Let's Get This Started!

Our reentry to real life, post one of the best spring break vacations ever . . . well, if going back and soaking up the sun instead of the snowstorm was an option, let's just say we'd take it! Buck and I both hit the ground running with work schedules--he worked six days straight before a day off, I worked 8 of the 9 leading up to yesterday (with two shifts IN office answering phones . . . good thing the girls there are fun to be around :)

In the little pockets of time in between, I've tried to start processing some of the nearly 900 pictures I have from out visit to the sunshine coast, but it's slow going! I'm sure you're tired of "Boo, Hiss" so let's swap it out for some "Hip hip, hooray!" (Not to be confused with Hip-HOP, hooray, oooooh, hayyy, ooooh :)

Things were hectic before we left--my MRI showed a frozen shoulder and the doctor wanted to get a steroid shot in it a.s.a.p. Buck drove me to the clinic; I was pretty nervous about the injection, mostly because it grossed me out so much to think about it. That's old news if you read the last blog. It took almost the full two weeks for the shot to "kick in." In the meantime, I barely slept (about 5 hours per night), seemed to be a "morning person" to the astonishment of my MIL, ate like a football team on two-a-days, and never felt tired for the duration of our jam-packed vacation. It was something!

Meanwhile, Olive had perfect timing for diaper days; Buck drove her out to meet her other family while I baked banana bread so G$ would have something homemade to eat until he joined us on the coast two days later. If all worked according to the breeding plan, which was again artificial, but thankfully not surgical, Olive will be mama to Bernese Mountain Dog puppies in a couple of months. We shall see!

Getting everything together at the last minute was nuts! Mostly, trying to fit work hours in while prepping for a lengthy vacation is nuts! Because we left in the middle of a work week in the middle of a work day, we depended on a homeschool mom neighbor to get us to our flight on time :) Actually, our neighbors were instrumental in making all the things work while we were away. Daisy, chickens, packages, rides, Daisy, all the things :) Thankful for friends who are neighbors, for sure!

So, we three first travelers were flying on vouchers from the NYC landing on the way to Africa last year. Delta flights are crazy expensive, so this covered like 2/3s of each flight, but we also had to buy baggage. I'd say we got our extra money's worth, though, because voucher travel also meant that we stayed in CA for nearly two full weeks (that's when the lady on the phone could get us booked). Brennen got to spend some extra mom and dad time with us :) He was missing his friends and sweetheart and church back home, but I fully enjoyed getting to spend that extra time with him. He's incredibly funny and fun to talk to; I'm super thankful for the extra time to get to know him more as a grown guy.

Once we were on the plane, we chased the sunset west for hours! Our connection through Salt Lake City was pretty smooth. The guys got burgers and I got a smoothie in their bougie airport. It was actually REALLY nice; I was impressed with SLC. And flying in at night was really cool! We don't often get the city lights view from the sky, so that was really neat. Not as neat was that, when it was time to leave for CA, all the planes sat on the taxiway waiting to be deiced. Since I always seem to be seated over the wings, this time Brennen right next to me, we got to see the deicer machine in action! I know it looks like they are spraying fire on the wings to deice them, but I assure you that's not the case :) Just a bit of impressive backlighting before we safely launched into the air . . .

It was laaaaaaaaate when we arrived in CA, but we could still see the palm trees AND we didn't need coats! Grandma J jumped out of her car with lots of hugs, even though it was way past her bedtime :) Eleven years since we've been on the southern coast, it was good to be "home."

As you can see, Grandma J did a little bit of shopping before we arrived, lol! She had a list on the fridge not only of WHAT food there was but WHERE to find it :) There were snacks in the laundry room, chips in the guest room, energy drinks in the garage, cookies in the cupboards . . . it was like a treasure map with X marking the spot in pretty much every nook and cranny of the house!

But we still needed tortillas for Noah's breakfast burritos. Buck wanted to check out what a Costco Business Center looked like and Grandma J shops one frequently. Buck loved it! And I loved the tortillas we found . . . look at those things; edible blankets in a bag! And they were only like $3.95--what a deal!

While we didn't stop at In-n-Out on the way home from the airport (we could have, it was open 'til 1 a.m. ;) . . . we did go there for lunch the first day! By the end of the trip, I believe we counted half-a-dozen trips to this family favorite, with various combinations of we In-n-Outless Midwesterners, lol! Not only is it super tasty, Bible verses are printed on their cups, the shakes are delicious, and the food is always fresh--but, it's super affordable! Like prices haven't changed much in decades! Ahh In-n-Out :)

I can't begin to describe how exceedingly pleasant it was to sit outside, in the sunshine, looking at color, smelling the flowers and plants, feeling the breeze, and enjoying the calm of Grandma J's canyon views. Aahhhhhhhhh. Her back patio swing got lots of use from me during those two weeks! We also made good use of Grandma J's firepit table on her freshly power-washed and painted lanai (that's Hawaiian for porch :) The first night, she crockpotted roast and veggies, which we ate by the fire, and it was a delicious way to end a busy day . . . of waiting for EVERYONE ELSE TO HURRY UP AND GET THERE! Heeheehee :)

Buck and I went for a walk through the gated community on the first day, and I went solo the second day. I hoped to use the treadmill in the clubhouse during our stay, but we were so busy and so active, I never really needed to! 

On the day the rest of the Crew was due to fly in, Grandma J made enchiladas with green chile to sustain us for the wait ;) Brennen got me started on watching Beast Games, and we sat up and watched them until 1 a.m. while Buck and his mom went to the airport in the sweet minivan we'd rented earlier in the day. 

I loved getting the photos of the kids at their respective airports, ready to fly in! With all the crazy plane news of the past few weeks, I did a crazy lot of praying for everyone's flights to arrive safely through allll the connecting airports, O'Hare and Denver on this day. Praise the Lord, there were no major issues (other than something mechanical they fixed in Denver for the trio's plane--I think that was on the way out, if I remember correctly). No delays, and they all arrived right around midnight as planned. So.Awesome. Yay!!