Primarily written by Adrienne, a homeschooling mother of seven, ages 10 and under. She chronicles life, laughs, struggles, and lessons learned as she raises a larger-than-most sized family and tries to figure out what she's doing day by day.

With occasional posts, Alexandra, Adrienne's older sister, writes of her ranch life in Nevada and raising four sons, ages 5 and under. Life is never dull and her boys have given her some pretty awesome stories to tell.

Stick around awhile, and you're sure to laugh, nod, smile, be encouraged, and see what life is like with a big (little) family.

7.03.2012

Home again.

After 10 days, 2,147 miles, one dog, and eight people more or less living out of a 12 passenger van for the duration, we’re home. In one piece. After driving all night and arriving home this morning at 6am, we’re all a little exhausted. Me more than the kids – so much for a nap.

The van is a disaster. If we get it emptied and vacuumed today, it will be a grand accomplishment.

We camped, fished, saw friends, saw family, saw the badlands, chased after the runaway dog, turned the radio up louder to drown out the baby’s protests to his carseat, and turned the radio up louder to drown out the toddler’s protests to her carseat. We ate more hamburgers and hot dogs than I can count, and slept in multiple rest areas when we couldn’t stay awake to drive any longer. We weathered one rain storm, one very windy night, and just a tad of hail.

I did dishes one time in ten days. I washed one load of laundry in ten days. Many, many thanks to Grandma for her laundry and dish washing services and Uncle John for taking on the dishes we all dirtied during our time there.

Now, to go get pizza for lunch. Why break the no-cooking run now? Coming soon: photos. Just as soon as I get the camera unpacked. And maybe a nap.

6 comments:

Laura's Ramblings in Color said...

Bummer. We should have asked you what you wanted for lunch. Next time we'll make spaghetti. As long as we all eat outside. :)

Laura Mindeman said...

Glad you all had such an awesome trip! Hope you unpack and recover soon.:) Hope to see you all soon, my kids have been having Falkena withdrawal, and maybe me too!:)

Laura Mindeman said...

Glad you all had such an awesome trip! Hope you unpack and recover soon.:) Hope to see you all soon, my kids have been having Falkena withdrawal, and maybe me too!:)

Laura Mindeman said...

Glad you all had such an awesome trip! Hope you unpack and recover soon.:) Hope to see you all soon, my kids have been having Falkena withdrawal, and maybe me too!:)

Unknown said...

Oh yes, Laura. We really suffered there. I mean, I only ate two hamburgers there. Such suffering.

You do not want to feed my children spaghetti. The mess. Oh, the mess.

Anonymous said...

Honestly Adrienne - I don't remember eating one hamburger while we camped with you. You were so well organized - marinated chicken, marinated pork chops, tacos, pancakes, no hamburgers, so don't feel bad Laura about serving them. And it was my pleasure to do the dishes, after all, you did the bulk of the cooking. Thanks for the great time we had. Roxanne