Our family took an RV trip this summer. We rented a motorhome from the Iowa town with my favorite name. Story City. 

The RV is back on the lot, and we are back at home, glad to stretch on the inside, but missing the RV's backyard. We took in so much beauty, and I think all of us would agree it was the perfect family vacation. Sunny blue skies. Highs in the upper 70s, lower 80s. We hiked to waterfalls and walked beside hot springs. We followed a brown bear along a mountain road and saw grizzlies and a black bear mama and cub romping through the forest. We passed elk, deer, antelope, coyotes, mountain goats, big horn sheep, and a traffic jamming herd of bison. We roasted marshmallows over the campfire and stayed up too late to watch fireworks. We had a real chuckwagon dinner -- steak, fried potatoes, spicy baked beans and pear cobbler, cooked by cowboys over an open fire. We still have mosquito bites to prove it!

Last year, we rode a packed elevator to the top of the Pearl Tower in Shanghai. This year, we drove through countryside where we didn't see a single soul for miles. And each journey held its own magic. Last year, we counted people. This year we counted stars. And it quiets me to think they all have names. All those people. All those stars.

I never tired of gazing out my window, but the kids grew fidgety inside the RV. So, I bought clay at a grocery store along the way. Soon their creations were drying on the counter. Snakes, a polar bear, a fox, a swan platter, and an alien.

My five year-old made the alien out of green and purple clay. The alien had one googly eye in the center of his head and an antenna on top. But clay is heavy, and the antenna wouldn't stand straight.

“Is that your alien?” I asked.
“Yes,” said the maker. “Do you like the antenna on top of his head that curls like a question mark when he's wondering? Or when he's feeling shy and wants to hide.”

"Yes, I do like it," I said.
And I thought, he should be the one writing stories.