Leap Day

It's Leap Day, a rare day on the calendar.  Maddie's seen five of them so far, and what you see above is me... leaping.  We were at the middle school again today, part of our usual after school event called "Bible Blast."  Beforehand, we were playing basketball with these large pilates balls which of course won't go through a basketball hoop.  Nevertheless, our new rules were to see if we can get one to settle in the hoop, which you can see happening above.  I got two points.  There were only a few of us trying it, so it wasn't necessarily a major victory.  Just a minor one.

And here's a picture of me in the hallway posing in front of photos.  That one kid looks a bit surprised at my skillz.  Yeah, that's skills with a "z."  Anyway, today was a big day at the office, and I completely forgot about it.  But twenty years ago this day I was offered the chance to work at KidPak as a job, and in fact I said yes.  The rest of the folks at the office took me out to eat, and we went to Panera, the very place where I was offered the job so many years ago.  Pretty cool!

It was a quiet day otherwise, and certainly a busy one for Mom who was sewing feathers onto costumes for Easter.  Maddie was doing work with forensics and other classes, and also in an elementary school herself for early childhood education.  

On the way home, I got some plates of barbecue from a church event, and the three of us had a barbecue dinner that was actually pretty good - and pretty filling.  I ate too much on that one.  It's a good thing I'm still doing roughly forty minutes or so a day on the treadmill.  Still in Namibia, and it's been fascinating to me.  I think I have two more walks there and then I'll have to find another country to discover!

Tonight we started the St. Patrick's Day season in earnest.  Well, it was earlier today that we were listening to vinyl records of the Chieftains.  But tonight we watched that movie you have to watch on February 29th, a movie called "Leap Year."  It's an Irish themed romantic comedy, and yes, it's somewhat predictable, but it's also very scenic, as you get to see a lot of the Irish countryside.  The premise of the movie involves our lead actress Amy Adams, heading to Ireland to do this thing that girls are allowed to do on February 29th:  propose to a guy.  Maddie was with us to watch this time, the three of us spending the final hours of this bonus day together in the living room.

Afterwards, it was back to the Kingdom Keepers book, and back to this curious park in North Africa where Finn's and Amanda's son Eli is being held against his will.  Coincidentally, his friends Blair, Marty, and Lily are there now too, hopefully to rescue him.  We'll see what happens next!

We said our prayers after reading, and then it was time for everyone to head down the hall and off to sleep.  We closed out an eventful February with a nice day.  Maddie put her head on the pillow and that's when she discovered something that's been there for some time:  the Frog Prince!  It's been a week and she hadn't noticed it yet!  Funny!  He still sings, "Just one kiss, and I'll be your valentine..."

He's in our bedroom now, ready to serenade anyone who'll listen.

The Youthies

Tonight Maddie was at the Youthies, an gala event created by FCY, and award ceremony that sort of mimics the larger award ceremonies on television, but honors various volunteers and students.  It certainly offered everyone a chance to dress up, which Maddie was happy to do!

And there were plenty of photo ops too, including this 360 one that was a lot of fun with the props.  It was a fun message about who we associate with, and it was a great night over all, a celebration of sorts that was just a great time.  

She had a big day.  Here's another thing she did:

The mock interviews were today, so all the girls were dressed up for school, applying for their first job.  Maddie said she felt like she did pretty good with it, and that was great to hear.  She's got a lot of confidence, and a lot of skill to back it up, right?

The rest of the day was good, although there was a big storm front that came flying through with heavy rain.  Right behind that was another mass of cold air that we're shivering through tonight.  It was chilly, especially with the wind.  But it's February, and even better, it's the end of February.  This was a good month - although it's not quite the last day yet, we have one more extra day of the month here.  But the point is, spring is on the way.  Our front yard is looking better with some of the leaves blown off and the St. Patrick's Day wreath on the door and the shamrock garden flag hanging up.  The birds were out in force on the back deck, and the bluebirds were relentlessly tapping on windows, desperate to get their reflections to go away.  

We had another Easter meeting today, which went pretty well I suppose.  We're getting ready for some videos next week, some things to film that can be shown during the production itself, a bit of backstory.  The dance costumes have been a struggle for Mom and Dawn.

I was working on "Exodus" material today, and on top of that we were taking our "Exodus" class too - that's been super interesting.  The online course is something Mom and I are doing in the mornings, just watching videos and paying closer attention to certain things like even the Ten Plagues, and how there's a reason behind the progression of events, a message within those plagues.  

It's been a good day.  We ended tonight after The Youthies with an episode of "Monk" and then some time for reading from this Kingdom Keepers book, which I'm enjoying more the second time around.  There are many questions raised, but we'll get some answers soon, and of course even more answers - or possibly questions? - with the next book when we get that one.  

We said our prayers tonight, and we brought the Plush Entourage back from our bedroom to Maddie's room, where it was time for a good night's rest.  It's cold out there now, but it's warm inside.  We had a great day today!  

Going Down the Bayou

Tonight we were back in the Bayou, and this is pretty much inspired by our visit to the Bayou on the Disney Wish.  Ever since that trip, we've had a few movies on our minds, and "The Princess and the Frog" is certainly one of them.  We enjoyed the Bayou on that trip a good bit, finding our own little booth and enjoying beignets and root beer, doing a trivia game and even some drawings.  Also, on board the ship various songs would play, and this soundtrack was featured a decent amount of times.  So this movie was on our minds and on our upcoming playlist - we all got together to watch tonight, and it holds up very well.  There's a great artistry with this one, from the hand drawn elements to the really fantastic soundtrack.  Now I want some more beignets...

Anyway, its was a cluttered sort of day.  Mom and Dawn are struggling with getting these costumes for Easter, and I was working on different things today, perpetually interrupted by various other things that needed to be done.  It was zany.  Still, we got some things accomplished in the morning, one of them being the next session of the "Exodus" online course we're taking.  Also, I finished another walk in Namibia, which was actually pretty amazing, one of my favorite virtual walks we've done yet.

Maddie had some pre-calculus homework to do tonight, and she's got a big mock-interview tomorrow morning where she interviews for a prospective job as a teacher.  She'll be all dressed up and nice, very professional!

We read tonight from our Kingdom Keepers book, advancing forward with this next generation, and it's been fun.  It's a quick read - we're already half-way through or something close to that.  We started reading this on our vacation, so that's been fun.  We actually had this book with us on the cruise, reading it on the ship.  I think we might be getting the next book fairly soon, so it should all time out where we go from one to the next.  Anyway, we said our prayers tonight, and got some much-needed sleep.

Good Form!

Maddie had another testing tonight, along with the others in her class.  There was one who advanced to third-degree belt, and two that advanced to second-degree.  Everyone else was in between, like Maddie, completing one testing of the however many it takes to move on to the next degree.

And in that respect, the evening was something we've seen quite a few times by this point.  We sort of get used to the format, and even the students are acclimated to it.  It's still a great occasion, and all the parents are lined up in chairs alongside the wall, cheering their kids on and snapping photos.  I'm somewhat of a staff photographer, taking pictures of all the students to post online.  I make sure I get a few of Maddie along the way though!

Permission to break board, sir!  This is one of those questions that all the students have to ask before actually attempting to break a board with foot and fist.  It would be amusing if the instructor said, "No, not today."

Still, he said yes.  And Maddie abuses boards.  It's becoming a habit.

This poor board was crushed.  It tried to keep itself together, but Maddie's foot-fist fiesta was just too much.

Aw, poor board.  Look at it fall to the ground like that, so sad and pathetic.  Poor board.

Ah, the time of the evening where students show good form, good form!

Good form!  Good form!

Yes, even the Captain would be impressed as Maddie did very well, and once again came out of the evening's testings with good form.

 

It was a good night, and we got back home a little later, but Maddie squeezed in some history homework and then a few episodes of "Monk."

Mom and I were working on "Exodus" some today, plus the Easter production of course.  She's doing some sewing with feathers and creating dancer costumes.  Maddie was at school of course, and I picked her up early from the car line.  Earlier, I was out there getting more leaves from the front yard - things are coming along with that front area, although there's a good bit to do.  Our birds are still visiting, and we have new squirrels that seem to be testing the limits of our feeders and patience, so we'll see how things unfold there.  Our sea monkeys have quite a few children squiggling about in the tank, so hopefully they can grow up and be the next generation.  As is, we're down to three adults - but these three were the ones from last Easter, and that's a long time for these little ones to survive.  I think they've done well.  I've been very careful to feed them regularly and give them oxygen quite a bit.

It was an average Monday otherwise.  But tonight's action made things a bit more exciting, of course.  We closed the night afterwards, reading our book, and then saying our prayers.  After that, everyone was a bit tired, and ready for a good long nap.

Riding off into the Sunset

 
The Lone Ranger and Tonto closed out "Trailblazers" this morning, and it was a fun morning at KidPak overall.  Some big policy changes occurred with security, and that sort of darkened things for a little bit, but overall the morning was fantastic.  Camille won't there - her daughter and husband were not well this morning.  It's been going.  Today was perhaps the first day in a month where I didn't have this ridiculous cough.  Anyway, things seemed to be okay today.  Maddie and I signed the "Better Together" banner today, and soon we were home for the afternoon.

We had our lunch, and then we were playing some new LEGO Marvel games that we just picked up.  Tonight's feature move was the live-action "Aladdin," which is a great version of the story.  We really enjoyed revisiting that one, certainly inspired by the fact that one week ago today we saw it on stage on the Disney Wish.

And speaking of Jafar, we read tonight from our Kingdom Keepers book, revisiting this one again, and moving through fairly soon.  It won't be long before we get the next part of the story, and maybe even a signed copy.  We'll see!

Anyway, it was a quiet day again.  The birds are out there, quite happy with our feeder.  There are plenty of youngling sea monkeys.  The book shelves are cleaned up in the living room, and Mom is working feverishly on costuming for Easter.  A lot of stress there.  

But we're ready for bed tonight, ready to start again tomorrow with a much better day.

From Ariel to Aerial

 

Maddie is getting better with her aerial, and yes last night we watched Ariel in "The Little Mermaid."  So we're going from Ariel to aerial.  All that said, she did really well with this and is getting more consistent. The fact that Master Edge was holding the camera here made it even more satisfying for Maddie, who was happy to be successful in front of both her teachers.  She's getting more consistent with this and was training with Team Edge this morning in other areas as well.

Today was a day to really clean up a good bit.  Mom was working with Easter costuming and I was working on cleaning up and straightening a lot in the house.  I was walking in Namibia this morning again, and of course we were taking care of the birds and the sea monkeys.  There are a lot in that tank right now, a lot of young ones.  Hopefully they can survive to be big ones and start up the next generation. Maddie and I were playing some games today, some LEGO games in particular.  We got one on sale, a LEGO Marvel game that started downloading and will be available tomorrow.  But we were hanging around Tony Stark's Malibu home for a good bit, helping out Happy Hogan and his badges, defending Trevor Slatterly, and shooting bombs at Justin Hammer whenever we could.  

Tonight's feature movie was "The Prince of Egypt," which we chose because we're doing the "Exodus" series soon.  It's been a while since we've seen this one, but it's good, particularly that scene when the Israelites were crossing the Red Sea.

This scene is amazing to me, and it is just a thing of wonder to think about and how it all unfolded.  Can you imagine being those people at that time?  Scripture is clear that "the waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left." (Exodus 14:22 NIV)

This morning I was actually reading that portion of Exodus, and of course reading the commentary about the back and forth between the Red Sea and the Sea of Reeds.  Some people believe it was the Sea of Reeds that the Israelites passed through, this based on the Hebrew translation in this passage.  But given that the suggested Sea of Reeds is so incredibly shallow, I would think you have to go with the numerous bits of context - like the scripture above - which clearly show this is a pretty deep body of water.   Regardless of the actual location, it's an amazing  miracle, and the movie really portrayed it well.  We'll be watching "The Ten Commandments" soon enough, and we'll see it yet again.  We might even watch the Sight & Sound version too, just for fun.  "Exodus" will be a great series next weekend!

Tonight we read from our Kingdom Keepers book, and we said our prayers too.  I'm pretty tired though, just barely getting this all typed out so I can get some rest.  Tomorrow we have church in the morning, and maybe even "The Chosen" in the afternoon.   Got to get some rest!

Exodus Upcoming

Our Exodus booklets came in, and that's always just a nice feeling - you get these boxes and boxes of booklets that you've written, and you cut that tape at the top, and unbox the booklets, holding them up and looking at your creation for the first time.  The printing place has a smell that comes out as you look at your booklet - it's a great moment.  Camille did the new artwork, but I read and reread the devotional that I did some time ago, and it's very special to me.  This new series will be really good.

This morning before coming in, Mom and I started the latest Hillsdale online course, a brand new one coincidentally dedicated to the book of Exodus.  So we went over chapters one and two with a new professor, and it was really enjoyable.  We got a 100% on our quiz too!  Looking forward to the remaining lectures, as I love looking closer at these chapters and verses that we've read so many times.

Speaking of walking in Africa, this morning I was continuing with the Namibia walking series on the treadmill, and it's been great.  I need to walk a little more than run lately, one reason being I was a little bit under the weather.  These are recovery walks in the desert, and they've been really nice.  Some time ago, we stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, and basically hung out there for a while at the hotel itself where there were all kinds of presentations, from night vision exhibitions where we could see animals off in the dark to presentations by representatives of different nationalities speaking about their own countries.  The one we saw was about Namibia, and the young lady gave a great presentation about this country that we knew very little of.  I still don't know as much, but I've always been pretty fascinated by Namibia.  Yes, I'd even like to go there some day, probably just to visit.  But it seems so isolated down there, partly due to the coastline and massive desert.  The virtual walks along the coast or across the desert have been pretty cool.

Tonight we were back at taekwondo again for a few classes, one where Maddie was happy to be back.  She was doing a good bit of training tonight because next week she'll have yet another testing on her march towards that third degree black belt.  That's still a year away or so, but she's doing well and she's practicing hard.  Plus she's having a good time!

The feature tonight on television was one I wanted to watch:  "The Little Mermaid."  Of course this was inspired by our recent cruise experience, but until now we haven't watched the live action version of this story, the movie that came out last year.  The three of us sat down to watch this one, and we actually enjoyed this one quite a bit.  There were changes in story or lyrics here or there, but it wasn't anything terrible.  Some of the musical numbers were really well put together, and it's a difficult thing to envision in live-action, but we thought they did a great job with it.

It was late after that, and yes, it was time for bed.  We read some more from this latest Kingdom Keepers book, and after that we said our prayers.  It's time for sleep.  Tomorrow we get to sleep in a little bit - a little bit!

Here Come the Crocuses

The crocuses are starting to bloom in the front yard, these cute little blossoms emerging to remind us that yes, in fact spring is on its way.  There's plenty to do with the yards, and we'll be working on that more in the coming days and weeks as we attempt to make sure house look much nicer from the outside.

This morning Maddie had her five dollars to get a Chick-Fil-A breakfast sandwich, which is a great way to start the day.  Of course, even better way to start the day is with prayer, and the blessing pronounced over her followed by a "Shalom, shalom!"

Maddie's schooling continues with forensics, challenges in pre-calculus, fun with ceramics and of course the ongoing adventure at Chestatee Elementary.  She enjoys it there.  While she's at elementary school, a few of us from KidPak go over to a middle school each Thursday to do a little session after school that's been fun.  It's great being back in school.

My bloodwork results came back and those were good.  I think I spoiled that answer yesterday, a little in advance, but I did have to wait on those results, and was quite thrilled to see them when they came in.  Mom was doing plenty of garden work when we got home, but in between she's working on Roman costuming, particularly shoes at the moment.  We're getting ready to film some things for Easter soon enough.  Meanwhile, I got my walking in, continuing my adventure in Namibia, at least virtually.

Tonight was taekwondo, of course, which consisted of helping instructors and then attending leadership classes.  She's getting better and better with her aerial, which is something she's happy to be able to do in front of instructors.  

We got home and watched some episodes of "Monk," moving along with season five, continuing with the forensics theme.  We could be done with this by the end of the school year, at which point we could be watching the new movie that came out around Christmas.  I've been holding off on that until Maddie sees all of the eight seasons of the original show, just in case something is spoiled.  Plus, it's a bit of delayed gratification there, a goal to look forward to.  Meanwhile, we just plug along, one episode after another, with some serious binging!

The evening was closed out with reading a few chapters from this Kingdom Keepers book we read last year.  We're reviewing that, and hopefully the new one will be here roughly the time we finish this one. We'll see how that goes!  Anyway, we read, and we're still trying to remember these new characters and their relationship with other characters.  I'm glad Maddie gets confused too, but we're not too bad off.  It's just every so often we're glad to have the reminder.

Anyway, we said our prayers tonight, and that was it for a quiet day.  We're allowed to have quiet days after such an incredible weekend last week, right?  Still rocking back and forth with the equilibrium...

Close Friends and Autopsies

Maddie was again at FCY tonight, which didn't get interfered with because last week she was there, and in between there was this cruise thing, right?  Anyway, it was a good night, and the "Close Friends" series is wraps up next week with "The Youthies," which should be fun.  Tonight was good though, with a solid message from Pastor Skylar and the usual fun, plus pizza of course.  

Let's see, what are we working on today?  Scabs for one.  Yes, the Easter play is coming up.  We moved all the stuff off the furniture yesterday spending quite a bit of time moving things in the office only to discover that the new furniture can't be put in there yet because there's no paint for the walls yet, and in fact it might be another two weeks and... well, basically I've got a desk with nothing on it or behind it for a few weeks. 

Maddie was back at school, and she's enjoying her forensics class.  Her teacher got a call from someone in the middle of class, and he had to stop his lecture long enough to answer the phone.  He picked it up and said, "Autopsies?"  This got the class cracking up.  Maddie likes being in that class.

This morning I was back at the heart center, this time giving a blood sample.  The analysis seems good, with all the numbers but one being in a good range - the only high number was glucose, which given the fact that there was just this cruise and Valentine's Day goodies... I think that may have swayed the final result somewhat.  But I was pleasantly surprised about the other numbers, which are actually in some cases better than they were before.  

Tonight while Maddie was at FCY, Mom and I were watching "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3," which was okay.  The first is such a classic movie, and we've see it so much.  The second was okay, and this third one I suppose would fall under that category.  Our dedication to the franchise, or at least the first movie, brought us to check it out, and again, it was okay.  Not sure if we'd watch it again, but we might be checking out the first movie again soon.

It was a decent day.  I got a good bit of the script written for Sunday, which should be great.  We read tonight from our Kingdom Keepers book, and said our prayers.  We were tired, so sleep came pretty quickly tonight.

Lots to Unpack!

Time to unpack!  Maddie didn't have school today, so she got to sleep in a bit.  Actually, we all did a bit.  I did go back to work, and there was a somewhat unpleasant task of removing all the props and binders again from my desk in its new location, as new furniture was abruptly announced to be coming in tomorrow.  That would not be the case, I learned later, but nevertheless, it took a while to clear things out again, and therefore that was most of my day.  I couldn't wait to get home.

Just an update:  the sea monkeys are doing great!  Wow, they're moving around in there, with quite a few younglings still swirling about.  They were excited for food and oxygen.  It was great to see them, and the birds were all super excited to see full dishes of various seeds out there on the back deck.  The bluebirds are thrilled!

Maddie had a relaxing day today, and Mom of course was doing laundry and unpacking medals, new clothing, and all the things loaded up in three suitcases.  We're back and here we go, getting ready for Easter.  Mom was working on costuming, ironing certain things and going in that direction with the dancers.  I'm arranging a filming upcoming, some videos that will take place during the Easter production that need to be filmed ahead of time.  It's the usual material with healings, Pilate, Roman soldiers and of course Jesus.  Maddie won't be in the filming this time around as it will be a weekday, and it's down in Braselton.  But it will be good - we've got some of Roman soldiers back from last year, and we'll get an "angry crowd" together, complete with Bible costumes that Mom will be assembling.

Tonight I got back a little late due to the moving stuff, but we had enough time and energy to watch a few episodes of "Monk," which we did.  We're somewhere in season five, pushing forward and binge-watching all this year as she takes her forensics class in high school.  Speaking of which, she starts tomorrow again. She's put out her requests for registration for the classes she wants next year - can you believe it's the last year?  Can you believe she'll be eighteen in a few months?  What?

We closed down this quiet day (comparatively!) at a decent hour, because school starts again tomorrow.  And we're still tired too, of course.  Vacations can wear you out occasionally!  Also, we're all still rocking back and forth in our heads, our equilibrium still used to be on a swaying cruise ship.  Standing up, you can't help but internally sway back and forth!

Anyway, we closed out our day with some reading from our Kingdom Keepers book, catching up on that new story of "Inheritance" that we'll continue in a second book soon enough.  We said our prayers tonight, and after that, it was time for bed!

Although I did just find out Billy Joel released a new song, which is like super, super rare.  This was the musical hero of my childhood, and this song "Turn the Lights Back On" is such a poignant and emotional song.  It's only one song and not a whole album or anything, but it's so emotional to have an old friend's voice back.  This song is living rent-free inside my head at the moment!  Maddie, you've had Taylor Swift, but when I was your age, I had Billy Joel.  Glad I could see him a few times in concert, and of course really glad to hear him again with a new song.

Disney Wish Day Four

 

And so here we are on the day to disembark.  Always a rather harsh day, given the fact that everyone has to get off the boat so quickly.  Being a part of the second seaters - the group that eats later - that meant we leave the boat later, and I do like that.  It means an extra hour of sleep.  We needed it, because last night was rough waters.  At one point I thought Mom was getting up to use the restroom, opening and shutting the door, and then again... and then I reached over, and she was in bed there with me.  And then I thought - for just a moment - that someone else was in the room opening that door!  But no, it was the motion of the ocean.  The waves were big last night.

But here we were in the morning, quiet and still, docked at Port Canaveral.  It's such a depressing moment, like the morning of January 1st when you know all the holidays are over and it's time to get back to work.  We peeked out and even at one point stepped out on the balcony to discover that it was in the low fifties and windy outside - cold! 

Maddie and Mom packed and got ready quickly though, as did Uncle George and Thip next door.  We did the walk around to make sure we got all our stuff.  Last night, the porters got our luggage, so all we had to do was collect a few things, and head down to Worlds of Marvel.

We said goodbye to room 6528.  It took me all weekend to remember that number, but here we are.  Anyway, we sat and we said our prayers, and then we stepped out of the door one last time, marching down the hall and down a few flights of stairs to Worlds of Marvel for breakfast.

We got to see our waiting staff one more time, and they were really nice people. We left them their tips last night, and also gave each a rose.  They were really super kind people and they took good care of Mom the entire journey.

Joey is posing in front of the screen that lets you know who can disembark the boat at this time.  Which is pretty much everyone.  Last time we were the Tinkerbell tags.  This time we were the Minnie Mouse tags - which of course is Captain Minnie!

So yeah, the next thing is getting off the boat.  It's a huge line - everyone is on line to get off the boat, and that line wraps around the hallways starting out in the Grand Hall, going down past the Bayou and Hyperspace Lounge, and then past the Walt Disney Theater, and then back towards the Grand Hall again where the gang plank is.

Ah, here's a dog with festive Mickey ears, ready to pounce on people transporting illegal stuff.  The last thing criminals see is a set of Mickey ears and sharp teeth jumping all over them!

Anyway, that was that.  We got back to the parking deck, and it was cold!  We said our goodbyes to Uncle George and Thip for the time being, and then hopped in the car, backing up and driving out, leaving Port Canaveral behind.  We had thought about going to a place there by the beach, but we were tired and perhaps even a tiny bit not well.  So we opted to just head home.

Of course we had to stop at Buc-ee's.  This is the one we hadn't stopped at yet, the one in Daytona.  It was a madhouse.  A MAAADHOUSE!  It took twenty-five minutes just to get off the interstate and get to the parking lot and then to a pump to stop the car.  The place was crawling with people, and there were lines to get into the massive bathrooms.  People were everywhere.  The Daytona 500 was this past weekend, so perhaps this wasn't the best time to stop here.  Still, I got a pressed penny and we all got snacks for the trip, and of course we filled up the gas tank here too.

Maddie got a few more pictures as well.  It was a day full of Buc-ee's again, as later on we'd stop at the location along I-75 in Georgia.  It was crowded too, but not as much as Daytona.  I got two Buc-ee's pressed pennies today, and something to drink and a few other edibles.  Mom and I like the small 50 cent chocolates they have up front.  

Oh yeah, here's another stop:  the Georgia Welcome Center.  There's a photo op there with a roller coaster. Maddie and I had to take advantage of that one!

Yeah, so it was a long, long day.  Of note is Henry County, which is still the worst place to drive ever.  Both directions we got stuck there in that miserable mess of traffic on the interstate.  I can't even express any more how much I don't like Henry County.  

But we got home eventually, and we unpacked the car quickly.  We were all pretty tired - sleep will come easy tonight, as we're back in our own beds.  But what an adventure we had this weekend!