Adventure

On our wonderful ten-day vacation in Central and Eastern Washington and Idaho, Lauren reminded us of a G.K. Chesterton quote: "An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." I don't believe any of us had trouble viewing our time of rest and relaxation as an adventure, because the inconveniences were few and far between!

Our first stop was cousins near Yakima. Look at Cody showing off!

Before we floated the Yakima River together, we sang a few Gospel songs, swimsuits and all!

Some of the group that went floating. Notice our burns...achem...tans in all their red glory! Left to right: Danielle, Cherie, Susanna, Lauren, Peggy, Melanie, Mikaela, Micah, Cody, and Sierra.

Can you tell by the smug looks on our faces that we had bested the guys again at four-on-a-couch (a favorite memory game of ours)?

Okay, okay, so the guys did win twice...victory smiles all around from Delmer to Cody to Papa to Micah.

Mama and Michelle...best friends (and second cousins) since girlhood. 

Third cousins: Trevor, Sierra, Susanna, Jonah, Mikaela, Lauren, Micah, Cody, and Melanie.

Zaniness is definitely a family trait we have in common!

From Yakima, we travelled to Idaho to spend the night with dear family friends. Pastor and Mrs. A. were Mama and Papa's youth pastors way back when, so despite the distance between us, we have definitely kept up a close relationship over the years.

Tony brought out his electric violin for us to try, so we had a duel between electric and acoustic (acoustic won all the way).

Jonah was rather fond of the blue shade of the instrument, however.

Forget that electric thing! I handed over my baby to Tony, and Lauren and I proceeded to give him a whirlwind introduction to violin playing. You know you love your job when you volunteer to do it on vacation (and when everyone involved is all smiles!).

From friends, we travelled to Coeur d'Alene to the funeral of my great-uncle (Mama's uncle) who went to be with the Lord the previous week. It was inspiring to see his whole family sing at the funeral as a testimony of God's mercies and graciousness to many generations, and it was humbling to be a part of the day as we played background music before and after the service, and it was amazing to watch Uncle Don get a hero's burial in honor of his service to our country.

All the family--some of whom I had never met before that day!

Mama with her cousin twice removed (I think I got that right!).

Cousins with Uncle Mel.

From the funeral, we travelled to Grandma and Grandpa's lake house for a few days of bliss!

Jonah and Smokey, a kitty Grandma and Grandpa adopted from us a few weeks ago. My, how she had grown!

Tubing...

Paddle-boating...

A swimming relay inspired by the Olympics...

Fancy water acrobatics also inspired by the Olympics (done by the inimitable Susanna)...

Napping on a boat (that's Great-Uncle Anton on candid camera)...

Sunrises and moonrises...

Jet-skiing...

Bathing beauties...

More water wipe-outs (this time performed by yours truly)...

Whatever we were doing, lake time and family time brought many smiles, that's for sure!

We had a girls' day with aunts and grandma and cousins, and between the pedicures, the amazing lunch, more tubing, and good conversation, it was a fantastic day!

Time spent with our other Grandpa--Mama's dad--was wonderful. It was so good to catch up!

Handsome Jonah

Cousin Jeremiah just opened his own chic coffee shop in Spokane--delish!

We also got to float the St. Joe River with Grandma and Grandpa and their church--Aunt Lisa and Amanda joined us for that sunny and thrilling day, so we got more delightful cousin time!

Now, with fall teaching schedule to figure out, a very messy room, loads of laundry calling my name, school coursework pressing, state primary ballot to turn in (tonight!) and duties left and right, I have to remind myself again of the definition of adventure. Not just tubing and floating and travelling does adventure consist of, but also of duties and responsibilities and commitments--of inconvenience rightly considered. Off to my next adventure!