The Events of Saturday, March 5, 2011

                Despite today being the first day we could actually sleep in due to no appointments, I awoke at 5:30 a.m.! Jim and I seem to be on Central or Mountain Time in the mornings, but Pacific Time in the evenings. Basically, we are short on sleep, as there is much to do. Taking advantage of a quiet house, I packed myself. Last night, I was so busy helping everyone that I didn’t take care of my own packing. Just as I finished the rest of the house began to stir. Soon, everyone was ready for breakfast and our ever-evolving plan for the day.

                First on the agenda was a special surprise treat for Caitlin. Her Uncle Scott had brought up HER car, the car he gave her for her 16th birthday. Under the guise of an errand about the car, we drove to an empty parking lot, and Caitlin received her first driving lesson. Wisely, Uncle Scott did the inside coaching, while I took pictures outside. After a few shaky slow starts and hard quick stops, she got the hang of it and was soon driving around the parking lot. However, she was only turning left. So, under her Uncle’s calm, clear directing, she executed a beautiful 3-point turn and did a few more laps turning to the right. Another 3-three point turn oriented the car in the right direction, and the driving lesson was complete. Returning to the house, Uncle Scott picked up Abby to look for some airmail paper for their correspondence, but the post office had none.

                Next, we packed the two large suitcases that we planned to check. The kids helped me divide the intended contents equally by weight, and we were quite pleased with how nicely everything fit. Now for the real test: checking the weight. One weighed fifty-one lbs, the other sixty lbs. – too heavy. Discouraged and tired from all this work, I was reluctant to try again. Luckily, the opportunity to try was impeded by the arrival of the Mitzners, Pat, Erik and toddlers Timothy and Claire; more cousin time for the kids. We enjoyed lunch together, and then the creative part of the day began.

                We had purchased hard sided suitcases for the kids from Costco, but only two colors were available. So, we pulled out fabric paint and stickers to help each child distinguish their piece. Years before, when the kids were much younger, I had done this with another luggage set. However, at the time, their artistic abilities fell far short of their imaginations, so I was the artist on commission. Thankfully, at the time they were impressed by my limited artistic ability. Today was an entirely different story. These artists were independent and creative. With occasional help from their Uncle Scott and Aunt Pat, soon, eight new masterpieces stood drying. We would have no difficulty identifying our bags.

                Then it was off to a favorite activity with Uncle Scott – a movie and a meal at In-N-Out. Fans of the Chronicles of Narnia, we had hoped to see the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, when it was released in December, but that didn’t work into our travel plans. Luckily we found it still playing in Citrus Heights, at a bargain price of $3.75. We decided to try out our new GPS. Midway through the US portion of our trip, our GPS had given up the ghost, probably due to being overworked as we explored new and exciting locations. The replacement one we picked up at Costco had not come with Europe maps, and it turned out we were not able to add those, as we had thought. So, Jim returned that one and purchased a new GPS that included U.S. and Europe maps. After thoroughly enjoying the movie, despite a fairly major re-write from the book, we drove on to In-N-Out. We enjoyed a good laugh when the GPS, with its European accent, announced that we had arrived at “In-N-Out Bur-jer”. After dinner, we headed home, hoping to do some last minute shopping, but Costco was closed for the night. After a few artistic touch-ups to the suitcases, we all headed off to bed.