Five days of our last week in the States was spent with Grandma Trudy on a family trip to northern Michigan. No sharing about Haiti on the schedule, just (chilly) pool time, sleeping in, and a day trip to Mackinac Island.
The ferry to the island was quite cool in the morning, but by afternoon, it felt like a mild autumn day - perfect for biking and exploring (and eating fudge).
A Norman Rockwell kind of day in a Thomas Kinkade kind of place!
And even smores! The only things missing from our mini-autumn were a trip to an apple orchard and pumpkin-flavored everything.
We even got to hit the ski slopes...
That Thursday evening we spent poking around the cute little town of Petoskey on the shores of Lake Michigan, providing a gorgeous, peaceful, (physically and aesthetically) cool sunset for our last day in Michigan.
We drove back to Indiana and hit the ground running in a frantic effort to tie up loose ends and finish packing and saying goodbyes. We even managed to overlap a visit from my Seattle brother for a Sunday afternoon. First time all four brothers have been together since I don't remember when...
(And, yes, I am the short one.)
We let Mom hang out with us too...
And we had a fantastic brothers verses offspring basketball match. Like good Hoosiers.
We totally dominated those kids on the court.* (*Not technically true.)
On Monday, Melissa and I said some goodbyes and ran a couple of dozen last minute errands - any one of which would have taken half a day to complete in Haiti. (Ah, the CONVENIENCE of it all!)
In a blink of an eye, my brother Russ and his wife Alecia were dropping us off early Tuesday morning at the Indianapolis airport. With our carry on bags and 14 suitcases. (Yes, FOURTEEN. Melissa LITERALLY tried to bring a kitchen sink but couldn't get it to fit in our largest suitcase. We're hoping it comes in a few weeks on a crate being packed for Bethesda Medical Clinic. Thanks to brother Spencer for the new sink and faucet!)
And then, with the new daily flights provided by American Airlines, just six or so hours later, we were touching down in Cap Haitien. That's fast enough to give you cultural whiplash, BAD!
But my Haitian sons were waiting outside our house and other friends came by and we were HOME and everything was OK.
Have I mentioned how HOT it has been since we arrived? Alanna Bundy (the goof on the left below) took one look at my sweat-stained t-shirt our first day back and concluded, "I see you got used to the air conditioning over the summer."
Yes, I did.
It's kind of hard not to...
Now we are a full week and a half back into our life in Haiti and my body has not yet shaken the air conditioning. It's been three-showers-a-day kind of hot ever since we returned and we're all drooping a bit.
We were hoping for some good, drenching rain from Danny or Erika this past week and got about one hour's worth. Enough to have the kids dancing in the puddles.
Melissa and I got caught in it and didn't mind a bit.
Wednesday begins a new school year and we're all chomping at the bit. I promise to show you some of the new construction at Cowman School in the next couple of days.
It is ... not quite what we expected.
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