Girls Road Trip!

About a week ago, my 16 year old cuddled up to me and said, "Mom, I miss Ella so much.  Is there any way we could go see her?  We could make it a fun girls trip!  The time together in the car and then on campus with Ella could be so great!"  How do you say no to that?!  So, a very last minute, but perfectly-timed with our Spring Break, trip to LA was planned.  Dave was busy with all the Easter services, so sadly he had to stay behind.  But, he'll be making the trip in about a month to pick up Ella, so he'll have his special LA time then.  

This trip did not disappoint.  Delia and I had a half day on Thursday, so we hit the road right after school let out at noon.  She was an amazing co-pilot!  We had 7 hours of singing, laughing, and diving into deep conversation.  Her heart and humor just delights me!  To spend that distraction-free, uninterrupted quality time with Delia was alone worth the trip!

Road trip pro tip: pass on the pickle flavored jelly beans! :)

We arrived around 7:30 to hugs from Ella and Gideon.  We snuck into the Caf before they closed the doors for the holiday weekend and right away got busy catching up.  After dinner we settled into our home for the next 4 days-- Ella's dorm room!  When Ella's roommate was homesick on the night they moved in back in August, we kind of saw the writing on the wall.  The girls got along well, but she was local and spent every weekend at home.  At Christmas the roommate bailed on res life and became a commuter student.  It's sad, but there are perks to Ella having a room to herself and an extra bed...like the opportunity for us to all have a dorm sleepover!  These are where my Easter 2024 core memories will be: late nights, movies around Ella's laptop, visiting with friends who dropped in all weekend, the infamous Sunday night trash pick up, cooking Dutch soup in the hot pot.  

On Friday, Gideon drove us to one of his favorite local places, the dog beach at Huntington.  His family loves to walk their pup Pepper here.  Ella and Gideon have even brought Pepper here together.  For a mile we walked on the picturesque beach while awesome friendly dogs came bounding up to say hello!  It is a dog and dog-lovers heaven!

Delia listed "getting to know Gideon better" as a trip goal and it was achieved!  Fun to see their relationship growing since the last time we were together 2 months ago.  We like him a lot.  They are both in the Swing Dance Club and were adorable practicing some of their lifts and tricks on the soft sand.  His home is about 30 minutes away from school and when his parents heard we were in town, they were so sweet to make the drive just to take us all out for tea and spend an hour connecting.  We loved this time.  We like them too.  

Can't go to Huntington Beach without walking the iconic pier or doing a little shopping in the soooo SoCal surfer shops downtown!  Delia bought a cute sweatshirt and we saw a fishing guy catch an actual sting ray off the pier.

Back from the beach for Good Friday service at the church Ella has found to call home this year.  When we walked in, she was warmly greeted by name by her new church family, which was probably what I loved best.  That and watching her craft her artistic sermon notes, the thing I miss most about attending church with Ella.

Saturday was cold and rainy all day.  This is the day we met up with Gideon's family, but also the day we decided to do allll the shopping.  We got Ella stocked up on snacks and personal items.  Then we went to the famous Citadel Outlets.  

Easter Sunday at Ella's church was amazing!  They went all out with a big choir and a glorious, every instrument you can think of-- including harp!, orchestra to lead our worship.  We stayed for a bit afterward to fellowship with some of her friends.  Then we had our Easter Sunday lunch at Porto's-- LA's well known and loved Cuban bakery.  Stuffed potato balls, Cubano sandwiches, empanadas, banana chips, and cheese rolls were an untraditional, but super delicious, Easter meal!

Actually, the whole weekend was full of great food!  The avocado toast at Cream & Sugar Cafe and the multiple stops for boba were highlights.

Delia will tell you one of the best parts of the trip was something I have no pictures of-- the hours of time she got to spend with Ella and her friends having all the wacky late night fun!  The girls returned to the room around 2am each night after dancing/karaoke parties, Jackbox game nights, and movie viewing in the dorm lobby.  Ella has found a group that is as creative, silly, and pure in their fun as she has always been.  On Easter Sunday night, a bunch of them met on the top of their dorm's parking structure just to worship!  Accompaniment courtesy of Ella on the uchalele, Javen on the violin, and Ethan on the guitar.   

We've seen Ella 5 times this year, 2 of those times were when we've gone to visit her.  Starting when we visited last year, and growing when we dropped her off in August, to Family Weekend and this one spent almost entirely on campus, her school is finding a special place in our hearts.  Walking around campus is now familiar and homey.  When I see her school's sign, I feel happy and proud-- like when we see the Mount Hermon sign or the Disneyland sign.  It's likely Delia will end up here too as she grows to love it and its amazing, fun, Jesus-loving student body.  

Ella's dorm is a freshman-only dorm, so on this trip Delia and I said goodbye to it, knowing we probably won't step foot in it again (unless Delia does go here and gets put in this home).  Such cool timing that Ella's dorm assignment for next year came while we were there on Friday!  She will be rooming with one of her good friends Emma, also a biology/pre-med student.  Her whole friend group applied to live in the coolest, newest dorm on campus and they all got in! She and Emma be on the top 5th floor, Gideon and all the guys on the 4th floor, Ava and Tori on the 1st floor. We walked over to check it out and this dorm is incredible.  We even met her RA and peeked at her room, which comes complete with a palm tree view.  Ending such a stellar first year was gonna be bittersweet, but this next chapter is one Ella and all her relocating friends are really excited about!

The ride home was a little quieter after the long weekend jam-packed with people and fun.  But, the Lord brought us safely through LA traffic and crazy snow-covered mountain passes.  It was a perfect weekend to celebrate His Goodness!

Family Time in Florida

Our dad had one brother, Dave, and he had one daughter, Jill.  That side of the family has always been small, but when our dad, his mom (my Grandma in Florida), and our Uncle Dave all died, it literally left just us three girl cousins.  Jill has always been younger and lived on the other side of the country.  We know we could do better about staying connected.  We got the invitation for her tropical wedding in Lido Key this February, and Heather and I made decision to prioritize going and representing our dad's side of the family.  With the holiday weekend, I actually had 2 days off school, so the timing was perfect to not write sub plans.  And coming from snowy Colorado, Heather was like, "Yes, please!" as soon as she heard Florida in February!

Heather and I picked flights that would have us meet in the Sarasota airport.  She was a bit delayed, giving me about an hour to do the most fantastic airport people watching!  90% of the folks at the Sarasota airport were part of the retirement crowd.  They were all fit and tan and happy-looking, stepping right off the pickle ball court to pick up their grandkids, I imagined!  I texted Dave that this looked like a fun possible 3rd act for us! ;)  

Heather and I unpacked and then strolled around the lovely downtown Sarasota, listening to all the live music and finding an outdoor table at a sweet little local restaurant to catch up.  After dinner our walk continued around the marina, and all the glitzy hotels, and oceanfront parks.  Florida is heavenly-- something affirmed in the daylight the next day as we explored the Lido Key beaches!    

The sand is baby powder.  The climate is warm with no wind.  Even though it was an overcast day, Heather and I still got kissed with some sunburn (rookie mistake to not put on sunscreen, we should have known better)!

There are gazillions of shells and we enjoyed hunting for the perfect ones to take home as souvenirs.

The water is warm and the waves are gentle.  We did see lots of jellyfish, though, so we passed on swimming!

I had a whole bag of these cool shells, I had to edit down to just what could fit in my iced coffee cup.

Cranes were parading past us.  It was so picturesque and idyllic!  A perfect escape!  We ended up walking around most of the Lido Key island on this morning, over 5 miles.  We had lunch at a grill on the beach, eating salads at a picnic table with our toes in the soft sand.

Then, back to the hotel to get un-sandy and wedding-ready!  Jill and Tyler's wedding was at an aquarium!  Their ceremony took place in a tropical grove of palm trees and bird of paradise bushes.  From thatched huts we were served fun drinks while listening to live steel drums playing.  The party bus my aunt arranged for all the hotel guests got us there early, so Heather and I chilled on Adirondack chairs by the water watching dolphins play!

This was a fun wedding!  The DJ was amazing and we danced until the venue kicked us out.  Our aunt is a riot and kept pulling us into kick lines and twirls!  We had a little time to catch up with Jill, hearing more about her dad and sharing our memories of Grandma in Florida.  She honored all these lost family members in such special ways.  Jill's people are awesome too!  We loved hanging out with her cousins from her mom's side of the family and her college roommate! 

The party bus took us back to the hotel where the pizza/open bar after-party was!  Here it was quieter and we had more opportunity to talk with Jill and get to know her new husband Tyler.  We feel like this weekend was the catalyst to be more intentional about our relationship.  We are all adults living in cool places.  We'd like to commit to doing better than seeing each other every 20 years.

The next day was a little tricky-- unseasonably cold, rainy, and windy all day.  The plan to explore another key's beach was blown off the table.  We got creative and spent our day under umbrellas at two places-- the Save Our Shorebirds Rescue Center and the Mote Marine Aquarium.  Heather and I are animal lovers, so spending a day, cold and wet as it was, with some of God's coolest sea and sky creatures actually ended up being really great.

We are Shedd and Monterey Bay Aquarium snobs, but this little aquarium exceeded our expectations! We saw so many works of art swimming around and even got to interact with a few in touch pools!  These rays and guitar fish were like puppies, swimming right up to us with their tails wagging seemingly begging to be pet! 

This rescued manatee, named Buffet (as in Jimmy) stole our hearts!  He'd swim right up to the glass and squish his whiskered nose against it for a kiss!

An actual tank full of sharks entertained and terrified us-- their top fins slicing through the surface just like Jaws!

 A lunch at the famous Salty Dog on the water, a little shopping in the many bougie boutiques, and a warm cup of coffee to thaw my now pruney, wet fingers completed this outing.  We went back to the hotel and hopped right in the hot tub to release the muscles we'd been clenching in cold all day!  Then it was jammies, ordered food, and TV in bed for a perfect finish to this rainy day!

What do you know?  The sun was finally shining on our last day!  We had afternoon flights, so we got to spend the morning revisiting the marina in daylight, strolling around and gawking at the muli-million dollar yachts docked here.  Maybe this particular part of Florida, catering to the elderly elite, is not quite the place for Dave and I to retire! ;)

But, you sure can't beat those views!  The long fingers of white sand and turquoise surf, making up Longboat Key, Lido Key, and Siesta Key, awed us all weekend, even in the rain.  It was a weekend that was better than I imagined it would be in every way!  Breathtaking scenery, fun outings, reconnection with my sister, a rekindled friendship with our cousin, and the honor to represent our small, but special family at Jill's big day made us coming home, not necessarily rested, but definitely recharged!

After the Bows

Each cast is special and each performance seems to get the title "Best Cast Ever", but Delia had the MOST fun with this group!  Her new favorite drama memory occurred in the space between Saturday's two shows when all her guy buddies on the cast entertained by singing and dancing ridiculously as their newly-formed boy band "Dos Direcciones".   

This year's cast photo has them all posing in character!  I spy the lime squeezer and the blunt object and the pink cards and the tossed bouquet and the cordless phone! 

Dressing room selfies.

The besties.  Natalie above, Tessa below.

The pose. ;)

Dearest friend Kate.

Little fans from church who never miss a performance!

Long time mentor and former middle school teacher Karissa.

Two of Delia's good buddies played her brothers.  Love the Brother Bodyguard pose! 

The juniors on cast.

Annnnnd...our VIP audience members!  What a wonderful weekend we had, not only attending these great shows, but also hosting Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle Kyle, and Ella!!

Ella and Uncle Kyle pulled up to the auditorium about 15 minutes before the curtain on Opening Night!  So special to have everyone here to cheer for Delia and all her hard work on this one!   

First post-show family picture with Ella NOT in costume!  Ella took a role she's never had before for this one-- audience member!  She said she was much more nervous watching than she ever was performing.   

When Delia was working to conquer those Opening Night Jitters, I told her to just imagine the great relief and pride she'd feel taking that final bow on Closing Night.  It was an amazing, exhausting weekend that we were so thankful to share with a house full of loved ones!