I had a great week and a half visiting back home! It was so much fun to see everyone at our former church (I am astonished at how mostly everyone looks the same, except for the kids who have exploded during their growth spurts) and to meet the newest members of church as well.
I was able to get my teeth cleaned at my favorite dentist and I got my hair chopped off by my favorite haircutter (yes, I have resisted finding new doctors and hair places out in CA...) My mom took me out to buy some maternity clothes, specifically more dressy ones that I can wear to church, and we hit the jackpot at JC Penny as they were having some fantastic sales. I went to an art class for homeschoolers at church that a friend is teaching and my mom is "auditing" and had lots of fun laughing at the crazy pictures I somehow managed to produce. I also got to see the finished baby quilt that my mom has already made if we're having a boy and the materials and design for the quilt she is going to make if we have a baby girl. I was able to meet up with friends and church families for breakfast, lunches, and dinners. The oddest thing though, was having people surreptitiously checking out my tummy to see if they could tell I am pregnant...there's nothing to see yet! One of the best parts of my visit was having rain for the last four days; I have really missed having a good rainstorm and sleeping with the cooler breezes blowing in through the window and smelling that clean rain smell.
On the flight back to CA, I saw the Mississippi River, the southern part of the Grand Canyon, and the Hoover Dam...all of which look pretty impressive from an airplane window, but not so much on our camera. I had parked our car at the Burbank airport and there was a thin layer of ash covering it. I could also smell a faint burning odor as I drove through bits of LA on the way home. Our area was fine but neighbors and friends said it was a miserable experience to be cooped up for three days inside homes with all of the windows closed (to keep the smoke and ash out) but without AC (none of the homes on base have air conditioning because we so rarely need to use it) to help with the extremely high temperatures the Santa Ana winds brought.Jason has been doing a lot of flying and refreshing and learning new things. One weekend, he was able to go to Tahoe where his favorite part was going on a hike and seeing the impressive scenery. They all get their own rooms in the BOQ but he has had to revert to his bachelor days in scrounging up meals...(mac&cheese with rice and tuna?? Although he assures me that I would like it if I tried it :) Thankfully, we are able to keep in touch via cell phone; something we really missed when he was on the ship earlier this year.
I picked up Lucy from the kennel yesterday afternoon and she was thrilled to see me. She is not a very big dog but she managed to knock me over twice when I knelt down to greet her. She was wildly excited on the car ride home. Normally, she is very happy to calmly sit in the backseat and stick just the tiniest part of her nose out the window...this car trip, when she wasn't trying to come up front with me, she had her whole head out the window. When we drove through the gate onto the base, she started to bounce around the backseat and when we turned onto our street, I really thought she was going to try to jump out of the window! I think she had a nice time at the kennel, but I am happy to know that she really likes to be home : )
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