Where have we been?

My my my... Our lives have been on a whirlwind journey this summer. We spent a wonderfully delightful week with Derek, Katie, Simon, and Finn in Port Angeles. Our time there was spent picking berries (and eating them), watching the annual Native American canoe celebration as it arrived in PA, playing with the boys in the sandbox, going to Hurricane Ridge, hiking and playing in the snow, watching the family have their swimming lessons and just plain hanging out with the kiddos. It doesn't get much better than that.

When we got back from Washington, it was hurry up turn around and head for Chicago for the next leg of our summer adventure: moving Zach and Hannah to Bakersfield, CA for Zach's first call congregation, Emmanuel Lutheran. We got a good start on Tuesday, driving about twelve hours, before resting for the night. Day two we hit the mountains. Just west of Denver the ride became more interesting as the rental truck, pulling the jeep on a flatbed trailer, refused to go over 35 miles an hour up any incline. It was then that we came to the understanding that the only thing standing between Denver and Bakersfield is mountains. Creeping up at 35 and careening down the mountains at rocket speed created hair-raising adventure. I think it took several hours to pry my fingers from the steering wheel. Seventeen hours on the road on Wednesday and we reached our 2nd nights destination, somewhere in Utah. Day three held out hope and promise. It was the day of arrival in Bakersfield. Yet more miles stretched out before us, hilly miles, mountainous miles. Twelve more hours and Bakersfield welcomed us with an open storage facility. The only problem was we had to empty the truck to fill it in time to be out of the facility before we got locked in. Operation accomplished. Now get the truck to the return center. OOPs. Return center closed. Hungry, tired, dark, three vehicles, four people, one dog (Mr. Wilson). Thanks to the great memory of Zach, we found a place to grab a bite of Mexican food, and get to our hosts house for the next three nights.

How wonderful Dave and Janice were when they saw such weary souls stagger through their door. The welcomed us and offered us gracious hospitality the whole time. We couldn't have asked for anything better. The entire time spent in Bakersfield was filled with love and support for Zach and Hannah and Mr. Wilson, and carried over to us.

Friday and Saturday had us looking for a house, apartment or condo for them to rent. Finally on Sat afternoon they found the one. It was perfect for their first home! Sign some papers, make a deposit and celebrate! Woohoo!!! Sunday morning had us heading to LA for the evening for a Chicago Fire soccer game and then an evening of mediocre pizza and laughter. Monday Z and H dropped us off at the airport in Burbank and we began our journey Eastward.

Josh, Arden, Abby, and (the wee one) had been keeping Shelby for us, so upon our arrival we had a great reunion and tried to settle into a sense of normalcy. What ever that is...