Thursday, September 1, 2011

Traveling Summer

This summer has been NON-STOP. Making up for lost time I suppose! In May, my dear husband (DH - which can also stand for a few other things) zigzagged actross the country with three of our sons from Ohio to California. I got a GREAT deal on airline tickets through Jet Blue (always look for a company just starting out in an area for the best deals!) flying into Long Beach.
I met up with him in California with the remaining five children where we proceeded to visit with our two Marines & their families stationed at Camp Pendleton; then joined up in Irvine with our Parish Life Conference.
Sure, the teens were skeptic about the PLC being FUN, but the very first day they received proof positive with an epic teen venture to the beach for a little fun and sunburn.
One of the BEST things that came out of it was Miss V decided to go to school at St. Katherine's College in Encinitas. Perfect weather, awesome professors, great scholarships... who could ask for more!
We hung around California until mid-July, when hubby took all but three of the kids home. I then took those three on a California venture to - of all places - Ventura, then St. Barbara's where they met up with a teen group; then to San Francisco and finally up to Manton, CA. In the shadow of Mt. Lassen volcano, it was a beautiful retreat. Then we zipped back to the LA area and hopped a plane home for a few weeks.
In mid-August, my son Eli and I took off again for California, where we visited my son and DIL at Camp Pen again, went to church with them on Sunday, then took off for the Grand Canyon, which Eli had never seen. That night we went to the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ and enjoyed looking thru every telescope possible to see star clusters, the Andromeda galaxy and the moon so close it looked as though I could touch it.
The next day brought the Barringer Meteor crater, the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest. From there we raced to Clovis, then made it the next day to Lubbock to see my hubby's mom. It's always so great to see her!
We left that night for Arkansas, and made it by 7:00 the next morning. One night's sleep there and it was further east, as we had a 91st birthday party to attend in Virginia, near DC!

... to be continued...