Hard to Be Sad

After a magnificent Mount Hermon summer and a couple weeks of recharging at home, it was time to bring Ella back where she belongs.  This felt completely different this year!  Last August there was so much Anticipatory Grief, so much anxiety about the unknown.  This year we know what good things await; I was actually looking forward to returning her to her Happy Place!

We rolled into LA late Thursday night.  Last year we made an impulsive trip to Downtown Disney for dessert at 10:30 pm after saying goodbye to Ella.  It became such a core memory, we decided to make this a new tradition!  Each year that we drop Ella (and possibly Delia) off, we'll try a new dessert while watching the exhausted Disney guests leaving after a long day-- best people watching ever!  So many tired princesses! :)  Last year we enjoyed a decadent Crazy Shake, this year we sampled Salt & Straw ice cream.  Next year we're excited to try beignets from the New Orleans Jazz Kitchen.

On Friday we had to make it to Anna's neighborhood to pick up the load of Ella's stuff she generously stored for us over the summer.  Unfortunately, our timing was super tight on this trip and the window we were available did not match Anna, so we didn't get to see her.  But, we did have a lovely visit with Derek and their sweet pup Winston!  Since we were on this north side of the city. we made some special outings here too.  We stopped at the Glendale Galleria to stock Ella up on Target supplies...and take advantage of this mall's fun Decades Photo Booth!  Delia is so expressive, I just love her.  Which one is your favorite?!

Then we grabbed lunch at a place that's long been on my LA List-- Din Tai Fung.  This Taiwanese restaurant specializes in soup dumplings and has award-winning locations all over the world.  It was as delicious as we hoped.

Friday night was spent with Gideon and his family!  They kindly invited us to their gorgeous beach home for dinner and games.  We've gotten to connect with them a few times now and always enjoy getting to know one another better.  They are funny, smart and so easy to hang out with!  After dinner we walked a few blocks to pick up homemade cinnamon rolls from their favorite local bakery and then eat them while watching the sun set over the Pacific.  Last year, on this Friday night, we cried our eyes out at the Goodbye Communion Service, worshipping with lumps in our throats and speaking blessings over Ella while holding her in long, tight hugs.  This year, on this Friday night, we laughed and played Code Names with the people Ella's community has brought into our lives!  So much happens in a year!

Saturday morning it was time to get Ella moved into her new dorm!  This year's home is for non-freshman.  Her whole friend group was able to relocate here.  It's her school's newest and nicest dorm and it's known to have a "fun vibe"!  We felt it!  As soon as we walked in, loud music was playing, and lots of happy friend reunions were happening!  Ella lives on the top 5th floor, so we made friends in the elevators and stairwells while hauling all her stuff up! :)

I love helping get her room set up.  It's good for my mental health to drive away picturing her home and knowing she has a cozy place of respite in her busy schedule.  Her roommate, Emma, is a good friend from last year.  Emma was working all day and will move in a little later.  She has some questionable financial stuff going on, though, and is actually not positive she can afford the whole year, so maybe say a little prayer for Emma (and Ella who is heartbroken to think of another situation where a roommate doesn't last all year).

Anna and Derek stored Ella's saucer chair, her favorite dorm item, and were SO kind and generous to actually buy and surprise her with a second matching one!  Ella was pumped to make this darling little seating/coffee area with her two chairs, right under her window with the palm tree view and Southern California sunshine pouring in!

Dave had church responsibilities on Sunday, so we had to head out by Saturday afternoon.  Goodbye this time happened on her dorm lawn.  It was a happy farewell with not a single tear shed and Gideon promising to take good care of our girl.  Even though goodbye is always bittersweet, our goodbye means Ella's hello!  Hello to her beloved community.  Hello to her boyfriend.  Hello to a perfect-for-her-job (bio lab tech).  Hello to exciting, challenging classes, like OChem, Genetics and Weaponless Self Defense.  Autumn, Gideon's mom, said it perfectly as we texted on the ride home: "It's hard to be sad when they're so happy to be back." 

Ella's Mount Hermon Home

Praising and thanking God for the BEST summer for Ella!  She LOVED her team, LOVED her daily responsibilities, LOVED living by the ocean.  And LOVED that she got to spend every day zipping through the redwoods. 

Gideon was even able to come visit her!  Showing him around her Mount Hermon world, taking him on the Canopy Tour, and introducing him to all her Adventures Team "big brothers" was a summer highlight!  (The guys all approved and begged Gideon to apply and come join the team next summer!)

Maya was the perfect roommate for Ella.  They had a super fun summer living together!

Fun to get to know a whole new area of our state too!  Ella and her friends enjoyed exploring secondhand stores, coffee and boba tea shops, bookshops, beaches, and the Boardwalk!  Before I brought her home, she wanted to take me to her favorite local coffee shop,  So cute!

At an end of summer banquet, a hilarious all-staff video was shown.  This is the wacky Adventures Team's contribution to the video.  

We got 3 weeks at home with Ella in which she recharged after an exhausting summer-- fueling her body with rest, good homecooked meals, and time with old and new friends (the Adventure Team continued to hang out a few more times in these 3 weeks!).  We brought her back to her college community this weekend and of course every friend you hug and reconnect with asks "How was your summer?"  How do you even describe such an experience?!  Thank you, Lord, for this gift of a job!

The lyrics of our favorite folksinger Jack summarize it pretty well.  We played this as we drove away a few weeks ago.

They say "home is where the heart" is, I guess they got it right.  

I left mine in the hills near Santa Cruz.  

And I dream about returning every day and every night, to get rid of these Mount Hermon Homesick Blues.  

I'm goin' back to my Mount Hermon Home.  

It's the sweetest fellowship I've ever known.  

Though I roam far away, in my heart I'll always stay in the redwoods of my Mount Hermon Home.  

Oh I love it up on the mountain.  

But, the valley's where I live.  

With a car, mortgage, kids and things to do.  

When the cares of life grow heavy, there's a place I always go to ask the Lord to help me through.  

I'm goin' back to my Mount Hermon Home.  

It's the sweetest fellowship I've ever known.  

Though I roam far away, in my heart I'll always stay in the redwoods of my Mount Hermon Home.  

When you think of home, you think of family.  And I've got a family there.  

The ties that bind grow deeper every year.  

It's a little taste of heaven till we meet Him in the air when the Lord himself shall wipe away every tear.  

I'm goin' back to my Mount Hermon Home.  

It's the sweetest fellowship I've ever known.  

Though I roam far away, in my heart I'll always stay in the redwoods of my Mount Hermon Home.  

And when Glory overtakes us 

and we kneel at Jesus' feet in that house of many mansions in the sky.  

Should the Savior pause to ask me which room would I prefer.  

I'll just say, "Is there anything left in old Lakeside?"  

I'm goin' back to my Mount Hermon Home...

(The video Ella put together of featuring the team that became fast and lifelong friends, on and off the ropes course.)

Summer Odds and Ends

We weren't sure what this summer would look and feel like with Ella gone.  But, here we are already at the end of it (it always goes too fast!), recognizing that it was another good one!  We hosted the best surprise, hiked big, zipped through the redwoods, ate ice cream at Pinecrest, explored Colorado, saw tigers, rode waterslides, got to know 18 month old Annabelle, and won gold medals (well, one of us!).  Here are a few other things that made Summer 2024 good.

   

Lunch with co-workers on the last day of school.

Themed parties!  Ella took the idea from the Friends episode to make a Friends Trivia Contest with her high school friends.  They had to answer random, funny questions about each other.  Then they enjoyed treats from the Central Perk she created, and made their own silly sitcom opening credits video.

Lots of trips to the beach, Boardwalk, Marianne's, Boba tea shop, and book store on Ella's days and nights off!

Growing stuff.  Here are some of our fruits and flowers as babies at the beginning of summer.

Roses before they got crunchy in the heat wave.

Eating delicious things.  Like colorful Summer Charcuterie,

zucchini bread,

and zoodles with this new favorite lemon pesto sauce.

Eight weddings!  This one was a favorite. One of my dearest little students walked her mom (a good friend) down the aisle for an emotional re-marriage with no dry eyes in attendance.  A beautiful redemption story!  

Another year of VBS survived!  I found the fun helping in the kitchen this year.  Delia took over as the Lead Drama person this year, training and acting with her former Kindergarten Buddy Emily.

Unintentional matching for church.

A Book Club meeting where we all squeezed into our wedding gowns to drink Champaign, tell our dress stories, and discuss The Gown, the book I picked about the embroiders who made Princess Elizabeth's dress.

Fathers Day celebrated with Tevye at Fiddler on the Roof in Sacramento.  Apropos!  One of theater's best father characters and one of Dave's favorites.

And another musical too!  Delia and I went to see her good drama buddy Dylan perform as Curly in Oklahoma at the Gallo Center!  It was amazing that he got the lead and he did great!  Delia and Dylan have been acting together since 6th grade.  They're excited for big things this Senior year of Drama!  

Delia's birthday Presentation Party.  Lots of laughs as the girls shared photoshopped slides predicting things like what their future careers will be, which celerity they'll marry, or how they'll make a million dollars. Below is an ridiculous, out-of-context slide from Delia's show.  Enjoy! :)

Inside Out 2-- loved it!

Enjoying local eats and artists at the Farmers Market.

Lots of coffee shop dates with my companion.  I've had a really sweet summer soaking up all the Delia Time before her busy senior year and next college chapter.

And something new for our travel this year-- select treats from foreign countries bought at World Market!  We traveled domestically, but snacked internationally!

Seventeen of our 32 Summer Bucket List items were crossed off these past few months!  Always sad when a good summer is over, and this year comes with big changes as we prepare to say goodbye to many school things that have been our norm for 15 years.  Say a little prayer for us. 

Side Outings in CO

We did the big things in Colorado Springs, but we had a fun time doing little stuff too!

To rehydrate after our high-altitude adventure on Pikes Peak, we took the Manitou Springs Challenge!  Manitou Springs is a cute little town at the base of the mountain, named for the natural mineral springs that flow through it.  We brought our own cups, downloaded the map, then went on a walking scavenger hunt.

We ended up sampling 4 of the 8 fountains.  Not a fan of the natural carbonation of mineral water, Delia only needed to try one.  But, we liked seeing the different style of each fountain and tasting the subtle differences in each cup of water!

We spent some time, and about a dollar, at Manitou's penny arcade too!  Here a whole street of vintage pinball machines, fortune tellers, carnival games, rides, and skee-ball is begging for your coins! 

We also discovered the most insane sporting goods store!  We went in for the shoe sales, we stayed for the aquarium, candy shop, Ferris wheel, taxidermy display, and animatronic Abraham Lincoln (???).  Scheels baffled and delighted us!

We ate the best BBQ at a place called Mission BBQ.  Not only were the brisket, ribs, and mac and cheese wonderful here, but the restaurant intentionally honors service men and women and first responders in its décor and mission.  Gotta love that!

We made a special dessert stop for Delia one night.  This was not your average donut shop!  Is it sweet?  Then they probably put it on a donut.  You could find these toppings on the various donuts in our box: crushed Heath bars, pink sprinkles, bacon, marshmallow fluff, peanut butter, caramel, and pecans.  

We got to walk around the Air Force Academy as well.  Our good college friends Nikki and Aaron have a son in his junior year here.  The best part of this day was texting with them all morning!  We also enjoyed learning about life as an Air Force officer pilot or astronaut in training.  The display of historic aircraft was my favorite.  We walked under a huge B-52 and saw one of the Vietnam helicopters I just read so much about in The Women.  This was an impressive campus and we're happy to have a better image of it when we pray for our friends' son!

And we took a long drive through a wildlife preserve.  Decades ago, this was a US Army Arsenal that produced chemical weapons and fuel for war vehicles.  Now, it is a giant, open piece of land, home to all kinds of Colorado critters. We saw prairie dogs, deer, bison, pelicans, storks, and bald eagles. 

This Colorado vacation may have been minus our firstborn, but it was still a magnificent week spent appreciating donuts at all altitudes; outstanding American achievement, from the Olympics to the Air Force; God's creation in mountain summits, marmots, and red rocks; and our dear loved ones!