September 2024 From fall camping up to our initial flight, beginning our month long vacation.

9/2 Melissa and the kids attached their sling shot to the branch in the dirt hill.  They were able to practice a few dozen shots and get some long launches. 

That afternoon, everyone went to dance class. Finn and Hannah in one class... 

and Lily in the other. 

9/6 Melissa and the kids spent time this week designing Azulejos in preparation for our trip to Portugal. 




That evening, after work, it was time for the fall campout with Robert and Mallory Lyman's family.  Which means, boys on the mountain and girls having a party.

The boys asked if they could put that giant round on the fire.  We told them that if they could move it, they could burn it. They ended up pushing it into the fire by using smaller logs as rollers and levers, very smart thinking... and we ended up with a fire burning long into the night.  Rob and I ended up splitting the log, while burning, to try to get it to burn out faster.   After spreading, watering and covering in dirt... it was still hot enough in the morning to blow back into a flame. 


9/7 Saturday, after returning from camp, cleaning up and completing our Saturday chores, we spent the evening with the Lyman's at the temple. 

9/11 NERDS!  We love how much these kids enjoy books. 

9/12 Mason Lyman ended up with a massive (120 gallon?) fish tank.  I helped him move it to his office and the kids wanted to see it.  He taught them about how the tank works then showed them all around his office in the school district office (3D printers, TVs, computers, forklifts, etc.).  

9/13 Homeschool Picassos preparing for Spain. 

Dulce de leche empanadas... Looking forward to Spanish food! Lily gave us a preview of the month to come, by refusing to eat the empanadas and instead backing some of the dough rounds alone. 

9/14 Blanding Fall Festival... Super heroes and Jedi! Plus pumpkin painting, inflatable castles, books, etc. 

The kids really love that Grandma Workman gets to come to lots of day to day activities. 

9/15 Early birthday for me.  Grandma and Grandpa Aurich came to watch the house and animals while we went on our trip.  Lots of grandparents for one night. 

9/16 It was so difficult to drive home from Denver last year after the trip (exhaustion), so this time we decided to cut the drive in half and fly from Grand Junction.  We arrived at the airport at 11:20 AM for our 2 PM flight. Grandpa Aurich said he loves that drive, so he drove us and took his time on the long path home.  We figured, this way our van wouldn't need to stay at the airport for a month.  Then he could drive us home while we slept upon return.  Nice plan... huh? 

Here we are 6 hours later at 5:22 PM.  Our flight from Grand Junction to Denver was delayed, then cancelled.  Since Junction is a small airport... the next chance to get all 5 of us on a plane would have been 9 AM the next day, then United would have had us wait another night in Denver before flying us to Dublin... 48 hours late!  So, we cancelled that booking, rebooked the whole trip through Denver (saving $1100 on the flights, weird) and waited for a rental car.  After they cancelled the flight, cars were instantly grabbed up and we had to wait about 2.5-3 hours for a car.  We hit the road and arrived in Denver after 10 PM.  By driving ourselves, we were able to get onto a flight 9/17 and arrive in Dublin only 22 hours delayed, instead of 48. 

9/18 (Middle of the night, somewhere over the Atlantic)  We ended up on an Air Canada flight from Denver to Montreal, then this flight from Montreal to Dublin.  The plane had lots of empty rows.  We could have all stretched out and slept.  Hannah got a great 3-4 hours, Lily ~2, Finn and Melissa <1 and I was in the 30 minute range.  Finn wanted to be with Melissa and Lily with me... so no lying down for the grown ups. 

Even with all the trouble of the first day/s of travel... a pretty awesome trip is coming up!
Oh, and next time, we'll go back to Icelandair or a direct flight from SLC.  See you never Grand Junction!  Probably. 




 

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