Vacation highlights, coming home, and more audio book listening

We are finally home from our month-long vacation out west. We had fun visiting family, catching up on all the happenings in their lives. My girls thought they died and went to Heaven when we stayed with my sister and they got to play with their girl cousins all day long. I loved the time I got to spend with my best friend (my sister) despite the many interruptions from various quarters of life. And I'm grateful to my bro-in-law for putting up with the added estrogen factor. We stayed at my sister's house for the first half of our visit, and then went to my parent's house for the last half.
I took my computer along with every intention of blogging during that time, but it was never really convenient.
My parents recently emptied their storage unit that they had had during their decades in Africa, moving the contents to their new-ish home. It was fun unearthing some of the treasures that haven't seen the light of day in 30 plus years, and hearing the stories behind some of the items I didn't recognize. And the books! So many old friends that I wanted to browse through, but couldn't due to a too-full house. (Next time I'm staying in the guestroom with the bookshelves, Mom!) I spent hours going through old school papers they'd kept for me, tossing out most of them. It was a fun walk down memory lane.
My older brother and his family came from Louisiana for the reunion, and we got to spend quality time with them as well.
And I got to meet my new little nephew, and nominally help my younger brother and his family move to their new house.
So, all in all, fun times were had, but in the end I was very ready to come home. It's hard to be away from home and Todd for so long (his work load wouldn't permit a vacation at this time), and my girls, despite all the bontemps, were chomping at the bit to come home to Daddy.
The drive back was sooo not fun; my girls were fractious and antsy and not behaving well, despite the following audio books:

1. What Katy Did At School, written by Susan Coolidge, read by Laurel Lefkow, produced by Naxos AudioBooks. My girls were anxious to hear the next installment of the Katy series. This story follows the adventures of Katy and her next sister Clover as they navigate the world of boarding school.

2. Best Loved Stories in Song and Dance, told by Jim Weiss, produced by Greathall Productions. The stories on this disc are The Twelve Dancing Princesses, The Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White and Rose Red.

3. The Mysterious Benedict Society, written by Trenton Lee Stewart, read by Del Roy, produced by Listening Library. I haven't read these books or heard much about them, other than one friend's recent recommendation, and so didn't know what to expect. I was hooked from the start. I loved this clever story and listened avidly. My girls, not so much. I'm not sure why, but they didn't follow the story very well, or listen very well. I think it was the anticipation of going home rather than the story itself. Now I'm dying to read the rest of the books, and see what other adventures the Mysterious Benedict Society has. Poor Grandma (my mom) was left hanging near the end, since we hadn't finished by the time we dropped her off in Nashville, and still had two hours left of the story. But we promised to buy her the books so she can find out what happens.
(I forgot to mention that the highlight of our drive, going and coming, was that my mom came with us. She flew to Nashville, where we picked her up, and she drove west with us. Then we did the same thing in reverse on the return trip. It was so wonderful having that time with her, since she had to work for most of our visit and wasn't able to spend a lot of time with us. It was fun listening to books with her.)

Long Road Trips + Great Audiobooks = Heaven

We have made the trip west to attend two family reunions this month, and made the decision to drive rather than fly, since we would need a car once we arrived at our destination anyway.
In anticipation of our trip (and out of abhorrence of plugging my girls into portable DVDs since I find it makes them horrible travellers), I purchased and rented a quantity of audio books for the trip.

Here is the line-up of our audio selections we've listened to so far. (We head east again tomorrow, so stay tuned for the going-east audio line-up.):

1. What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge, read by Laurel Lefkow, produced by Naxos AudioBooks. My girls loved this abridged story, about a girl named Katy Carr, the oldest girl in a widowed doctor's family of six, in the 1860s. Katy is tall and gangly and careless, and leads her siblings in all sorts of adventures, until tragedy strikes and she has to have her own adventure. Laurel Lefkow does such an amazingly superb job of reading. Her pacing and voicing are perfect.
(P.S. I love, love, love Naxos Audiobooks. Their audiobooks are consistently, wonderfully done. Their readers do such a superb job.)

2. Charlotte's Web by E.B White, read by the author. One of our very favorite stories about the loyal friendship between a pig and a spider. The audio left a lot to be desired, 'though. The author has quite a monotonous voice that doesn't do his wonderful story any favors.

3. Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater, read by Nick Sullivan, produced by Hachette Audio. A silly, fun and lively story of a house painter whose fascination with penguins causes a noted Antarctic explorer to send him a live penguin, which results in a few problems. The story is brought to life so well by Mr. Sullivan.

4. Sylvester, or The Wicked Uncle by Georgette Heyer, read by Richard Armitage, produced by Naxos AudioBooks. "When Sylvester, the Duke of Salford, first meets Phoebe Marlow, he finds her dull and insipid. She finds him insufferably arrogant. But when a series of unforeseen events leads them to be stranded together in a lonely country inn, they are both forced to reassess their hastily formed opinions, and begin a new-found liking and respect for each other. Sylvester calls to mind the satirical genius of a Jane Austen novel and is adored for its wit and a fast-paced plot that ranges across a myriad of settings." (From Naxos AudioBooks)
Richard Armitage reads this abridged book with panache and suavity, and real depth of feeling. He does such a superb job of voicing the various characters. (His voicing of Sir Nugent Fotherby especially had me in stitches.)