California Trip

Warning: This is long!

We're back from our trip to California. I always think that four or five days will be plenty of time to do all the things we want to do on our visit -- but it never is! Still, it was great to see Beth and her kids after more than a year, to visit with Mom and Rich, Connie and her kids, Stan, Alice, and many special friends from church and homeschool. Keri Lynn got her braces tightened and a special bag of new rubberbands to further torture her mouth. Everyone remarked on how big the kids were getting, especially Keri Lynn who is emerging into womanhood.

We went to a water park on our last full day with all the cousins -- that was a hoot! I was so worried that Keva would poop in the water that I really didn't want to take her, but I just couldn't see letting the rest of the kids miss out on the opportunity, so we all went. Keva, I think, had the best time of all! She and I shared a intertube and went around the Lazy River with her legs draped across mine. I tried to drape my arms across her legs, but she would have none of that. (It's fine if she touches me, but she doesn't like to be touched by anyone else.) And then, when we were done, I tried to take her out of the tube and she would not budge. It took all of my strength to get her out. I had the same problem at the tidal wave pool. She thought the waves coming in were the best thing since freedom in American, but she was not going to leave the pool when it came time for lunch. I had to literally drag her to the shallow area before she would finally stand up. After the water park, I was exhausted! And, thank God, Keva didn't deposit anything disgusting in the water!

Our room at Embassy Suites worked out very well. The boys slept in the living room on the pull out sofa and the girls slept in the bedroom. The free breakfasts turned out to be a full made-to-order breakfast. The first morning, I stuffed myself silly with a mushroom omelet, french toast, bacon, fruit, etc. Each morning, everyone left for our day's activities fully fueled. Our rental car was a new Town & Country with less than a thousand miles on it! You never know what you're going to get when you rent a car, but usually we get a nice car, but never a brand new car. That was fun! What was even more fun is that I got a really great deal for the car on orbits -- $156 from Tuesday through Saturday!

Best memories: The park visit at El Nido where I got my first sunburn of the week. What fun it was to talk with you, Audrey and Cheryl! A special visit for Keri Lynn with Hanna on one day and Missy and Kimberly on another day. Thanks, girls! She really enjoyed seeing you! A great meal with Stan and Alice at one of my favorite restaurants -- El Pollo Inka -- There are none in Georgia! Thanks, Stan! A visit to Mom's work where she cried as we all walked in and then got to show off the grandkids. A sweet drama show with the cousins and Rich where the little ones took turns being Jesus or the blind man. Connie's pleasure at seeing Keva's pleasure at the water park. Precious hugs and kisses from nieces and a nephew -- everyone keeps on growing! A relaxing lunch with Alice at Denny's. Visiting with Stan and Scooter. Sleeping in until 8:00 AM most mornings, which was really 11:00 Eastern Standard Time! Home cooked meals every night at Mom's. I ate so many of her yummy meatballs the first night, I felt a little ill later. She also took the time to make her famous rolls for our special Thursday night meal. (I've been trying to replicate those rolls, but I usually wind up with golf balls.) Kristofer and Kathleen's visit with Ian and Emily -- We made Ian talk to us with his grown up voice several times! Catching up with Sandy. Mom's birthday on Friday where we all claimed credit for other's gifts. And water, water, water at the hotel pool, my Mom's condo pool and the water park where I got my second sunburn!

Our trip might not have happened at all if we hadn't just barely made it on the plane going to L.A. I sat with Keva. Keri Lynn sat with Konner (much to his consternation). And the rest of the kids had to sit by themselves among a sea of strangers. Kade was terrified at first when he was placed next to a very large woman, but she turned out to be very nice to him, and he was fine after a while. Everyone behaved well since they all have had plenty of experience with flying.

For our trip back on Saturday, I was a little anxious just getting through security. The whole world decided to fly Delta that day, but Keith assured me that the flights to Atlanta were okay. What I really enjoyed was seeing Keva go through the security arch. She had to pass through, coming and going, by herself, just like everyone else, and EACH TIME she went over to the security guard at the other end and gave him or her a BIG hug! I'm not sure that I didn't see a rather self-satisfied grin on her face when she was done! The guard in Atlanta patted her back and told her that she did a good job! The guard at LAX looked a little startled but remained calm as I pulled her off. At least she didn't pull anyone's hair in security this time!

We didn't make our first flight coming out of LAX because a flight before our flight was delayed so stand-by passengers got bumped. The good news was that we had just enough time to go eat lunch at McDonald's in the terminal before our next flight out on a 777. Even though the 777 is a huge plane, we still couldn't get seats together -- It was packed out! But I did get to sit with Keva (a very important seating arrangement). Keri Lynn sat alone. Kathleen and Kylie sat together and the boys all sat together. We all had our own earphones and our choices of six or seven movies, so everyone was happy, except for maybe the lady sitting in front of Keva who (despite my best efforts) kept getting clobbered by Keva's soggy doll. Keva also managed to soak the seat cushion by the middle of the flight. I think she was testing it for flotation!

And it was good to see Keith there at Baggage Claim with all of our luggage ready to go. It's great to visit family, but it was good to be home!

We got back late Saturday night, so we decided to let the kids sleep in on Sunday morning. They slept (even Kristofer!) to at least 11:00 AM. I went in the morning to drop off some goodies at our Sunday School Class, but came back and went back to bed myself! It was a relaxing day and an opportunity for Keith and I to go out in the afternoon to celebrate our 18th wedding anniversary!

Eighteen years! It's hard to believe that so much time has passed! We went to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie and then out to eat at Moe's, a very yummy Tex-Mex place where they make burritos and such just like Subway makes sandwiches. We then went shopping for stuff that Kathleen and Kylie for their camp week. They needed bug protection wipes and sunscreen. And I also needed to do the laundry that we had brought back from our trip so that they'd each having something to wear for camp! I stayed up until 2:00 this morning getting that little chore done and I'm wiped out!

The girls had to be at the church parking lot at 7:30 this morning. I packed their clothes in ziplocks, like I had for our trip, so they could pick out a ziplock for the day and not have to fish around for their clothes. Camp Sonshine is only a half hour away, so we'll go on Wednesday to join the girls for lunch. When I told the girls this, Kathleen was very unhappy that Mom would come spoil her fun at being away for the week, but Kylie looked relieved and wanted me to come. So I told Kathleen to just pretend that she didn't know us and we would go sit at KYLIE's table! Hurr-ump!

I'm full of news today, as you can tell from the length of this report. A very important piece of news is that Keith got his second job! He applied for a job almost three months ago on the good word of a guy at our church. He had given up on the possibility when the guy told him to go and talk to them again, since they want people who really want the job. So Keith did and a few weeks after that got a call back to ask if he was still interested in the job. On Friday, he had a urine test, a psycho-analysis test (that he passed, thank you very much!) and on Saturday morning had a physical that nearly killed his legs and arms. This morning, he got a call for an orientation meeting for tomorrow morning! He will probably start tomorrow night.

Keith's job at Delta starts at 8:00 AM ends at 4:30-5:00ish PM and the warehouse job starts at 6:00 and goes until midnight. It's going to be five grueling work days in a row every week, but the good news is that it will help us meet our financial obligations and maybe even get some of the extras done AND he'll have weekends completely free. We are VERY thankful for this job. Keith is also very upbeat about it being a more physical job after sitting in front of the computer all day long at Delta. He's never been one for sitting in one spot for too long! Thank you all for praying for this need for us. We are once again completely amazed and thankful for God's provision in our lives.