On the Road Again

Since summer vacation was winding down, we decided to pack in one more trip. Ryan had to go to a conference in California, so we decided to drive up to Michigan as a family and have Ryan fly in and out of the Detroit airport.

I seemed like a great idea, until the part we needed to have to fix a little problem in our minivan didn't come in time. Since Ryan had to fly out the next day, we took the only option we had: all pile in to our 1998 Honda Accord. It too has had it's "check engine" light on--in fact it's been on for almost a year I think. But we seemed to remember that the problem it had wasn't serious, where the problem in our minivan could have left us stranded. I called and added towing and rental coverage to our insurance policy on the Honda just in case.

It has been a very long time since the Honda has gone back to it's home in Michigan, so maybe it was happy for the visit. We bought it when we were living in Ann Arbor around 7 years ago, and it has been very good to us. It's about 9 hours of driving from here to there, and we survived better than I though we would. In fact, on the way back we only took one stop for about 40 minutes. I'm kind of a nazi when I drive ("Can't you hold it a little longer?").

But it was all worth it to spend time with family. It was great of Kristin and Abram to take care of us, and I especially appreciated having someone who loves to cook. Shauri, Kristin and Lisa took great care of me on my birthday, especially after a tough morning when Andrew had been awake a lot of the night and the expensive camera I had gotten was completely dead on arrival (not the best way to start a birthday!). I finally did get the replacement, which worked just fine. Too bad I don't know what I'm doing with it.

Andrew doesn't smile on command, so I always have to take what I can get.

Mason is getting better at smiling, and showing off a cute mouthful of future orthodondic work. But I appreciate the fact that he at least tries now.

Katie at least knows how to smile. Her challenge is staying still long enough for me to actually take the picture.

And last of all is a photo just for Delsa (my mother-in-law that is on a mission in Australia). Your geese friends all miss you dearly and wanted to say hello.