Home again, home again

Jiggity jig... my mother said that almost every time we drove into our driveway when I was a child. I have no idea where it comes from, most likely a nursery rhyme that I've lost the words to.

Well, the Turner Family Vacation and Mechanics Tour of the Northeast has ended and we are all home safe and sound. What a wonderful trip. What an exhausting trip. We realized on the trip that we have never taken a two week vacation before - what we have missed! It is the perfect amount of time to really disengage and withdraw from life and revitalize ourselves.

Here are some of the memories:

• Two weeks on a double air mattress!
• Two flat tires, one leaving and one returning (it wasn't the quality of the tires, but of the valve - somehow the right side valves both cracked (need to get the left side checked!!)
• 3 U-joints needing replaced in Ontario (one was bad, but we decided to get all 3 replaced)
  
• Stretched cable from the transmission to the engine causing the car to rev and not change gears in the stretch from Niagara Falls to Pennsylvania
• Two very happy campers who adored Rock Mountain Bible Camp
• One incredible week reconnecting with my sister, Denise and her family - especially my lovely, adorable niece Marybeth.
• A piddling, leaking radiator that we needed to babysit like a rebellious teenager and can hopefully replace now that we are home - maybe they'll be able to locate the missing part that didn't come in the two that were ordered before we left...
• The most amazing mechanic in Pennsylvania who fixed things on the Volvo that we didn't even know were wrong - and the wonderful assurance that our transmission is spotless and we should get years left our of her!
• Amazing fireworks on Canada Day right out the front door of my in-laws home.
• Getting to know my niece Olivia & nephew Clark. I will never hear the word "cousins" and not think of the adorable way in which she says it - it's like a great big sigh.
• Enjoying their gorgeous view and home and being mesmerized by their 150 gallon fish tank. If I wasn't so dang lazy and afraid I'd kill the investment of the fish I'd really think about replacing our TV with one - it was so relaxing to sit and watch them swim.
  
• A wonderful night stay at The Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara Falls, ON (and a real live bed to sleep in!)
• Camping again for a week reminded me just how very much I love civilization - although we were treated royally by the amazing camp kitchen staff and I was never once required to cook or clean ANYTHING! God bless Rock Mountain Bible Camp!
• Waking up to an incredible, peaceful view of the lake every morning right out our front zipper. Sitting with our coffee (yes, we brought our Cuisinart coffee maker on the trip to grind our beans every morning! We're addicted)
• Two dousing rainstorms that we enjoyed as they played on the roof of the tent knowing we were dry and safe.
• IKEA - do you think it's fair people in the Toronto area have THREE while the rest of us do without??
• Reconnecting with Keith's family and having brothers & sister in the same place at the same time - nobody gets a word in edgewise!
• The mini-reunion with Deb, Erin & Lynne - it was so sweet to spend time with those amazing women!
  
• Seeing Alinea & Jacob with their grandparents is such a beautiful thing.
• A last night stay in Saco, Maine just minutes away from Ocean Park where we worshipped Sunday a.m. at the Temple. A round wooden structure built in 1881, singing old hymns and having my kids hear Tony Campolo for the first time - and having him kiss and hug them on the way out of church afterward. He is my hero and I was reminded again why. He is the best storyteller and his love for the real Jesus and his unabashed ability to challenge each and every one sitting under his teaching to fall madly in love with that Jesus and live a life of sacrifice. It was the icing on the cake for me. No, really it was the cake, and the rest was the icing. Such a wonderful end to a wonderful time.

Thank you so much for your prayers while we were away - it helped us face the mechanics and car trouble with a much brighter attitude and made family interactions much richer I'm sure. It's good to be home again. Jiggity jig.