My Trip to the States—Part 2

Did you miss the first one—My Trip to the States—Part 1?

The First Half of Our First Week

Monday morning none of us woke up till past noon—not surprising, since that was 5:00 am for us and we hadn’t slept much for two days. Right after we got up, we ate breakfast (lunch for everyone else), and then Aunt Lydia took us three oldest (Simon, Elijah, and me) out so we could enjoy the snow a little.

The afternoon of our first day there. A lot of snow was still on the ground, so Aunt Lydia, Simon, Elijah, Polly the dog, and I all headed out to enjoy it. For children who haven’t seen snow on the ground for months, and haven’t seen it that deep in years, it was quite the treat!

Aunt Lydia and Polly.

The boys were happy to find two sleds to play with!

Coming to the first part of the creek that flows through part of Grandma’s land.

I remember playing in this creek when I was really young. Fun memories!

Icicles hanging over the creek.

Handsome brother.

“Crayfish Crossing”—Mum and her siblings used to find tiny crayfish (the American kind) here in the summer.

Little rapids. Love these. (Do you notice the icicles?)

A dead tree with insulators nailed onto it.

Simon found a huge wild grapevine! The thickest part of the trunk had a diameter of about 3-4 inches.

Simon pulling Elijah

Rear view of the place Mum called home for the first 20 or so years of her life.

Then we came to the hill. The “Camping Hill”! (So named after Mum’s family [or at least part of it] camped out there one year.) Well, we didn’t camp on it—it was a little too wet and cold to use that way, but we did put it to good use! We took turns sledding down the length of it, then raced two together. I’m happy to report that Simon and I won against Aunt Lydia and Elijah. :)

After the walk sometime, Simon went with two of our uncles to help my aunt finish moving out of her house. Then after tea, after everyone had gathered again, we celebrated Nathan’s birthday with two angel food cakes that Grandma made. (She is an EXPERT at making angel food cakes!)

Part of the family together—two of my aunts and their children, Mum, Grandma, and Aunt Lydia.

After eating, we sat around waiting for everyone else to arrive. Nathan was fascinated with his little 6-month-old cousin!

Opening presents.

A brand new quilt for Nathan from Aunt Lydia! He loved all the different colours.

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you!” Nathan didn’t know how to react to all the singing and attention!

Eating his birthday cake. (In reality, he only poked at his cake—but the berries were quite agreeable!)

Overall, it was a great evening re-connecting with everyone after a 3-year separation.

So…that concludes the first part of my first week in the States! (Which, I just realised, comprised exactly one day—Monday. Oh, well.)

I’ll be back soon (I hope!) with part 3!