As you know, we live far, far away from any family so we rarely get to see new baby cousins, older cousins, funny uncles and happy aunts, and of course, the Grandmas & Grandpas we love! Fortunately, we love to take road trips and visit family! So right after school let out for the summer, we packed up our van and drove straight thru to Ojai, CA - that's 26 hours of driving!! Even though we had planned to stop for the night, the boys were happy and I was just starting to wake up, so Todd & I took turns and made it in record time. We were just too excited to get there!
We stayed with my Mom and Dad for a few days, then Todd & I left the kids with them to have their own little adventure and we went to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada! It's a really nice city and there was lots to see. We really enjoyed the Capilano Suspension Bridge and the ferry to Vancouver Island where we went to Butchart Gardens and the Royal Canadian Museum. We also went up in a skyscraper with a lookout tower on top - it was a beautiful 360 degree view! We drove through Stanley Park and walked through several small neighborhoods. We spent a lot of our time just relaxing and shopping.
We got back to California just in time to go to church with Amy's family. It was baby Micah's blessing day. It was great to be there for that. He has a ton of people who love him! We also met Ben's baby Sara - I still can't think of what to say about her - she is sooo dang cute!! And she's the chubbiest baby ever - so fun to hold!
So every one from my family was together there for a few days and I loved it!! Emily mentioned that even if we manage to get all of us together once a year, we only have about 50 years until we start dying and that's just not enough times together! I agree! We do have good times together and they just don't seem to happen often enough!
While we were all there, we had an early retirement party for Dad. He gave his 2 months nothice to his boss and Mom's making plans so it's practically official. Tammy and Amy organized a skit about Big Foot and all of the 5 kids & spouses had parts. Mom and Dad and the grandkids were the audience. We were all pretty silly but except for scaring the kids with a real Big Foot running through the yard, it was a hit. Dad said it was the best party he's ever had. (He's easy to please.) So congrats on retiring, Dad! Now don't get too stressed about RVing!
We had planned our trip to be home with Todd for Father's Day, but Todd had work to do in China so the boys and I stayed in California for another week. It was sad to not be with Todd, but we did enjoy celebrating with my dad! Amy's family came to Mom's house for dinner and banana splits and we just enjoyed the day.
The next day, with the van all loaded up again, we drove to the Utah Averetts'. Kimberly took me to 2 stores where I bought half a ton of food storage stuff. The boys had a great time with Uncle Paul, Grandpa Averett and their cousins at Boondock's, a terrific play place if you are 13 and younger. (Thanks to Grandpa & Paul for the fun day!) Since we wanted to get back home before Todd returned from China, we left Utah on Wednesday and drove all the way to Topeka. It's too long of a drive for one person, but I did it! It never felt so good to be home!
So since we've been back, we've unpacked everything and put away our mountain of food storage things. The boys have played computer & Wii games for hours and hours. I've been fighting off a cold with naps home cooked food and naps. Todd came back from his trip jetlagged so he's taking naps too! I wanted to get pictures up to go with my travelogue, but I'm just not there yet. Now we'll enjoy the month and half of summer we have left before school starts. And start planning our next adventure!
