I’ve been having a good time visiting family.  It’s always good to see them, and especially good to see them in teh continental US.  Don’t get me wrong – I LOVED Hawai’i, and would drop everything to go back, but I’ll tell you what.  It’s infinitely easier and more enjoyable to fly an hour instead of 15.

This is the first time I’ve flown to see my family since they’re back from HI.  As I was packing for the trip, I started piling up books and stacks of DVDs to take in my carry-ons.  David watched me for a few minutes, and when I asked him for help fitting everything into a bookbag, he reminded me that I wasn’t going to be flying for 15 hours.  =)  I happily took out the stacks of books and DVDs and wow… it’s great having a feather-light carry-on!

So, anyway, I’ve been here with my family for a week.  When I visit, we typically pack the time full of visits from and to family friends.  Those meetings are always wonderful – I don’t keep in touch with folks as well as I should.  I have all these great intentions, but I never seem to have time to follow through.  The good thing is, these people watched me grow up (as much as any non-family member has ever done, anyway – being a military brat, not too many people get to know me past 2 or 3 years).  They know me well enough to know I love them even though I don’t call or write.  It’s great.

What isn’t great, though, is the thought of running into folks I went to high school with.  I DREAD the experience, and I know it’s just bound to happen.  Each visit to my parents increases the odds that I’ll run into someone I know.  For some reason, small towns have always made me feel trapped – like if I wasn’t careful, I’d get sucked in and never escape.  I watched it happen to people who were older than me, and I couldn’t wait to get out.

I really like who I am now.  I really like my life.  I don’t want to go back.  High school wasn’t the height of my life.  It wasn’t the best thing that ever happened to me.  I’ve moved on.  And I don’t really want to talk to or meet anyone who hasn’t.

That said, there are some old classmates that I REALLY enjoy seeing.  Sarah Camp (I’m so sorry about Joe!).  Sarah Green (thanks for having lunch with me!).  Adam Donius (I’m SO glad you came back to see if it was me – congrats on the baby!).

It’s been a good trip.  =)

… and that’s it. We’re done with the traveling for [hopefully] a long time. =)

This time, the drive didn’t seem that long. It was only 6 hours to WVA, and since we hadn’t driven a long distance in over a week, we were ready for a road trip. Seriously… I felt kinda weird staying home last weekend. It was the first weekend since the beginning of December that we didn’t travel out of the state. I’m starting to feel at home in my car.

I always enjoy going to West Virginia. My folks out there are the neatest people… and I got to see an uncle from Ohio and an aunt from Idaho while I was there. We always have a grand ‘ol time, squeezing as many people into the house as possible (we had 10 people crashing at once, this time). We’ve done the same thing – cramming folks in and spending a whirlwind couple of days together – for as long as I can remember.

These last two trips (one in August, one this weekend) have been different from years past. I hadn’t been back in several years before the August trip, so when I did go, it was an interesting experience. I was seeing all the things and people I’d grown up with through my adult eyes. I noticed things I never saw when I was a kid. My favorite change: I’m starting to get to know my cousin, Robin.

We’ve always been pals – we’re Hestle’s (my dad’s mom) girls. =) That means, among other things, that as the oldest girls in our respective nuclear families, we’ve inherited some interesting traits – a propensity for sass being high on the list. But now that I’m not much of a kid anymore, I’m starting to appreciate Robin. She’s just… NEAT. I like her a lot, and each time I visit lately, I’ve been looking foward to spending time with her. And watching her tease my mother. =)

Anyway, I do believe we’re done with the traveling for a little while.  Maybe things will settle down enough that I can get back into some kind of a routine.  My house really needs a little bit of attention – and we have work to do!  Our next project is the downstairs bathroom.  David’s torn the cabinets out, and we’ve started stripping the awful yellow paint from the beautiful original wood.  Pictures soon.  =)

We’re travelling – visiting family in rural, rural West Virginia.  My sister, Leah, has been visiting us for the past couple of weeks, and we are here both to visit and to drop her off with my parents, who are also visiting.

Today, some dude stopped us in a parking lot as we were going into a store.  He said, “Can I ask you guys a really big favor?”  He wanted us to spot him for some gas.  He said he was on a trip and had just come from the gas station (which was on the other side of the parking lot), and realized then that he’d left his money clip with his credit cards and cash at home.  He said if we’d help him, he’d send a check or Western Union (can I use that as a verb?) the money back to us, etc., etc.

We put $20 of gas into his car for him and told him not to worry about it.  Either he’s an honest guy, and we did a decent thing for another decent human, or he’s a con and we’d never see the payback anyway. Whatever.  Angels unaware and all that.

We had fun, however, inventing stories for the guy – if he wasn’t who he said he was, who is he?  We thought he might be:

• driving a stolen car, but there was no wallet in the glove box like he thought when he stole it
• a dude living with his mom – who grounded him and took away his allowance (he was in his forties)
• on the lam, trying not to leave a paper trail with his credit card
• in the Amazing Race (or something like it), where he had to get to the next destination with no money
• competing with old frat buddies – who can get the farthest from home without paying for anything
• in a fight with his woman, who kicked him out and stole his money

Whoever he was, he’s part of a long string of folks asking us for a few bucks.  Seems like, even in SUPER rural West Virginia, we can’t get away.  =)

A couple of pictures from our family reunion, recently uploaded by Dave’s brother and his wife:

Tara, David, Randy, originally uploaded by rauke1.

Jake and Tara, originally uploaded by rauke1.

I just enjoy the first picture – I love having a big brother!  And the second photo…  Imagine that dog trembling – he was TERRIFIED of the water.  See how taut his muscles are?  He was very, very tense, and leaping about from rock to rock so he wouldn’t have to touch the water.  =)  We had a large audience up on the bank.

Time off is good.

This is the first real time off I’ve had since I started this job in last June (‘06). I’ve been to Hawai’i several times, been to all sorts of eastern states.  I’ve taken a day off here and there.  We’ve been camping, reunioning, and beaching, but each time I’ve brought work and stress along.  This time, however, I’ve not been working.  As much, anyway.  A few hours here and there – urgent things tend to come up as soon as I say I’ll be away…  For the most part, though, this has been a restful experience.  Something new for us.  =)

One thing I’ve learned in this past year and a quarter – full-time work plus part-time work plus full-time visiting does not equal vacation.  Each time I’ve come home from one of these trips, I’ve been that much more exhausted instead of renewed – and relieved to get back into the “grind” because it seemed like a chance to breathe!

Hopefully, we’ll feel refreshed at the end of this trip (we have most of one more day here, and then 12 and a half hours of driving to do)…

Just got back from the Aukerman reunion.  It was fun – I love this group of people.  It’s a strange mix of generations – the family reunion involves the four Aukerman brothers and all their various offspring, so we’re up to three generations.  The brothers interact with merciless heckling and the telling and retelling of Aukerman classic jokes (the punchline of the one of the goodies is “Leo needs a new face!”, and a relatively new one goes like this: “Hey, what was the score?” “3 to 2″ “Who was winning?” “3, by 1!”).  There’s a point at which an awful joke really does become funny – and these guys keep me laughing.

One of the funniest moments of the reunion occurred while we were waiting at the lodge for the last set of us to arrive.  The kids had just finished a day full of swimming and running around outside, so they were tired and starting to get grouchy.  One of the cousins grabbed Chutes and Ladders and all 5 itty-bitties ran over to play.  After a while, they started fighting about the rules, so a mom brought out another game hoping to split them up.  Of course, when the kids saw Candyland, they all wanted to play the new game and the other was abandoned as boring.  The exasperated mom told them that half could play each game, and then they’d switch, but the kids weren’t having it.  They all sat down and grabbed pieces.  Mom looks at the oldest 2 kids and says, “One of you is going to have to go play Chutes and Ladders.”  When neither volunteered, she gave the oldest a meaningful look – whereupon the girl gets up, stomps about 5 feet away, then turns around and seethes.  She looks at the mom and says (amid breath-catches, as if she’d been sobbing), “If this is the manner in which I’m going to be treated, I’m never going to play again!”  This kid is 7.  It was hilarious!  The mom gave in and let the girl come back – immediately, the drama queen settled down and happily resumed bossing around the other kids.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of my family (I only pulled out the camera at the very end because my sister-in-law was snapping so many pictures).

We’re back in Indiana.  And we’re exhausted.  We didn’t sleep at all on the long flight over the Pacific (something to do with the chairs and the screaming infants), so when we came home, after doing a few things, we crashed.  Hard.  Woke up to the doorbell – Dave’s parents came to drop off our dog (they watched him while we were away this time) and to report on his misbehavior.  He was angelic, they said, the first 8 days, and evil the second 8 days (messing on the carpets a couple of times, jumping the backyard fence, etc).  They looked relieved to give him back – and I don’t blame them.  =)  We’ll be keeping a close eye on him for the next couple of weeks – hopefully getting back to his routine and getting a ton of exercise will fix those behavioral issues.

Anyway, we’re back safe and sound for those of you who were waiting to hear. 

I love this beach. It’s the best swimming beach I’ve ever been in – clear, bright blue water that looks like it’s straight out of a travel agency ad, and warm to boot! Fun waves. And surrounded by beautiful scenery (instead of tourists, buildings, or hotels):

first try at hdr, originally uploaded by tara.aukerman.

Posted tons of pictures on flickr. Click one of the pictures below to view them all. Wanna see something else? We were playing with the continuous capture settings on my new camera – it was meant for capturing fast moving objects (sports, etc), but we played a strobe game… Read the rest of this entry »