The Wanderers are Home...

Home... At Last!!!

Heaven to be sleeping in our own bed.  Snuggling with the pups.  Loving on goat babies...

Doing Laundry!!  That's the sign of another vacation in the bag!

And such a wonderful vacation it was.  Busy, Bountiful and Blessed.  We traveled through Wisconsin and Illinois visiting family, making sure food and fun were a part of the daily agenda!  Leroy and I had the pleasure of escorting Dad up to the family's Big Reunion in Wisconsin and then we took the scenic route home through Illinois by way of Lake Michigan (our route was anything but straight!).  We also had the added joy of including our daughter Katie, her husband, Jordan and two nieces, Amanda and Sami, into the traveling menagerie! What a crew.  Here's the vacation in pics:

We ate...

And we canoed...

and survived!

The guys fished...

and fished...

and fished...  Dad had a blast!!

And then we headed in for the Big Reunion.  And what fun that turned out to be!  The reunion committee simply outdid themselves, beginning with a beautiful remembrance service at the small Scandinavian church (in Scandanavia, Wisconsin) that my great-grandparents had attended.  The day only got better from there!

The service was followed by an impromptu parade thru town to the old homestead!

Grandma and Grandpa Christensen raised 11 children in this tiny, 4-room home.  Such memories!  Such treasure!  Such Love!!

And here's the whole Bunch of Us!

And Dad with his sister, our favorite Aunt Di

And Dad with his favorite cousins...

There was time for food...

and face painting...

and fun around the Bonfire!

Our Beautiful Wisconsin Family...

Love you to Pieces!

I can't help but remember our last family reunion and vacation.  What a difference a year makes... So hard to believe where our life was last year.  Mom's journey was well on its way and we didn't know.  Pancreatic cancer de-rails the best laid plans.  If anything it has taught me to cherish the moments we hold in our hands completely, for we aren't promised a minute more...

Because mom is never far from our thoughts, we honored her with a trip past her family home in Wilmette, Illinois along the shores of Lake Michigan.

Her spirit dipped low and the breeze blew her kisses soft across our cheeks...

Home At Last