If You Knew Her, You Would Say...: Our Weekend in Cali

Yep, that's Josh flying the plane to LA. :) Pretty scary, isn't it? Seriously, I don't think the pilot was much older than Josh is.

What a weekend ~ full and busy and fun and wonderful. We saw friends, family, babies - lots and lots of babies, although sadly K's wasn't one of them! :(

Wednesday night we had Christianne's conferences. I was very pleased! First of all, here we have conferences (as long as needed) twice a year... in CA we only got 15 minutes early in the year unless we requested more. I like this school district quite a bit so far. Anyway, C's conferences went well... she's doing great and a couple of her teachers also spoke highly of her character, which makes me feel 10 feet tall. I'm really proud of her and the way she is turning into a wonderful young lady.

Last Wednesday, mind you, it was warm enough that many people were wearing shorts - 66, if I remember right, and Thursday we woke up to a couple inches of snow on the ground. I wasn't too excited about that since I had a busy day planned, but the roads were fairly clear so it only slowed us down a little bit.

So Thursday morning we were up early for J's conference - another good one of course. This teacher is perfect for J this year, and with the added GT program and the OM competition he's participating in, we're very happy with how his year has proceeded for him as well.

Then we drove to Lafayette, just outside of Denver, to see about replacing my glasses that the lovely Miss G broke... no dice. :( That was a wasted side trip. Grrr... Anyway, on down to Colorado Springs to see Denise who was visiting her kids and grandkids (w/new baby guy only 16 days old!). We spent a couple of hours over at this great fun place called Itz that had just opened that morning! That place was huge! It wasn't cheap, but there was lots and lots of fun - video games and RIDES and an all-you-can-eat pizza buffet. We had a lot of fun hanging out there and visiting, even if our time was a little on the short side.

After we finished up at Itz we got back in the car and headed north back up to Denver to meet Ro at the airport parking lot, do a quick switch of cars and kids, and get going on our way. This was Josh's turn to visit Cali - and he was great. I think he had a blast and I know I had a great time with him with me. His first flight went well, even if he did talk (a little loudly) about what would happen if we crashed... :) He got to sit in the cockpit and wear the pilot's cap, so all in all it was a lot of fun. :) Mom and Deb picked us up and delivered us to Chateau Pop around 11. Long, busy, crazy, fun day!

Friday was great - we got to visit a lot of friends and we ran around a lot. In the afternoon J went by his old school and saw a couple of his old friends. Later he hooked up with another special friend and ended up staying the night and most of Saturday with him. He's really missed these kids, so I was glad we were able to work out some time for him to hang out with them.

Saturday - more of the same... I got my haircut (I have to fly 1,055 miles to get it done for free), we did some shopping, had lunch with friends, and actually saw a couple of movies (Jumper, Mad Money - neither one worth the $ we paid, we didn't think!).

Sunday was a wonderful visit back to church, where most of our friends are at. It was so great to see them, and they really made us feel like we're missed! :) Linda even made J about a dozen origami cranes since he'd mentioned awhile back that he liked those. :) After church we headed back to Chateau Pop for his chicken (no, I didn't see how he made it, since he was up and cooking WAY before my eyes were opened), rice, and gravy, topped off with some huge chocolate covered strawberries Deb brought over... Yummmy... ate too much... as usual.

And finally, home again. J and I had a lot of time to kill at LAX as we were pretty early and our flight was delayed. By the time we landed in Denver (half an hour late) and got turned around at DIA, we didn't get on the freeway until when I expected we would've been home. We stumbled in the front door just minutes before 1 a.m. (And yes, J went to school this morning.)

One of the best parts for me, honestly, was getting to spend some one-on-one time with J. I already know how smart and witty and goofy and energetic he is... but I also got to see him fall for babies at every turn (making Connor smile and holding Vincent and Gracelynn - all newborns). I got to see him do more than play video games. I got to see him interact wonderfully with both adults and children. I got to see a passion for aviation begin to blossom. What a gift... what a beautiful gift.

We missed our girls and we missed our Ro, and I have to admit I also misssed my bed, so it's good to be back home, but already I wish some of those I love in Cali were here with us. I'm just thankful we've been able to see everyone as much as we have since we left only six months ago - I've made 2 trips there and my CA family has made 3 trips here, and we have 2 more visits on the calendar in the next few months. Awesome.

Prayer Needs: