It’s hard to believe but the first leg of my late year journey is almost over. To recap, I’m spending about two and a half weeks with each of my kids/grandkids/great-grandkids. This was the Massachusetts chapter. And it has been fun! Constant chaos with two little ones, five and six; two teenagers {technically a tweener and a teenager}; and two dogs {including Angelina}, but fun nonetheless.

I must admit I had forgotten about five and six year old energy levels. Over the last few years, I had experienced it in short bursts. This time, from dawn to dusk — and sometimes well beyond — it was constant motion. My Little Pony and Danny and the Dinosaurs marathons or Lego Jurassic World and Lego Batman video games for the younger set were almost constantly on screen unless Grandpa usurped the TV for football or baseball. I joined the family at an  alpaca farm {which also featured emus, donkeys, chickens, ducks, and turkeys}, spent quality time with the family, had interesting conversations individually with the two older boys, supervised as the dogs and younger ones roughed and tumbled with the mutts, experienced the change in seasons up close and personal, had a grandchild on each side and a dog in the middle as I read them The Jungle of Jojee {they listened  intently except the dog, she slept through it}, saw my Christmas cactus start blooming {I’ve entrusted its future to my daughter-in-law}, spent the better part of a day at the New England Air Museum with the crew, watched my first pre-Christmas Christmas movie (Christmas at the Castle, hey I hadn’t watched a Christmas movie since July), had the younguns help me make a Twinkie cake, spent a gorgeous night under a bright full moon with s’mores, a roaring fire and family, helped (?) the little ones decorate their My Little Pony figurines, figured out the landscape {nothing in Massachusetts is a straight A-to-B straight line} and found the post office, landfill {don’t ask} and pharmacy without benefit of GPS, even managed some quiet time. Angelina and I found some time for walks at Wells State Park and Spencer State Park as well.

I would say Angelina and I  packed a lot of fun and squirreled a lot of memories in 17 days — and we still have more stops ahead of us.

Saturday, we head to New York for 18 days of visiting, book sharing and even preaching. In Massachusetts tradition, we’re not going by way of the direct route, but veering off for a visit with my uncle and cousin in Connecticut first. We should settle in Saturday night in Ovid. One of the planned visit is with my newest great-granddaughter Ivy Lynn, who was born Sept. 27.

After the New York junket, we’ll head to Ohio, then Kentucky and finally South Carolina.

Let the adventures continue!

THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: Don’t ever let anyone ruin your enthusiasm!