Better than Summer Camp: 2 weeks at Grandma and Grandpa's

What could be better than two weeks with your newly-retired grandparents to do all the fun things you wanted? Exactly. Though my parents were worried about keeping up with Misha and Sebby's energy, I think they did a fine job - and possibly even outlasted them.

In the evenings, the kids called us to chat about their adventures. Canoeing at the nature center was a big hit - they even loved scooping out a bit of water leaking in!

Green and serene.

I love the matching hats.

Next up: fishing on Uncle Gary's boat. They both caught fish, not to mention another turtle!

Also at Gary's: BB gun target practice on tin cans! They even brought back the can to show me their marksmanship.

A day at the Kids Museum:

Kite flying:

McCrory Gardens with Nara, who got to spend some more time with her cousins:

Chilling at home time:

Keeping Grandpa in shape...

Of course, they did many more things than just that! They even kept a log, which extended through several sheets of paper:

Chess, whittling, wooden top tossing, nature walks, biking, and much more.

And as for Josh and me, what were we up to? We spent romantic nights assembling several bookshelves and a mini chest of drawers we ordered off Amazon (aka Legos for adults), filling the shelves with our beloved books, and reorganizing every room in the house. It looked amazing!

After the two weeks were up, it was time for another mega-road-trip to meet for the kid swap. Time to load up on the podcasts.

A monument that caught Mom's eye in OKC.

Since Kent and Connie so generously offered their house as a meeting point in Tecumseh, OK, we were happy to accept. Josh and I drove up, while Grandma and Grandpa embarked upon an adventurous road trip with two backseat companions and no GPS. After song singing, graveyard joke-telling, and Reader's Digest anecdotes, they made it in one piece. Josh and I pulled up shortly after, the kids dancing and jumping around our car like farm dogs eager to see who has arrived. The evening was spent relaxing and talking, and I believe eating a considerable amount of cake.

The next morning, we got to sample Connie's fabulous dairy products (fresh goat's milk and homemade Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, and chevre cheese), eat breakfast together, and tour the farm. The kids remembered the goat-milking and the treehouse from last year - both big hits worth repeating.

A fresh, delicious breakfast.

Sebastian and Grandpa. Is that a wink?

Kent on his beautiful land

Oh, what a beautiful morning in Oklahoma!

Connie with her affectionate goats.

Treehouse time.

And even Grandma!

Just like last time, the kids loved the chance to milk a real goat. What pros!

All too soon, it was time to load up the car for the drive back to Houston - with some goat milk and chevre safely tucked in our cooler.

And that concludes our momentous summer road trip!

Six-State Road Trip: part two

Our Grand Forks days were great! Tanya and I covered all the bases for our preferred brand of fun: frog-catching, tree-climbing, ice cream on the front steps, ukulele sing-alongs, and homemade cookies. The kids got along pretty well, especially outdoors, and were super photogenic. Between the summer foliage and the shining red and yellow hair, these photos are precious.

We spent one day at Turtle River State Park, where we all waded in the muddy river and caught frogs to our hearts' content. We had bucketfuls! We even made bank-side pools for the critters so that Harry could observe them more closely, though he cried every time they hopped away.

Catch that frog!

On one of our final days, we had a lovely day in park with this amazing Birch 'family tree' just calling out to be photographed. 

The princess and the frog

Never underestimate the importance of sunscreen

We then wandered down to the river, getting buried in mucky mud up to our ankles, to look for more frogs. We found a few, to Harry's delight.

The beautiful reds!

The cute blondies!

Ah, the mamas.

Eventually, we were on our way back to Brookings again for our last few days. An afternoon at the kids' museum, adventures on the bike trail, an array of interesting musical instruments, and some old reel-to-reel movies created a memorable end to our trip.

In the kids' museum

The famous T-Rex

Just like old times

On the bike trail

Picnicking

Have you ever played a didgeridoo? 

Practicing on the Kyrgyz mouth harp, the ooz komuz.

Grandpa dug out the reel-to-reel films of Tanya and me as young kids, which the boys loved watching. Misha was fascinated with the inner workings of the machine and tried to create his own.

Onto the show!

Young Tanya and me with Papa

Young Tanya and me with Mom

All too soon, it was time to drive home again. Luckily, we were warmly welcomed back by Kent and Connie in Oklahoma to make our trip a little easier. We spent the night, and in the morning we got a wonderful tour of their land - by Gator.

Pecan trees

I have many more beautiful photos from our first visit to Kent and Connie's, but due to an inopportune glitch in my photo drive, I cannot access them. However, the kids (and me!) were delighted to get the chance to milk real goats and watch them prance around their pens. We even got to try goat's milk, as well as Connie's secret pancake recipe.

Somewhere in southern Oklahoma, we stopped at this scenic overlook 

and then we kept on going until we were home. Josh was happy to see us!