During June and July, we made our annual visit to the States. Rick escaped Australia’s wintry chill for about 2 ½ weeks, and the kids and I got away for five. Although our previous trips have only been three weeks at a time, because we did not return to the States in January, we took the girls out of school for three weeks and added it to their two-week July holiday. This meant that we did schoolwork many mornings for an hour or two, but I think, in the final analysis, it was well worth the extra battles!
By extending our stay, we were able to spend more time with each side of the family, and Erin was able to attend her first week of overnight summer camp at Camp Calumet Lutheran in West Ossipee, New Hampshire. Rick and I attended this camp as children, served on staff as teenagers and young adults and married there. Until 2006, Rick served as the camp’s music camp director, so Erin was familiar with Calumet and couldn’t wait to go. It has remained very important to us that our children experience summer at Calumet regardless of the distance we need to travel.
Despite a week that was so desperately rainy and cold that she only managed to get in the lake for her initial swim screen, she had an absolutely wonderful time. Summer camp at Calumet is perfect for Erin- so much activity to fill her need for constant action, while at the same time surrounded by the love and affirmation of so many counsellors and staff. She cannot wait until she gets to attend for two weeks!
The rest of us also spent a few very rainy days at Calumet’s conference center along with my parents. We also stayed a week in the Boston area with Rick’s parents, where three of his four siblings and some of their family were able to join us for too short a time. I enjoyed two rainy days with my best friends from high school, celebrating our 40th birthdays on the New Hampshire seacoast. The rest of the time was spent with my family in Mt. Gretna, PA, where my parents and other members of my mother’s extended family have summer cottages. This meant that we spent lots of time with my aunts, uncles and cousins, just playing, going to the lake beach and eating as much ice cream as possible at the local ice cream parlour, the Jigger Shop. My sister’s family was able to join us for two weeks. It was so much fun for the kids to be able to spend time bonding with their two-year old and four-month old cousins, both of whom have been born since we moved to Australia in 2007.
It is hard to put into words what these visits home mean for me. We all love our life here in Australia- we feel very comfortable in the culture, have wonderful friends who we love like family and an extremely supportive church environment. I feel like I have reached a deep comfort level here. Sometimes, I even fear that because I love my life in Australia, I will no longer be comfortable in the States when we return. I wonder if I will be able to tolerate winters with snow and ice, the full on noise of American commercialism, politics and media, and schools without uniforms. But on this return trip, I really felt a deep sense of belonging, one that went beyond fitting in and gave me a profound sense of feeling my roots reaching into the soil. It was a wonderfully nurturing feeling, one that fed on connectedness with familiar experiences, places and people.
I must admit that it was wrenching to leave this warm embrace, but the kids and I were eager to be reunited with Rick and our life in Australia. The flights these days are a bit of a non-event, as we’ve done them so often and the kids know what to expect. We luxuriate in the quality service and on-demand entertainment system on Qantas. This time around, the new Qantas A380 was pretty spectacular- our favourite features were the serve-yourself open snack bar, the amazingly upgraded entertainment system and the video camera set in the tail of the plane so that you could have a forward view of the entire flight, from takeoff to landing, at the screen at your seat. When we fly over the US, we cringe with embarrassment at the generally poorer service and less well-appointed cabins of the American airlines. This time around, we discovered that our family is no longer being assigned seats together, apparently because of the new policies charging extra for window and aisle seats. This means that everyone is held up while new seats are being sought for us once we have boarded the plane, a process made all the more difficult by the fact that people HAVE paid extra for window and aisle and are not keen to give up their seats. What poetic justice for Erin to get airsick all over the floor right next to the man who would not move to allow us to sit three in row!
For me, jetlag and re-entry are always a bigger challenge than the flight itself. Not only is my sleeping thrown off, but for days, when I am awake, I feel as if I am trying to think through a haze of cotton. We arrived home on a Saturday, just a few days before Claire’s 7th birthday on July 29th, so I was challenged to make a plan for celebrating her birthday on less than my full faculties. Come Tuesday, I put my plan into action, baking the birthday cake before the kids even left for their first day back at school, leaving early to purchase lollies (candy) at the store to share with classmates, going to the shops to purchase gifts, dashing home to get the cake decorated in time to pick up Lachlan at preschool (I was late), making an early family dinner of the requested spaghetti and rushing Erin home from soccer practice so that we could dig into the cake and ice cream. As I was putting the candles in the cake, Erin asked “Why are we celebrating Claire’s birthday on the 28th?” Indeed, the calendar confirmed that it was the 28th. When I had determined the day of the week for her birthday, I had counted forward from the date we landed. I never actually looked at the calendar. My simple math was wrong.
And so ends another epic journey in our Australian adventure. Thank you to everyone who follows our family adventures on this blog and offers us encouragement and prayers. We enjoy having you along on the journey!
By extending our stay, we were able to spend more time with each side of the family, and Erin was able to attend her first week of overnight summer camp at Camp Calumet Lutheran in West Ossipee, New Hampshire. Rick and I attended this camp as children, served on staff as teenagers and young adults and married there. Until 2006, Rick served as the camp’s music camp director, so Erin was familiar with Calumet and couldn’t wait to go. It has remained very important to us that our children experience summer at Calumet regardless of the distance we need to travel.
Despite a week that was so desperately rainy and cold that she only managed to get in the lake for her initial swim screen, she had an absolutely wonderful time. Summer camp at Calumet is perfect for Erin- so much activity to fill her need for constant action, while at the same time surrounded by the love and affirmation of so many counsellors and staff. She cannot wait until she gets to attend for two weeks!
The rest of us also spent a few very rainy days at Calumet’s conference center along with my parents. We also stayed a week in the Boston area with Rick’s parents, where three of his four siblings and some of their family were able to join us for too short a time. I enjoyed two rainy days with my best friends from high school, celebrating our 40th birthdays on the New Hampshire seacoast. The rest of the time was spent with my family in Mt. Gretna, PA, where my parents and other members of my mother’s extended family have summer cottages. This meant that we spent lots of time with my aunts, uncles and cousins, just playing, going to the lake beach and eating as much ice cream as possible at the local ice cream parlour, the Jigger Shop. My sister’s family was able to join us for two weeks. It was so much fun for the kids to be able to spend time bonding with their two-year old and four-month old cousins, both of whom have been born since we moved to Australia in 2007.
It is hard to put into words what these visits home mean for me. We all love our life here in Australia- we feel very comfortable in the culture, have wonderful friends who we love like family and an extremely supportive church environment. I feel like I have reached a deep comfort level here. Sometimes, I even fear that because I love my life in Australia, I will no longer be comfortable in the States when we return. I wonder if I will be able to tolerate winters with snow and ice, the full on noise of American commercialism, politics and media, and schools without uniforms. But on this return trip, I really felt a deep sense of belonging, one that went beyond fitting in and gave me a profound sense of feeling my roots reaching into the soil. It was a wonderfully nurturing feeling, one that fed on connectedness with familiar experiences, places and people.
I must admit that it was wrenching to leave this warm embrace, but the kids and I were eager to be reunited with Rick and our life in Australia. The flights these days are a bit of a non-event, as we’ve done them so often and the kids know what to expect. We luxuriate in the quality service and on-demand entertainment system on Qantas. This time around, the new Qantas A380 was pretty spectacular- our favourite features were the serve-yourself open snack bar, the amazingly upgraded entertainment system and the video camera set in the tail of the plane so that you could have a forward view of the entire flight, from takeoff to landing, at the screen at your seat. When we fly over the US, we cringe with embarrassment at the generally poorer service and less well-appointed cabins of the American airlines. This time around, we discovered that our family is no longer being assigned seats together, apparently because of the new policies charging extra for window and aisle seats. This means that everyone is held up while new seats are being sought for us once we have boarded the plane, a process made all the more difficult by the fact that people HAVE paid extra for window and aisle and are not keen to give up their seats. What poetic justice for Erin to get airsick all over the floor right next to the man who would not move to allow us to sit three in row!
For me, jetlag and re-entry are always a bigger challenge than the flight itself. Not only is my sleeping thrown off, but for days, when I am awake, I feel as if I am trying to think through a haze of cotton. We arrived home on a Saturday, just a few days before Claire’s 7th birthday on July 29th, so I was challenged to make a plan for celebrating her birthday on less than my full faculties. Come Tuesday, I put my plan into action, baking the birthday cake before the kids even left for their first day back at school, leaving early to purchase lollies (candy) at the store to share with classmates, going to the shops to purchase gifts, dashing home to get the cake decorated in time to pick up Lachlan at preschool (I was late), making an early family dinner of the requested spaghetti and rushing Erin home from soccer practice so that we could dig into the cake and ice cream. As I was putting the candles in the cake, Erin asked “Why are we celebrating Claire’s birthday on the 28th?” Indeed, the calendar confirmed that it was the 28th. When I had determined the day of the week for her birthday, I had counted forward from the date we landed. I never actually looked at the calendar. My simple math was wrong.
And so ends another epic journey in our Australian adventure. Thank you to everyone who follows our family adventures on this blog and offers us encouragement and prayers. We enjoy having you along on the journey!
Love, Anne et al.
For those who are interested in a full summer picture album, click here- http://picasaweb.google.com/annedacey/USASummer2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCIyup_yUz7vBPg#
For a few select pictures, see below!
Amusement parks were part of our summer fun- Sesame Place with the Kinneys, and Canobie Lake Park with Grandma and Grandad Dacey. Grandma was a great sport!
Picking Erin up from her week at Camp Calumet Lutheran in Girl's Cabin 1.
The drive from northern New Hampshire to Pennsylvania is LONG!
My parents, our family (minus Rick) and my sister's family pose for the annual Mt. Gretna cottage steps photo.
