What better way to celebrate a high school graduation than to get on a trans-Atlantic flight the next day? That's what we were thinking when we booked our first family trip to Europe with a departure the day after Maggie's high school graduation. Let the record show, that a buffer day probably would have been a good idea. Especially since it turned out Todd was in court until 2:00pm the day of graduation, Maggie was out until about 12:30am that night, and we had so many friends and family visiting Wednesday evening that no one was really interested in (or available to!) packing prior to our actual departure day! But, we made it to DCA airport on schedule, only to be able to spend some quality bonus time with my brother, Brian, who ended up literally ... read more

We crossed the Mississippi river today - our arbitrary marker for delineating the eastern US from the western US. It just feels different, almost instantly - more cars, more people, more buildings, more...everything. Goodbye wide open spaces. Goodbye starry skies. Goodbye quiet nights, campfires, mountain overlooks and wildlife. We are almost home. Uncle Brian showed off his parenting skills by having all the kids up, dressed and fed and our load of laundry (due to an unexpected shampoo spill in our overnight bag) folded by the time we arrived at 7:10 am. After saying our farewells, we took off for Chicago's Wrigley Field, racing the clock to make a 1:20 pm game (not 2:00 as we originally thought). We almost made it, but of course got waylaid once we arrived in decking everyone out in Cubs ... read more

Parting is such sweet sorrow when you are bidding farewell to a new, albeit temporary, member of the family! We returned our RV on time and in one piece, and when we had finally pulled everything out of it, we stood bewildered for a few moments at how we had managed to bring the mountain of stuff packed beside our minivan out here in the first place. But Todd is a man of many talents, including squeezing every available inch of space out of a vehicle. We managed to get just about everything back in the van, and only had to drop off one box at UPS to be shipped back. Worth every cent, as it meant the difference between the kids have a small carved out space for their legs vs. sitting criss-crossed for four ... read more

Our last hike. We roused the kids at a decent hour, and headed to Arches National Park for our final hike of the trip. Our objective was Delicate Arch, one of the many naturally-formed sandstone arches throughout the park. Arches was very different from all the other parks we've visited. Desolate is the word that comes to mind - vast expanses of terrain that closely resembled the desert driving we endured moving from CA to AZ to UT. Large stretches of emptiness were dotted with shapely mounts, descriptively named for their attributes - Balanced Rock, Sheep Rock, Courthouse. Arches is one of Todd's favorite parks. He is enamored with the rock formations and arches. Billy and I were less impressed, and Sean, Maggie & Tommy chose not to weigh in. The "hike" turned out to be ... read more

Have you ever done something unique, something so unusual that as you did it you knew it was a once in a lifetime experience? We got an early start to our morning in Zion, hopping on the shuttle at the Visitor Center to catch a ride to our trailhead under crystal clear skies. The buses were crowded, as plenty of other visitors were also intent on getting an early start to their day in the park. We rode to the last stop, disembarked and ambled pleasantly along a paved Riverside walk, an easy, level trail that flowed alongside the river. The morning air was crisp, and our group was relatively quiet as we drew closer to our destination – the beginning of The Narrows. This is quite possibly the only trail of its kind. The paved ... read more