To CA, PA, and Back

While the midwives recommended not traveling after the 32nd week (the week I got back from Kansas), we decided to go ahead and fly to California for JM's family reunion (34th week). Our travel went very smoothly and we had a great time. Aunt Angie wasn't able to make it to the reunion due to travel delays on her cross-country train trip. And several people experienced airline delays, especially on the way home after the reunion.

This part of JM's family has a reunion about every three years, so the last one was in 2006--just after we got engaged. I think I was still on my trip to Greece when he went to the reunion, if I remember right.

This time, the reunion was held at a timeshare resort in southern California. The weather was beautifully warm and sunny the entire time. There were a total of 37 family members at the reunion. You could find at least part of the group in one of the pools at almost anytime, except for meals. There was a lazy river right next to the chlorinated pool near the game room. At the other end of the complex was a salt pool, which also ended up being popular with the group. For meals, everyone was served buffet style out of one of the five rooms.

The room where most of the boys slept also ended up being the center for many of the games, including a Dance Dance Revolution tournament, a poker tournament, and various other card games through the stay. I learned a new card game called Scum. I only played one evening, so I don't think I remember it well enough to teach, but I could pick it up again pretty easily. Next time, maybe I'll try to teach some of the group how to play Nertz.

We flew out to California early on Sunday (flight left at 6:00 AM!). We changed planes at LAX on the way out. It was a pretty close connection--as soon as we got off the plane, we headed to the other concourse and found our gate where they were in the final stages of boarding the next plane. That was just a short hop to the Palm Springs airport.

Arriving in Palm Spring, we discovered that in order to get between the gates and the main terminal, you had to enjoy the beautiful outdoor weather. This secured area out-of-doors also included a small play ground. So we let Jer play for a while as we checked on the status of our ride. There had been delays with the possible rides from the airport, so we ended up renting a car.

The trip back to Virginia on Thursday went just about as smoothly. Our flight was still relatively early, but didn't leave until 8:00 AM. This time we changed planes in Denver. Again, we had a short layover--we got off the plane and made it half-way down the concourse to our next gate and found they were in the early stages of boarding. Boarding the plane, we ran into a PHC graduate who was also flying back to Virginia from Denver after representing the college at a conference in the area and visiting her fiance.

In the round-trip, I was able to visit three airports I'd never been to before: Los Angeles, Palm Springs, and Denver. :) I didn't get to see much of the Los Angeles and Denver airports, since our connection times were so short. But I really enjoyed the uniqueness of the outdoor area of the Palm Springs airport!

On Thursday, we arrived back in Virginia in time to hit rush-hour traffic. It was 6:00 as we left the airport. As we got out of the car at the house, Jer commented that it had been a long-time since we had been to Pennsylvania to see Grandma and Grandpa (though they've made a few trips down in recent months and Grandma was at the reunion). JM commented that we had thought about it back when we were purchasing the tickets. When JM went out to pick up some pizza for supper, I did some mapping. When JM got back, I mentioned that if we left for Pennsylvania that night, we could be there well before midnight California time--which is what our bodies were still operating on--and have two full days with his family before driving back on Sunday in time for a clogging performance. The end result was that very shortly after 8:00, we were leaving the house to leave David's car at the airport (so he'd have transportation when he arrived later) and head straight up to Pennsylvania from there.

I got a bit of sleep in the first half of the trip. So after we stopped in Breezewood for gas and some food to go, I drove the rest of the way while JM and Jer were able to get some sleep. I had to wake up JM a couple of times to be reminded where I needed to head next, but he was very gracious about it and amazingly quick to figure out where we were and where we needed to go after I'd woken him up.

Arriving around 1:30 AM and being welcomed into a house with no electricity (a storm earlier in the evening had knocked it out), we were very tired and unsure whether we'd made the right decision. After two days of relaxing, visiting, playing, and seeing those we hadn't seen earlier (including niece and nephew), I think we decided it was worth it.

On Sunday, we drove straight from Pennsylvania down to Spotsylvania, VA, where the clogging group was performing at an Independence Day celebration. After running into some heavy traffic, we just barely made it in time for the performance, but very much enjoyed their fireworks. And Jer did get to enjoy the moon bounce before it closed, I believe.

The trip back home was another late night with the prospect of work in the morning, but we made it!