids had TONS of energy to burn off after their naps and 4 hours in the car. And the Cheetos... Cheetos must have given them some energy, right? :)

Friday Andy took us to downtown Marietta where they have a great square with a park in the middle. The kids got to play on this fantastic train. Lydia loved "selling tickets" and telling the "conductor" to take her to the swimming pool :) After the park we wandered around the square and had a yummy lunch outside of a cafe.



The park had all these characters lying around, and Lydia LOVES her Dr. Suess characters!

Might have to do this for Halloween...



Clingman's Dome

Monday we (minus Gordon and Ruth) drove about and hour up the mountain to Clingman's Dome, which I think is the highest point in the Smoky's. We took some pictures, ate our picnic, and let the older kids do some rock climbing:

Our beautiful drive to the Clingman's Dome

In the parking lot of Clingman's Dome, there was still a 1/2 mile hike to the top

Rock climbing

Our littlest hikers - they had NO idea how easy there ride was!

Joel on top, Clay and Edie right below the pine tree, and Lydia in the lower right corner

So after our picnic we all hiked the 1/2 mile to the top of Clingman's Dome. It was an intense uphill hike, but thankfully it was a really nice sidewalk so we took Adelle and Ben in the double stroller and Stacy carried Evelyn in her Baby Bjorn. At the peak there was a tower with a spiral ramp to the top. What a view!

The ramp to the top of the tower

Ben walked up the whole ramp all by himself!

Lydia was hiding from the wind :)

Edie walked the whole 1/2 mile uphill by herself!

We all got fruit snacks at the top as our reward :)

Rolli and Joel spotted a black bear in the berries

A Cabin in the Smokies

We arrived Friday afternoon in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Six days and nights in the Smoky Mountains with Rollie's parents and his sister Stacy, her husband Joel, and their four kids. We had rented a 3,000 square foot cabin for the week and it was beautiful. There were 3 levels, each with a balcony, and a hot tub on one of them. Three king bedrooms, each with it's own bath, and the upper floor was a game room/living room/loft bedroom with bunks and sofa sleepers for the older kids.

 the view from one of our decks

 Lydia and Ben waiting on the deck for their cousins to arrive!

 all the kids enjoying the pool table... even the big kids :)

Rollie's parents flew in from Minneapolis where they were ready for a week's vacation after spending a week at Stacy and Joel's after the birth of their 4th child, Evelyn Ruth (now 6 weeks old) and a week watching our kids while we were in the UK. Stacy and Joel and their 4 kids drove from Bowling Green, KY, just 4 hours away. The cousins were so excited to play together and it's really fun that they are so close in age. Edith is 4, Lydia and Clay are 3 (just 4 weeks apart), Ben and Adelle are 1 1/2 (3 weeks apart), and sweet little Evelyn was just 6 weeks old (I had told Stacy that I wasn't getting pregnant at the same time as her that time around :) Evelyn was hands-down the quietest, easiest kid last week. Rollie and I are wondering how we can get a newborn like that the next time around. (No, that's NOT an announcement!)

Here are some family/cabin pictures:

  Adelle, Rollie and Ben

hanging out!

 The loft bedroom/gameroom on the top floor

Ben giving us his cheesy smile from the huge wood staircase

Lydia was so excited to hold baby Evelyn!

 Stacy and Adelle

Ben "helping" Grandma zip her hoodie

sweet Adelle

Edith, Lydia and Ben helping Grandma and Grandpa make pancakes for breakfast

Rollie's dad is the breakfast guy. He made great breakfasts every day and then Ruth, Stacy and I made the rest of the meals. The guys took the kids to the park one afternoon. We all went to a community center one morning to go swimming and play basketball. Another day our family and Stacy's family drove up to the highest point in the Smoky Mountains, had a picnic, and hiked the last 1/2 mile to the top. The kids watched movies and ate popcorn and helped me to make chocolate chip cookies. Stacy, Ruth, Edie and I went to the nearby outlet mall during the kids' naptime one day. We just had a LOT of good, laidback, quality family time. It was wonderful!

Indiana to Tennessee

For our last day in Indiana we took the kids to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis and then picked up our rental car for the rest of our trip. Here are some pics from the Children's Museum:

 There was a giant Transformer in the lobby of the Children's Museum

Dinosaur exhibit. Lydia was a little scared by all the load noises being piped in :)

Lydia got to dress up as a dinosaur and sit on the "eggs". She loved it!

There was a huge frog exhibit

 

As part of the frog exhibit, Lydia got to dress up as a frog.

Race car exhibit

 Playing with sand in the toddler area

The sculpture was made of individual blown glass pieces, spanning 4 floors floor to ceiling in the center of Children's Museum.

After the Children's Museum we stopped for dinner and then picked up our rental car. We went back to my parent's house in Bloomington that night and packed up our things. We left Bloomington at 7:30am Friday morning (Oct. 7th) and drove 7 hours to the Smoky Mountains near Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Our drive through southern Indiana. I love the limestone cut-throughs. It just feels like home!

Many thanks to my parents for a fantastic visit. We love you and can't wait to see you at Thanksgiving!