Hallo All!

It's been so long since I've written that I feel maybe I should introduce myself.

I suppose you may be wondering how our Great Train Trip went. LOVED IT!!! Traveling by train is definitely the way to go. Trains totally beat out planes and automobiles, totally. Plenty of space, freedom to move around, different cars to buy food or sit and observe scenery, just plain wonderful.

When we first got on in the middle of the night, the cavernous worm welcomed us into its cool, dark belly and gently lumbered us to a soft sleep with the faint dream of train whistles echoing our thoughts of motion. Is that poetic? I try.

Okay, as far as visiting the South, I'm glad to live in the North. They were all very nice people and serve amazingly great food and went way, way above and beyond to make us feel at home but there is no place like home. For one of the few times in my life, I actually got homesick. But the relatives truly were sweet and pulled out all the stops for us.

We did many things for the first time, or at least First for someone in our family:

Deep dish Chicago pizza - excessively plain and then we found out later that the restaurant went bankrupt a week later so evidently they had run out spices already, I guess.

Chicago cab ride - really fast or really stopping, no medium speeds. Sarah loved it like one loves a flat roller coaster ride. You know how some churches have a hand bell choir? Well, Chicago is way more coordinated than that. They have made their own downtown car horn choir. The melody was prominent but the beat was a bit hard to catch on to.

Boiled Peanuts - this sounds so weird. It tasted that way too. I'm sure we could get used to it and eventually grow to like it but for now...no thanks.

Boiled Okra - slimy. One cousin of Steven's offered this warning, "Make sure you cross your legs before eating boiled okra so they don't just slip right through!" Sshhhh, but I liked this veggie a lot.

Peas - Up north we only have one thing we call peas and they are green, little spheres and complement most meals. Caleb had no idea there could be so many other varieties! He stayed down South for a couple weeks before we arrived and ate many colors of peas. All said and done, Aunt Wilma's won out as his favorite. If we could even buy them here, Caleb would want me to cook them just like her.

Mississippi Family Reunion - Our church potluck doesn't have as much food as this! I swear everybody brought enough food as if nobody else was. Unfortunately, it all tasted great which might explain why the scale tipped so much more when we got home and weighed ourselves. In Bible times, people had to bring a wave offering of food to help remove sins. In the South they bring food and wave a lot too but it just removes flies. I don't know why, but that cracks me up! Our kids both connected with their cousins again. I think Caleb could move in with cousin Ashley and not miss us at all. Oh, and recently Caleb shot a rabbit and said that Ashley's dad has the best recipe for that. So if anyone knows how to cook rabbit, please forward the recipes on.

Alabama Family Reunion - Unlike the "planned cuz all Audrey's family is driving here" MS event, the Alabama Swann's actually have a yearly reunion. In August. In Alabama. That's like inviting anyone to visit South Dakota the first week of February. Yes, it's still us but the weather is just not the best. Okay it's the worst. But this year AL had a cool wave and we really did enjoy being there (Does that mean that SD gets an equivalent heat wave in Feb.?). I think it was only in the 80's and 90's. Very bearable and yet still swim suit weather for the kids, who loved having two backyard pools set up. One was just little and Sarah said that one was the "hot tub" and the other was just warm. The Alabama sun is awesome. Sarah got to meet...umm..a cousin ...or an aunt....I can't remember since we met so many people...okay, a relative who is a Real Artist. Beverly Owen. Well, since Sarah wants to be an artist when she grows up, she was thrilled! Okay not thrilled enough to quit playing with bosom buddy cousin Jasmine but thrilled enough to talk and talk about later. So we even went to the gallery and viewed more of her paintings. Way cool. She's great!

Memphis - this became our stop in between the other stops. I think we were there four times during the two weeks. Gram's awesome. We toured the Peabody Hotel lobby with a little fountain pool for ducks. See, they have these live ducks that swim there during the day and then the Duck Manager rolls out a little red carpet and the sweet ducks walk on it, ride up the elevator, and go to sleep in their Peabody penthouse. For real. We also went to Pearl's Oyster Bar. Maybe oysters aren't our thing. Fried crab legs, the kids didn't even share but just gobbled them all up. I ordered stuffed crab. Perhaps that was a mistake. You see, up North when we serve meat, we try to disguise it as much as possible so it doesn't look like an animal anymore. Mine was served in a hollowed out dead body of a crab. That was a bit much for me. I liked the stuffed crab a lot as long as I didn't look at its carcass. Oh, and the best place in the world for either barbeque or hot dogs with the works is The Three Little Pigs. We could've eaten there for breakfast it was so good! While in Memphis, we also rode a street car trolley. You really get to just stand up and hold leather straps. Cool. And we rode in a horse-driven carriage and Sarah held the reins!

So we got home and are living happily ever after. For a week and a half.

Then we went to Sioux Falls to take our Motorcycle Safety Class. Ready for this? All three of us passed. Yeah, three, like Steven, Marcia and Caleb. So Caleb's first driver's license is certified in both cars and motorcycles. The next part is so humbling but I'll tell you anyway. Steven and I both lost points on our driving portion of the test but Caleb aced it and was motorcycle teacher's pet. He rocks!

If anyone has leather clothing in their donation pile, I guess I'm in the market now. I still can't believe I passed cuz I really can't do the figure eight thing in the tiny box they painted on the parking lot. I get turned around just fine, but I need a little more room than what the test allows for. :) Oh yeah, size medium on the leathers.

Caleb is officially fourteen. Co-ed birthday party, not like they interacted much though. Boys on this side of the pool doing crazy stunts. Girls on this side talking and texting. Famous quote from the party, "Everybody watch me. This one's gonna hurt!" Gotta love teenage boys!

So, obviously, our prayer life has increased. Hope God puts things in your lives to make you pray more too cuz that's all good.

Blessings in Jesus' name,

Marcia for the Swann's

P.S. I'll try to add pictures to the blog today too. Caleb's hunting buddy sent some emails detailing their hunting tales and exploits. Just don't freak out about the whole water in the waders thing.