Home from London

Rachel and Miriam arrived home from London on Monday. 

Grandpa and Darla stayed behind to do a bike tour through France and Germany, so Rachel and Miriam travelled home alone. They all went to the airport together—both Miriam and Darla got pulled aside for extra security—before going their separate ways. Poor Miriam had applesauce in her liquids bag and apparently it didn't pass the vibe...so after running it through several tests, security had her toss it, and then gave her a pat down. She was rather upset by the whole ideal (especially since she had brought the applesauce from the States...bug couldn't take it back to the states). 

Anyway, the girls had quite the journey—their flight ended up being delayed, and then they were switched to a new flight, and then their flight switched back. They finally arrived home about four hours after they were supposed to. 

We made a poster to welcome them home:

My siblings and mom helped me brainstorm apple puns, though I didn't come up with "Wel-pomme home" until I sat down to make the thing. 

Phoebe says, "You're welpum" instead of "You're welcome," so I don't know how I didn't think of it earlier.

Anyway, the poster says, "Wel-pomme home. Don't apple-ogize for being late. The sauce-pense was killing us, but you're here now! We missed you! (al-Mott's)"

That last part is kind of a joke from when Andrew and I were engaged and we'd gone to a family Thanksgiving dinner (I think at my Uncle Bruce and Aunt Sara's) and when we were leaving, Josie (who was just 11 at the time) called out after Andrew, "I love you...almost!"

Anyway, here are Phoebe and Alexander making some cookies to help welcome their sisters home:

For Family Home Evening, Rachel and Miriam handed out souvenirs. Phoebe got a "soldier bear":

Alexander, Zoë, and Benjamin each got a ticket for the Hogwarts Express (the girls visited Platform 9 and 3/4) as well as a little souvenir from the British Museum (which Miriam noted had nothing British in it):

Alexander got a chess piece, Zoë got [I honestly can't remember what], and Benjamin got a ship in a bottle:

We've been running nonstop since they landed! They're doing Youth Conference right now and then leave for YW camp on Monday and Miriam goes to FSY the week after that. June has been...a whirlwind!