I'm being swallowed by a dinosaur

I've been traveling a bunch, and consequently my schedule is all out of whack.  Here's me getting swallowed by lots of good stuff, and trying to catch back up . . .  

National Geographic has been sending me lots of pictures of Utah, which feels surreal, because that's actually where I've been, hanging out with my family (my "upper family": dad and sisters and such, although also a few of my "lower family": children).  

The beauty of the landscape in Utah is surreal and amazing.

My granddaughter is an amazingly fearless hiker.

My sister is also a great hiker,
and strong enough to carry grandnieces just for fun.

Even the little arches were fun to look through!

It was so good to hang out with (some of) my daughters and my sisters.
I love walking around with other people, and these are really good people for me to be with.

Inkling went from Utah to Washington state, where she (and her sock) encountered quite different creatures than dinosaurs.

At the Mermaid Museum

Dipping into the Pacific Ocean

Now that I'm back home, the upcoming semester is doing the avalanche thing, in which I keep numbering things on my to-do list from 1 through 11 or 12, but getting only to number 2 or 3 because of new stuff and long meetings dumping themselves into my schedule.   I have to admit that I do love being back with students, even though I thought I'd given that up, so I'm going to try to make the most of this, my last year [once again] in the classroom.

Back to work now . . .