A Little Vacation

We decided to squeeze in one more trip before school starts again drove down to my mom's house in Orange County. Because we broke tradition and drove during the day, instead of night this was a very different trip than it usually is. For one thing, it was LONG. It took about 9 hours to get to her house instead of the usual 7. (By the way, at what point does "I-5" become "the 5"?) As soon as we got over the Tejon pass the speeds increased dramatically (with the exception, of course, of a bit of LA traffic). People in Nor Cal typically don't drive much faster than 70 on the freeway...here I was going 75 or so and people were flying by at least 85 or 90 mph.

So, now we're at my mom's house and so far have been busy helping her with some stuff around the house...hanging curtains, painting a bedroom, etc. Last night we had the pleasure of hearing Josh, my dear friend Dana's fiance, play some of his music at Yorba Linda Friend's Church coffee shop. It seems like lately all of the churches I've come across have very elaborate coffee shops. We don't have plans yet today, so I guess we'll relax a bit.

This weekend we'll be going up to Paddison Farm to visit with Ashley and Eric and Eric's family on Saturday. Then to Hesperia on Sunday to see a friend of mine. In fact, she was the first friend I made when we moved to California when I was in third grade. We met when our teacher, Mrs. Parker (who had just introduced me to the class as the girl from Africa...which confused a lot of kids, and instantly labeled me for the next four years), volunteered Natalie to show me around the school. I think we missed half the day walking around the school and Natalie and I were fast friends after that. We did everything together that year and stayed close until my family moved four years later. Her family included me in everything from whale watching and going to Sea World to seeing Phantom of the Opera and going to Medival Times. We were also in Girl Scouts together for a few years, though she was a much better Girl Scout than I was. We didn't see as much of each other through high school, but I did visit her in the mountains a few times in high school, went to her graduation and then to her wedding a few weeks later. She and her husband, David would visit me in the dorms with their little girl the first couple years of college (I think he was half the reason we did stay in touch because he'd always tell her to call me. They have two kids now, and their oldest, Valerie is in third grade this year. Wow. That's kinda strange that my friend's daughter is the same age we were when we met.

Next week will also be fun-filled. We'll hang around mom's house on Monday and then on Tuesday we're going to Sea World (where I haven't been since about 4th grade when I went with Natalie) with Dana and Josh. Then Wednesday or Thursday we'll go up to the mountains to visit another friend from my life there, Kelli. Kelli and I met the summer before fifth grade because our parents were part of a Bible study together. As the oldest kids, we were nominated to babysit the 12 or so other kids during the study. Kelli moved to Vermont around the same time we moved. I was in her wedding...I had to fly home from France to be part of it and then right back to Spain after it was over. She and her husband moved back to the mountains about two years ago with their two little boys. Four months ago a little girl joined their family, so we're excited to meet her.

From the mountains, we'll head back home. I start back work on Sunday. This week I'm starting to get all of the scheduling calls and it looks like it'll be a busy year.