"Home again, Safe at Last"

Eden, UT

Prior to selling our house in Colorado, a standard line in almost every prayer: morning or night, at meals or bedtime or whatever, was "thank you for our home." (I know, no 'vain repetitions') I find myself still saying it, but have changed it up to say "this home" instead. I mean, how can you not be thankful for a roof and beds and running water, even if you don't actually own said roof and beds and water. For months this summer and early fall we lived in successive new homes every few days, finally slowing down for a whole thirty days in Cedar City Utah in September and now we are settled in Northern Utah for the holidays before taking off again in January.

Moving every few days to a new 'home' meant learning new things at each place, like which light switches do what (or nothing) and where the toilet paper is in each new bathroom, and also led to some interesting adventures and exposed us to a myriad of decorating schemes and paint colors that frankly we would never have experienced in a home of our own. We started to name the houses according to their primary decorating schemes: the James Bond house, the 70's house, the mermaid house, the hippie house, the cactus house. We have lived in the middle of a California walnut grove, in a small third floor apartment in Idaho, and in a beach cottage in Oregon. Sometimes we had to fill in a one night gap between home rentals and so ended up one night in a fabulous hotel on Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco and also experienced a few other less desirable, but equally memorable, hotels.

One of our homes this summer sported a five foot long vinyl sticker cowboy silhouette scene on the wall above the bed.

One night we arrived late to our newest house to discover that our hosts had actually stocked our kitchen for us!

In one place, "two full baths" turned out to be one full bath and a bathroom off the master bedroom that had NO doors and no shower, but a tub that could not be filled with hot water before the water heater wore out. So it was 'showers' sitting on the floor of the tub and ducking my head under the water spout.

In one house the doorknob on the bathroom door was about 3/4 of the way from bottom of the door and it always made me feel short.

That same bathroom door locked on the outside so that one day we were surprised by Ronan suddenly knocking on the back door to get in because he had locked himself in the bathroom, couldn't get anyone's attention and so squeezed out the tiny bathroom window onto the deck.

We experienced our first airbnb that was not strictly a vacation rental, but was actually someone's lived in home (they rent it out when they are on vacation). It was a little weird at first. We had to remove a load of their laundry from the drier. The fridge and pantry were full of their food. It was the first time we have ever had a wine collection in the house or beer in the fridge. But it was comfortable and clean,  the neighbors were nice, and it was actually a really good experience.

There have been so many sinks that do not drain properly and so many dull kitchen knives.

The instruction at one house included permission to smoke pot as long as we brought our own but to please not have any open fires in the backyard as the fire danger was high. We were back in Colorado.

We slept for the first time ever in a camper trailer.

We briefly enjoyed a bathroom sink with rainbow lights that flashed whenever the water ran.

One home had a beautiful hand made African chess set on display and the kids played chess every day.

It has been fun to bounce from one place to the next. When we arrive we explore the new house and find out what sort of kitchen supplies we have and what games or puzzles or even books might be in the house for us to use while we are there. Kris and I search out the best walking path options, Liam hopes for a bike in the garage, Ronan for a nearby basketball hoop, Fionn just wants a puzzle with all the pieces still there. On the weekend we will do hangouts with our big kids and introduce them to all the fabulous and/or bizarre aspects of our newest accommodations. It's all part of the adventure. And we have discovered that wherever we are, we can be at home.

A Museum Full of Airplanes!

Eden, UT

Yesterday we took several hours out of the middle of our school day and went to see the Aerospace Museum on Hill Air Force base. It was something I just found on one of my 'free stuff to do ' google searches that I do at each new place we go to. And it was really amazing. We are well into the traditional school year by now and for one of my sons the SAT is looming ever more near, only three weeks away in fact, so one could make the argument that a field trip just now to look at a bunch of airplanes was unwarranted and perhaps unwise and definitely an interruption to our school day routine, but I think that field trips are always a great idea.

Our kids stood underneath a B-17 bomber while their dad explained where each member of the crew sat and what his job was. (Is it redundant to say B-17 "Bomber?" The B stands for bomber, doesn't it?) Fionnula asked why would someone fly a helicopter instead of an airplane and how did they fly anyway, and luckily Kris was there to competently answer that question because my knowledge on the topic is vague at best. They saw a reproduction of the Wright Brother's 1903 flyer. There was a detailed display about the Vietnam war and specifically POWs. We watched a short video about Gail Halvorsen, the Candy Bomber. We saw one plane that is in the midst of being reconstructed and watched as another that is on display outdoors was being repainted. Liam decided on a new favorite plane. Fionn decided she wanted to learn more about the WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots). And we all learned the name of the B-29 that did the weather reconnaissance over Japan and determined that the atomic bomb could be dropped. Now there is a fabulous piece of historical trivia for you. I know they also read and watched things that I missed.


If I was concerned about following a specific curriculum or scope and sequence, this short trip to a museum was definitely a bit all over the place. But we were mostly thinking that airplanes are cool and free museums are cool and taking a break from math on a computer is cool. The fact that Fionn came home and looked up articles and books on the WASP and that we started to put together a list of World War 2 movies to see was just a bonus.