Trip to Arkansas

For the past week, we've been in Arkansas, visiting Grandmama and Grandpa. The 11 hour trip door to door, alone with the four kids (obviously not alone at all), was well worth it. We had a wonderful week,

• Getting daily ice cream from the ice cream truck, Grandpa's treat, devouring it immediately, right before supper;
• Racing around the high school track in the evening, and jumping into the sand pit;
• Walking through the neighborhood under the canopy trees, listening to so many birds;
• Listening to rain and thunder, all too rare in Colorado;
• Visiting the nearby ducks;
• Reading with Grandparents;
• Will late night reading in his Grandparents' room;
• Making clover necklaces;
• Golfing with Grandpa;
• Playing hide and seek at the local nursery;
• Playing monopoly and Uno and Checkers and Chess and Chinese Checkers with Grandmama.

My childhood home has lots of padding. It's packed with photos, paintings, books, gnomes (seriously, about 100), so many momentos. When we visit, Grandmama also pulls out toys and books and dolls and linens and even clothes, all from my childhood. At the end of our stay, Will said, "Grandmama, your house feels old-fashioned." I'm not sure what that means to a 7-year old, but it's true. We live a pretty self-imposed old-fashioned life in Colorado, but here, it's the real deal.

When we got home to Boulder, to our like-minded friends and organic food and family routines, we took a walk in what felt like a desert compared to our lush walks in Fort Smith. And our house literally echoed - the hardwood floors, the long walls, the curtainless windows. Mind you, we've got more than enough stuff. But it's hard to imagine we'll ever build up that kind of padding here in Boulder. It's just not the way we live, nor is it characteristic of where we live. (Not to mention I married a minimalist.) But I do hope that my kids grow up with such a deep, layered feeling of home, like what we feel at Grandmama and Grandpa's house.