Still here!

So, did you miss me? Or did you even notice I went on an unannounced sabbatical?

I wouldn't blame you either way.

We just got home from a trip to Arizona. We left on Wednesday and drove all day and then basically we just relaxed by the pool all day, every day...until today when we drove all day again. I've never been to Arizona, but that's where Karen (Andrew's mom) is from so she has a lot of family down there. We had a blast.

Or at least, I had a blast...when I wasn't working.

That's why I haven't blogged, at least, that's my excuse.

When I wasn't keeping my children from drowning I was working, working, working.

We took a ton of pictures and have a lot of stories to tell but for now I'll just check in before you think we dropped off the face of the planet or something.

Miriam has discovered the joy of apple juice. She's had it before, of course, but she basically lived on apple juice while we were driving. She has come up with her own word for it; it's a compound word: wawa-apples.

I think it's incredibly cute—she asked for "water-apples" approximately every half hour.

She also enjoyed playing the opposite-game with anyone who would play with her. She hasn't got yes/no down yet so instead of doing that we play hot/cold. Mostly it's a Bumpa game.

"This is so hot!" he'll say, and do something mean (like hold an ice pack on her foot).

Then she'll respond, "No. Cold."

"Hot."

"Cold."

Then Grandpa will switch things up a bit and say, "Cold."

Then Miriam will sit there and think as hard as she can before she finally shouts out, "HOT!"

"Cold."

"Hot."

"Cold."

You get the picture.

It was a long trip. I sat in the backseat with Rachel, in part, I think, because no one else wanted to sit in the "way, way back." I don't mind sitting back there because I can sprawl out a bit. Miriam, however, really minded that I was behind her instead of beside her. I spent the last hour (or so) of the trip with my arm dangling over her seat so that she could hold my hand. She's such a momma's girl.

Last week, Andrew was getting ready to go to work and he walked out into the kitchen where Miriam was seated at the table. I followed him.

Miriam anxiously leaned over in her chair until she could see past the table and scan our feet for footwear. She panicked a little when she noticed that Daddy's feet were shod with sandals and quickly moved so that she could see my feet. When she noticed my feet were bare she sighed and relaxed back into her seat...because heaven forbid Mommy should go anywhere without her!

Rachel, though, is certainly asserting her independence. It's kind of weird to have a child that old. When I take her into the bathroom I can tell her to go potty and she does, which means I'm free to help Miriam. It's nice. Most of the time. Sometimes it's not so nice, like when she's so busy playing with her cousins that she "forgets" to go potty and...well...ends up making a huge mess in her underwear, or swimsuit, as the case may be.

The girl basically lived in a swimsuit the past few days; I'm surprised she didn't burn to a crisp. I'm even more surprised that she didn't burn at all. Sunscreen (and the frequent application thereof) works wonders!

Rachel didn't want to leave Arizona; I think if Uncle Rulon and Aunt Marci had offered to take her in full-time she would not have hesitated to leave us. She had so much fun with her cousins...so. much. fun.

It's like she never has any fun here; even though she has lots of friends now. She went over to a friend's house last Tuesday after school, which was really helpful because it gave me time to get some things ready for the trip, and came back saying that her friend had a band-aide on his leg, too. Rachel's only recently gotten into the whole band-aide scene. I don't know why she decided they were safe, but now she asks for them when she gets hurt instead of screaming in terror at the mere mention of them.

Anyway, I asked her why her friend had a band-aide.

"He fell off his purse," she said.

"He fell off his purse?" I asked.

"No, Mom," she sighed and rolled her eyes, "His purse."

"Right. He fell off his...purse..."

"Not a purse! *exasperated sigh* You know that big brown thing we have in the backyard? Well, he has a big brown thing, too, and he fell off of it!"

"You mean a...porch?"

"That's what I said—purse!"

Anyway, it's late, but we're home. You can look forward to our Arizona stories (and the rest of Andrew's Ghana stories) in the near future. I'm hoping to finish writing about Arizona before we leave for our next trip...on Friday.

We're taking "galavanting around the country" to a whole new level.

Our kids are never going to want to sit in the car ever again when we're finished.