California Vacation: Are We There Yet?

Actually, we're blessed that our girls have never pecked us to death with that question. They're much too alert, involved and clever to use such a recognizable stand-by! They peck us to death with a million other forms of the same question.

Yesterday, we traveled for many hours: one plane from our city to Phoenix, a second plane from Phoenix to Ontario, and then a car ride from Ontario to Santa Barbara. Traveling to Santa Barbara is always a lot of work, but today was especially hard. I had my sister on my mind. While I didn't know the news until later in the day, it turns out that her delivery was complicated by a detatching placenta and necessitated an emergency c-section. All is as well as can be expected. The baby girl is healthy and Sister will be fine though she's anxious about the restrictions her recoperation will require. It's safe to say that Sister does not like to relinquish control. God can use that. I pray He chooses to.

But for now, we will be where we are. We will honor Husband's mother and delight in the dynamic she and our girls enjoy. We will make plenty of day-trips though -- absence makes the heart grow fonder, after all. Mother is 83 years old, and our girls need only to be in the room to suck all the energy out of it. They don't even need to be doing or saying anything -- just being.

So, today we took the children up to Solvang, a quaint Danish village north of Santa Barbara. We spent some time window shopping and had lunch at a diner; we were pretty sure we saw newsman Forrest Sawyer across the room, and took a picture of him under the guise of the camera being aimed at Three. Fifi got a “magic scarf,” Dumpling got a costumed doll and Cuddlebug is happy with a little spinning top that looks like a Russian nesting doll.

We returned to Mother's home with just enough time to spare for Husband to take Fifi to view a B-17 Bomber from WWII that was open for touring for just 2 days while we were in Santa Barbara. Husband's relatives are especially interested in such relics because the family boasts a hero in its midst; Mother's cousin Victor Manuel Ruiz was a waist gunner and saw a lot of action in the skies over Europe; his brother Gilbert Ruiz was on the ground in General Patton's Army. Gilbert is still with us, but Manuel passed a couple of years ago. The family keeps his memory alive through the stories they share.