Souvenir

 French, noun use of ( se ) souvenir  to remember < Latin subvenīre  to come to mind, equivalent to sub- + venīre  to come.

From the Long Road Home:


Theresa and William somewhere in the middle of Utah I think...

After having driven almost 3,000 (yes, count 'em; I-still-can't-believe-it, 3000) miles...

* in two cars carrying fourteen people..
* over the Rockies to Denver; from Denver to Yellowstone; from Yellowstone to Spokane; from Spokane to Laguna Beach and home again.... 



Somewhere in Utah, Nevada or Arizona
I couldn't tell you which...



* over mountains (several times), through rolling high prairies, under the big sky of Big Sky Country, past geysers and buffalo and grizzly bears, through redwood forests and river canyons, alongside the Pacific Ocean, through vast orchards, cute little seaside towns and endless teeming cities, stuck in LA traffic for thousands of years, then onto  dusty deserts, and canyonlands.... 



Somewhere in Huntington Gardens, CA



* after being away from home for two-and-a-half weeks, and...

* having left our (28-in-all) footprints at awesome Mount St. Michael's in Spokane, then at Disneyland, Magic Mountain, Sea World, San Juan Capistrano, Laguna Beach and San Onofre Beach, not to mention at Grandma and Grandpa's and Paul and Nicole's houses...



This is the by-popular-demand "silly version" of the Disneyland photo...



We even remembered to dig these two
up before we left the beach...

 * and after having lost one whole men's suit of Sunday clothes (who lost them shall remain nameless), one pair of little boy's sneakers (which mysteriously turned up later in the bottom of a little girl's suitcase), a curling iron (which we just found in the children's coloring book bag) and several bottles of shampoo (which are apparently gone forever) -- but no children!

* we found our way  back to our very own beds in our very own cozy little log house on the Western Slope of Colorado on Monday night (the 11th)...

* and woke up Tuesday morning to little paper numbers on our doors (thank-you, William and Gabey) -- but no maid service...

Doggonit.

And so...  I've been doing laundry non-stop since Monday.   And making my own bed.  But eating much healthier food from my own fridge and taking some time to rest my poor aching feet...

And get back to the wonderful, sweet, ordinary day-to-day.

Life is good.

The Vacation was Once in a Lifetime.

But it's wonderful to be home!