The Big 16!

Ten years ago Melissa, my oldest, was quickly approaching her 16 birthday.
I found myself watching my little girl grow into a young lady all too quickly.
I knew my time with her as a resident in the same house with us was limited.
I wanted more time with her. I needed more time with her.
There was a big world out there and I believed there was still so much to guide her through before she ventured out to explore her own life outside of the security of our family.

Ten years ago we lived in a small town. (Kearney is small town to me, anyway.)
I wanted my children to experience the world that you can't find in a small town. I wanted them to know how to get through airport security, transfer from plane to plane without getting lost; what it is like to get around in a new place; how to get from airport, to hotel, to museum, whether it be by plane, train or bus. And I wanted them to do this safely.

Ten years ago on an ordinary morning while taking my morning shower I had simple idea, a simple vision that has turned out to be an absolutely extraordinarily brilliant idea.

For Melissa's birthday I would take her to a big city. Surprise her with a trip where she could site see and explore all she wanted to see. She had all the tour books, maps and guidance, but it was up to her to plan the activities and figure out what, how, where, and when.
And this would give us the much needed one on one time together.

We had a wonderful time in San Francisco!

We have continued this tradition with all the kids as they have reached 16.

Jeff and Brad in Washington DC,
Jeff and Aimee in San Francisco,
me and Lindsey in San Francisco,
And now...
me and Alex in Chicago!

Each one of the kids have embraced this one-on-one time with mom or dad. At 15 or so they begin asking where we are taking them, trying to lobby for Hawaii or Disney World. (We don't let them choose the city.)

So here I am at the end of my first day with Alex in Chicago.
We left Salem at 4:45am.
Non-stop flight from Portland to Chicago.
Orange Train from MidWay airport.
Transfer to Red Line Train.
Exit at Grand.
Our Hotel is right here.
Just a few blocks away from the Hard Rock Cafe,
Pizzaria Uno
and
Gino's East.

The Cubbies won tonight against the Brewers.
Our seats were AMAZING!



Alex has crashed!. I think I wore him out.

I am excited for tomorrow and to find out where he is going to lead me!

Ten years ago...
Thank you God for ordinary days, and quiet thoughts that turn out to be such blessings!

27 years...

August 22nd was my 27th wedding anniversary.


We've spent the last 5 days in celebration and on vacation with a dear friend.



I imagine some might think it odd to have another person along on your anniversary, but we have enjoyed it.
I guess the biggest reason why we have embraced having another person along is that since moving out to Oregon Jeff and I only have each other. We don't have other friends to go out with. We spend all of our time together. Having a friend come visit and help us celebrate has been wonderful!





We arranged to take Charlie flying. He is a former pilot and we thought this would be a fun surprise for him. And...Since we have a good friend who runs a flight school, we were able to pull some strings.



We went flying. We went cruising on the Puget sound. We had a plethora of delicious food and drink. But most of all we had great conversations with dear friends and family.



I hate to see it come to an end.

Anyone else ready for a visit to the Great Northwest?

The Guest room is ready!

My Calendar

I have so wanted time to write, time to reflect, but I just haven't been able to make it work. Life is so busy.

When life gets busy like this I am reminded of the story told by Jerry back in Kearney.
Jerry was complaining of how busy he was, no time to get his work done, no time for family, no time to volunteer, no time for golf.
Jerry's friend listened carefully and then asked to see his calendar. Jerry shared it somewhat proudly as if it were a prize or a testament to his complaints.

His friend went over each of the entries and then agreed, saying, "You are a very busy person. And I also notice that it is all your own handwriting."

Jerry told me from that time on he quit complaining about his schedule. He made more careful decisions about what he added to his calendar and what he didn't add.

When I get too busy to write, to blog, to clean my house, to spend time with the kids. I can't help but be reminded of the fact no one is adding things to my calendar but me.

I am in control of my schedule, my calendar and my life.
So I have to quit complaining and do something about it.

So while this isn't at all what I intended to blog about today, this is what came out when I began to type.

What I intended to blog about was Birthday Celebrations!
Within the past 10 days we've celebrated two 'milestone' birthdays.

Alex's 16th

and Laura's 10th.




Hard to believe!


Happy Birthday kids!

I-5: A haven for interesting sites!

I have heard of driving a Lemon, but this is the first I've ever seen of one on the highways of America.



On our trip home from Seattle
(A topic deserving of it's own blog)
we spotted some odd yellow object traveling down the road ahead.
I had to speed up to figure out what the oddity was.



Oh, Its only fresh Squeezed Lemonade!