Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving 5K 2012

This year I had only one daughter at home for Thanksgiving. For

Me in high school

the past few years we have gone go my sister's in-laws family to celebrate Thanksgiving. Until last year I brought all 3 of my daughters. Last year my middle daughter decided not to come home from San Diego. This year Jayne stayed in San Diego, and Lindsey is teaching ESL in Korea so it was only Sarah and I. I decided it would be fun to drive down to Arizona and have Thanksgiving with my mom. On Monday night Sarah and I stayed in a hotel in Modesto, CA and I taught in a school on Tuesday morning. It was fun to have Sarah come with me, it was like, "Take Your Daughter to Work" day. After one other stop we drove south. Sarah drove a lot and we had a 7 hour drive to Las Vegas.

Thanksgiving 5k 2011

After getting to Vegas around 7 we got settled into a hotel room and walked the strip for 3 hours from 8 - 11. My legs were killing me after walking up and down the stairs and looking at all the hotel casinos. It was fun for both of us to see how much the strip has grown.

We stayed in the Excalibur.

The next morning we got up early and drove to the Grand Canyon. I was hoping to drive over the Hoover Dam, which I had always done in the past, but they changed the route and had us drive over a different bridge. I was a little disheartened, but the drive was fun and we enjoyed the scenery. We got to the Grand Canyon around 3pm and looked for about an hour and then drove to Grandma's house which we got to around 7pm.

In Arizona outside Vegas

The next morning at 6:30 I left for a 5K run, my second of the month. I thought I ran really bad, but when I looked at my time it was my second fastest time this year. I have 2 more races to go this year to reach my goal of 2 a month (with a *). We had a great time during dinner on Thanksgiving and then Sarah got a text message that her science group decided to work on Saturday rather than Sunday like they had planned and she needed to go home on Friday so she could do their group work on making putting together a chicken skeleton. The drive back on Friday started around 1pm and we got home at 10pm. It was a nice drive and I drove half way and Sarah drove the other half. Over all it was a great weekend and Sarah and I enjoyed seeing my mom!

Fountains in Vegas

Vegas Angels

Outside one of the casinos

I'm back ...

At Grand Canyon with Sarah Nov. 2012

I haven't written in almost months. I was going to start after one month, but I got a little busy and didn't have enough passion to write. I can't write if I don't feel like it. I am writing right now because I have all sorts of things to talk about and couldn't wait for 6 days like I was going to. I won't write all I have to say at once or I will run out again. I like things boiling over until I have to write something or I can't stop thinking about it. When I write I never know if I should talk about what has happened most recently or things that happened a while ago. I guess I will start recent and work my way back when I can't think of other things to talk about.

Sarah at Grand Canyon

In October and November I worked in the Central County Occupational Center (CCOC). I talked to over 700 students about jobs and careers and their aptitudes and interests. I had almost 40 sessions with the students. This was like my hiatus before I hit the road again. There were two weeks that I drove over 3000 miles around northern California. Tomorrow I start on the road again. In the next two weeks I will drive to Livermore, Fremont, Lodi, San Luis Obispo, Vallejo, Susanville, Oroville, Clovis, Castro Valley, Brentwood, Sacramento, Modesto, and Etna. After that I get a 2 week rest where I will do paperwork and talk to train people to do what I do (so I don't have to drive so much in the future).

Today Sarah had an orthodontist appointment. I was busy and couldn't make it at the same time she could so I had her drive herself and handle things at the orthodontist. Everything went fine. She is now officially independent. It feels strange that my youngest daughter doesn't need me to take her places. It also feels good that my youngest daughter doesn't need me to take her places. One thing I'm worried about is that the same thing will happen when her older sisters have gotten their independence and stopped seeing me so much. I don't mind her getting independence if she stays in touch and lets me know what is going on in her life.I wonder if my kids know how much I love them!