The Mergenthaler Family

Oops--I accidentally published this before the first part of the. Don't be confused. The second part of our trip involved flying from Denver to Seattle. I am thinking that one day I will write a post with tips for traveling with a large family. There are some things a person can do to make it a little more organized and less stressful. However, no amount of planning can shrink our size. Makayla observed that our family looks like a flock of geese moving through the airport.  We had a great time visiting the beach, collecting shells, picking blackberries, and celebrating Gavin's first birthday.  The end of our trip was miserable for Emily who we discovered was suffering from an abscessed pilonidal cyst. More about our adventure adjusting our travel plans to get her home, to the doctor, and into surgery. What a crazy week we have had since coming home!

The next few weeks are going to be very busy, so I hesitate starting a post about our trip that I may not actually finish. But some is better than none, right? We put our new big van to the test for our trip this month.  We have combined a Gudgel reunion in Snowmass, CO with visiting Rick's family in Seattle which means we have had a lovely, busy two weeks of traveling and visiting. Our journey began with a long 12 hour drive to Denver. When we travel, we eat at all the fancy restaurants.  The next few days were spent with my family in Snowmass with some brief jaunts to Aspen.  Some of the highlights from the Gudgel reunion include Emily's birthday, participating in events included with the Scottish festival, and fun family games.  We had a couple of eventful hikes. The first was a very rainy, cold hike on Emily's birthday in which we all got lost. The second was on Sunday. I took the younger kids for a hike so Rick and the girls could nap. It was hot and sunny and t...

Some hospitals have horrible food. Others have great food. We have had occasion to visit a few hospitals with the births of each of our children. My favorite hospital food was when Ricky was born at the hospital in Auburn, Washington. The worst was Makayla's in Provo, UT. The food at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics is decent. There are a few foods to avoid, but for the most part the food is good. We have had many stays in this hospital over the last 8 years:  Andrew's broken femur, Sean's birth, Ricky's mastoiditis, Brooklyn's birth, Ricky's broken back, Gavin's birth and my subsequent visit back for postpartum preeclampsia. Maybe we are just missing the food because Ricky is back in the hospital again and excited about ordering the fruit and yogurt parfait. I'm not sure how many details to add to this story right now because now that I'm writing it, I'm finding that all night in the ER last night has left me wiped out.  But I'm ...

The big girls have been away at EFY and youth conference for 10 days. We sure missed them, but tried to fill the gaps they left behind with a few adventures. Andrew had some Cub Scout things to do involving hiking and visiting a wildlife refuge so we knocked those out in one adventurous afternoon.  We went to the Iowa Raptor Project, which is at a nearby park. Injured birds are brought there where they are taken care of and then returned to the wild if possible. When we arrived, they were caring for an eagle and they let us watch them release her back into her cage.  We have been to this park many times. We usually stop to measure our eagle wingspan. The boys enjoyed throwing rocks from a bluff into the lake while I nervously imagined how I would rescue them if they fell. After our visit to the birds, we drove around looking for a trail that might also lead to a beach so the kids could swim a little (they wore their swimsuits under their clothes just in case). We didn't find t...

These pictures are from about 6 weeks ago, but they're too cute not to share.  Brooklyn and I participated in a rotating play class this year that was a ton of fun. All of those kids were involved. We split into two groups for a class once a week, and once a month we all got together for a potluck. Brooklyn's group was all girls. She refused to go without me for the last few months, but we still have fond memories. I especially enjoyed getting to know the moms of these kids a little more. They are a quality group of selfless, kind, helpful, and thoughtful ladies.  You can probably tell that among this group of moms were some great party planners who were very generous with their time and resources as well as talented photographers. 

We have about one third of our summer vacation behind us.  A lot has happened, and we have a lot more planned. Ricky got braces! He looks cute with those things on his teeth. Sean has been my super cleaner and organizer. He has kept his room clean for nearly a month!  And he takes pride in tackling even the most difficult jobs. He works magic.  The toy box was a very big project that I did not ask him to do, but he was a big help--especially in emptying it.  I should take pictures of some other things he has done well. For example, he has taught everybody in the family how to make the back porch look nice by hanging up the towels, lining up the pool toys, and making the chairs in a circle. He also helped me clean the girls' room while they're out of town at EFY and organized the mess on Emily's desk that I wasn't prepared to deal with. Another project was to  sort out the crayons, markers, and colored pencils. Sometimes he helps by keeping the bookshelves tidy i...

Usually I don't have much to report about Memorial Day. Almost always Rick is working and I am home with the kids catching up on laundry or other chores.  Usually, the kids still have at least a week of school ahead of them, so it doesn't feel like "real summer."  Sometimes I take them shopping or something dumb, but we don't actually DO anything worth talking about. This Memorial Day, I think we did a little better. The kids had their last day of school last Wednesday, so summer fun is in full swing. Rick still went to work, but we had a lovely evening when he got home.  We began the day with haircuts---again. Didn't I just do that?  I cut the 4 boys and Brooklyn. She was threatening to use scissors on her hair. I think she was feeling left out, so I cut hers too.  After that, we headed outside to mow the lawn and play in the pool.  Brooklyn is pretty nervous about the pool since the water comes up to her shoulders, so she likes to hang out on the porch wi...