Here are some of Brock’s trip recollections when interviewed today by Lori.

picture of squinty-eyed Brock
the Brockster

Liked:

“When you could see the top of the clouds.”

“I liked when the guys put the soup-cases in the box and they went down the factory thing.”

“I liked when we were going fast and landing. I liked to put my hands up in the air when it was bumpy.”

picture of Brock making a funny face
a never before seen form of making a funny face

During some turbulence, Brock put his hands up in the air as if he were on a roller coaster, and commanded, “Davison! Put your hands up in the air!”

When we were taking off from Dallas, Brock shouted, “Put your seatbelts on, everyone!”

When we were taxiing in to the Houston airport, The plane seemed to be revving noisily at one point. Brock loudly queried, “Are we taking off again?!”

Happily, he and Davison had no fear, just trust and enjoyment.

picture of Brock
looks like Brock is hitting his head on the ceiling, but he is not

Our Saturday night date was here:
http://www.pelipeli.com/Index.aspx

Our Saturday afternoon was spent here:

America’s #1 Flea Market

Our Saturday lunch was here:

http://www.bonsaifusionsteakhouse.com/

Our late morning was spent here, at he house we will be renting for the first year we are in Houston (the house is empty right now and all the rooms are a neutral color):

http://search.har.com/engine/15906-Leaf-Chase-Ct-Cypress-TX-77429_HAR72278866.htm

…and, this is where we were before that:

http://search.har.com/engine/17138-Willow-Ranch-Dr-Houston-TX-77095_HAR71704694.htm

Breakfast was here:

http://www.harriscountysmokehouse.com/

Busy day.

I thought I would give a peek into what the rest of us did while the van was getting doctored.

The van on the tow truck’s trailer looked a bit…precarious.

Picture of van getting a ride on the tow truck`s trailer
Our van gets a ride

The kids seemed to think so, too:

Picture of our children looking pensive
Some of our children looking pensive

We decided that our only option, after Ben/Dad and the van headed out, was to take a walk down the path by the river.

First we found a very old apple tree loaded with apples, and each had one. Yummy!

Then we found some pretty little snails:

Picture of a snail
One of our finds: a cute snail

It had been raining lightly for part of the morning (while we were packing up, wouldn`t you know), so the snails were out in droves. Cuter than slugs, although essentially a snail is a slug with a shell.

Picture of another snail
And another one…

We found a spot for the kids to wade in the river–and throw rocks, of course (that’s what little boys do).

We then got a call that Dad was back with a rental vehicle: a 2013 Chrysler Town and Country with all the bells and whistles and only about 250 miles on it. Wow. We would have liked to take it home with us.

A new fuel pump later (yikes and ouch!), we were off and running.

We were thankful for how it all worked out in the end. The Lord was gracious to us!

 

Yesterday, Auntie Marta, Danaya and I picked lavender at a lavender u-pick farm…

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…$5 for as much as you can hold in your hand.

Today we went to another u-pick farm and picked…

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…berries…$0.99/lb. We picked three full buckets of raspberries, marionberries, and blackberries. We froze some, made raspberry sauce…and ate many of them raw, as you can imagine.

Yum. Nothing else quite compares. It was, of course, berry good.

One big dog facing right.
One little dog facing left.

Now, it is night.
It is not a time for play.
Now is the time for all dogs to go to sleep.

Sleep, dogs, sleep.
It is night, now.

Two dogs,
in a small apartment,
At night,
Asleep.

(Thanks, Dr. Seuss, for all the wonderful stories.)

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Auntie Marta and Bailey, her dog, arrived yesterday. Oliver, Mom’s dog, could hardly contain his excitement in his quivering little body.

When Marta headed back out to the car to haul in more stuff, the two dogs watched anxiously, presumably making sure she didn’t suddenly decide to leave without them:

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I wanted to capture the moment on camera.

Monday, July 16, Layne, Danaya and I talked about driving together down to Oregon to visit my mom (Grandma Dana), my sister (Auntie Marta), my dad (Grandpa Ron), and friends.

Tuesday we:

*got a strut replaced on the Traverse
*made lots of meals for the freezer with Daelynn for the family to eat at home for the week
*Danaya baked squares and muffins for all
*Did loads of laundry for those at home and those on the road
*…and packed.

Wednesday morning, the three of us headed off.

Driving through the foothills of the majestic Canadian Rockies with the sun shining and the music of an Italian group Layne had on his iPad was, for me, breathtaking.

I took pictures while driving, as Layne and Danaya were both resting, but the results were decidedly underwhelming compared to the actual scenery.

Here is a sample:

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We made good time, since we didn’t have little ones to stop for as often as we usually do. We arrived at Mom’s place in Newberg a little before 10PM.

Woo hoo! Success.

Today, Brock and I were looking through the Usborne Great Wildlife Search book. We were on the “India” page. On it was a picture of a mother bird feeding a baby bird, her long beak poking some food down into the gaping throat of her hungry baby.

I asked Brock, “What is that mommy bird doing?”

He replied, “Temperaturing it.”