What a great time we had.
Here's the low down:
Tuesday, Day 1- Drove to Wendover, Utah. We drove through western Nebraska, Wyoming, and almost all of Utah before we got there. We stayed at a Best Western Hotel there. It took us about 14 1/2 hours to get there.
Wednesday, Day 2- Drove to Fresno with a stop in Lodi, California to visit with my friend Janie's mother Barbara and see her vineyards. Beautiful!! Barbara had refreshments for us and it was great to get to visit with her and see her place. We got to pick apricots from her tree and take them with us to the Wilsoms. (Thanks for the fun time, Barbara) We loaded back up in the van and headed back down to Lodi.Got to Fresno around 6:30 pm (California time....I think.) Grandma and Grandpa Wilsom (Jim and Joan) were there also waiting on us. We grilled out and just started to catch up on how everyone was. The kids had grown and the house was great. What a great time! The kids swam!!!
Thursday, Day 3-More catching up and visiting. Michael drove Amanda, Bethany, and Maddie to Starbucks. It was just too hot to walk! Mickey and Brent started some projects around the house and went shopping for electronic stuff. That night we went out to eat at Javier's. (Their version of our La Mesa) On the way home we noticed the power people with their flashing lights working. Well, the power was out. You see, this was the hottest day of the summer thus far in California, so there was a lot of air conditioners running. Brent called Jim and Joan to see if they had power and they did, so we grabbed some ice cream and headed over to their house to do some more visiting and catching up. We stayed there until about 10:30. Joan needed some rest though, as she had to go to work the next day. So we all went back to Brent and Janie’s to a dark house. We sat around talking for a bit, with flashlights and candles, but by that time the time-difference had started to catch up with me. I hit the sack. I think the kids might have gone swimming. I’m not sure. All I know is the electricity didn’t come back on until 4 a.m. No fans, or any movement of air was happening, and I heard some people had trouble sleeping, but not me. I was out like the lights.
Friday, Day 4-I was sitting by the pool watching the boys swim. They splashed me so much, I just jumped in clothes and all. More visiting and catching up with Janie. Michael drove the kids to Blockbuster and they rented movies. They watched a lot of movies!
Saturday, Day 5-We went to Hume Lake Christian Camp.
Hume Lake Christian Camp:
http://www.humelake.org/
The guys: Brent, Mickey, Blake, John, and Marcus went ahead of us in Brent’s truck. They went up early to cut and split some wood for their wood stove they had installed last fall. The rest of us: Janie, Amanda, Michael, Bethany, Maddie, and myself went a little later to give the guys a head start. Well, Hume Lake Christian Camp is in the middle of Sequoia National Forest. You go to the entrance to the Forest and tell them you are going to the Christian Camp and they normally give you a sticker for your window. One is then supposed to go straight to the camp. Otherwise, you could get a ticket for not paying to enter the forest. Well, we missed one of the turns to the camp, and drove farther into the forest before realizing it. We had to turn around and find our way back. However, the best thing about missing the turn, was I saw the biggest trees I’ve ever seen in my life! I was actually glad we missed that turn, because of the view we got. The Sequoia’s are wonderful!
After we left Hume Lake we headed back to Fresno and had dinner with Jim and Joan at their house. It was delicious and it was good to do some more catching up with the “older” Wilsons. Michael got on the computer and showed Jim and Joan the pictures from the HBC youth group’s mission trip to Mexico. It was fun for them to see how everyone had changed since they had seen them last.
For your own glance, check out this link:
http://en.oremundo.org/Trips/photos/mia062307/index.html
Joan had also gotten several photo albums together for the girls, Bethany and Amanda. We had a blast looking at them and seeing how the kids had changed over the years.
Sunday, Day 6-We attended Riverpark Bible Church. http://www.riverpark.org/
We decided to change up the traveling arrangements and so we had a kid vehicle and an adult vehicle. That was nice as we could all visit as adults together. Michael drove our van as the kid car and we took the Yaris for us adults.
We had an excellent time at the church through worship and teaching. We got to meet several of Janie and Brent’s friends. It was a great day. We went to Dicicco’s for lunch. http://www.diciccos.com/
It was a great Italian meal, and for once, Michael didn’t totally wolf down his meal and the leftovers of those around him. He got the biggest calzone I had ever seen and couldn’t finish it all. Maybe he filled up on the bread before the meal, but it was surprising that we had to take home leftovers for him. We went back home and hung out until church that night. During the evening service, the high school choir, Chosen Generation, was leading the service. They had just returned from their mission trip to Sacramento where they helped in food kitchens and did some street ministries and concerts. They were a great choir to listen to and sing with. It was a wonderful night of worshipping the Lord for me personally. My tears flowed freely as we lifted up our voices in “How Great is Our God” and “How Great Thou Art” Amazing!
Monday, Day 7- We journeyed to the sea; Carmel-by-the-Sea that is. We drove up in our normal groups of: Brent, Mickey, Blake, John, and Marc in one vehicle, and Janie, Amanda, Michael, Bethany, Maddie, and myself in the other vehicle. We didn’t want Michael to have to navigate too many unfamiliar roads. If you check out the kids blogs there are pictures from inside the car during this trip. Maddie and Bethany were trying on sunglasses and playing “Miss Hollywood.” Then there was the singing…that got worse on the trip home…thanks Michael! J
Anyway, we got to Carmel. http://www.carmelcalifornia.com/
When we first arrived we went to the Hog’s Breath Inn: http://www.hogsbreathinn.net/
This is the restaurant that was owned by Clint Eastwood at one time. It was delicious!!! Then we all split up and explored. The guys took the boys down to the ocean to play. Michael, Amanda, Bethany, and Maddie went exploring at the ocean and then in the shops, while Janie and I shopped and talked! It was a lot of fun. Before we got in our cars for the trip home, we went down and took some pictures by the ocean. It was great fun. Then Janie drove us along and we got to see some of the great beach cottages of Carmel. So much fun!!! On the way home from Carmel we stopped in Los Banos. We were going to get a meal at a Basque restaurant (Wool Growers), but it was closed on Mondays. We opted instead for Espanos Restaurant. It was very good Mexican food. I am always up for Mexican.
http://www.restaurants.com/US/DetailPage.asp?RefNo=2098265121&Sponsor=1
I think the kids went swimming when we got home. They were out in the pool one night until like 11 pm. J I just can't remember which night. :-)
Tuesday, Day 8- Mickey got to play with Brent’s new jack hammer as they busted up some cement. Janie’s homeschool group, the Greenhouse group, had a meeting at her house. The kids all came over and swam in the pool while the mom’s had their meeting. I loved meeting the ladies in the Greenhouse group. This is an exclusive smaller homeschool group providing social/learning experiences and character training/Bible studies for their children. They were meeting every Thursday afternoon, but may be changing their meeting time to accommodate new activities. I really liked getting to hear about their plans; makes me desire something like this especially for my younger two children.
I also got to use Janie’s new HE front-load washing machine as I had to do laundry before we left on Wednesday.
Wednesday, Day 9- Time to say good-bye. L I hate good-byes! The good thing was plans were already being made for when we could meet again. The girls are flying to Nebraska in August, and we are so excited about having them here. We can hardly wait. We have also talked about some other times we could possibly get together. It was such a great time!!!
We thanked the Lord as we drove away for the blessing of friends who are so much like a second family, for safety and traveling mercies, and for a wonderful visit. We headed back to Wendover for a stay at Best Western. Michael got to drive a lot in Nevada this time. On the way there he drove a lot in Wyoming. So he actually drove in every state we visited. (NE, WY, UT, NV, CA)
I realized I hadn’t driven since we left Nebraska. I didn’t drive at all on the trip. That was relaxing!!!
Thursday, Day 10- This was our extremely long day. We didn’t get to Hasting, NE until about 1 am. That was because we stopped at the Great Salt Lake, in Salt Lake City, UT. We all got in the lake or played in the mud around it. (Thanks, Michael) Our feet were all smelly when we got out as it was very smelly around it…not the water, but the ground around the lake smelled extremely bad.
This dip in the lake costs us in travel time, but it was well worth it. The kids had an experience they won’t forget.
As we started driving Mickey saw tons of wildlife….prong-horned deer to be exact. That was fun for him to watch for as he drove. I watched a lot of the back of my eyelids between crocheting and reading. J
Friday- Day 11- We went to the Stuhr Museum in Hastings, NE. http://www.stuhrmuseum.org/
That was a lot of fun. Maddie and Marc got to visit with the blacksmith and the tin smith. At the tinsmith’s they got to make tinsel ornaments. We will hang them on our Christmas tree this year. We also went to the soda shop for refreshment and Michael and I got root-beer floats. Marc and Mickey got a hotdog. Maddie just had a root-beer. We meandered through the museum and then headed back to Bellevue. On our way home, we stopped and had hilarious time at Taco John’s in I think, York, NE. After that we piled into the van and I slept the rest of the way home! J
It was a great trip! Tomorrow I will attempt to post some pictures of the trip.
