On to Sunny California!

Luke, Jake, Jamie making "crystals"

Well, the tour bus has moved on…  we’ve left Oklahoma and made it to California.  In the meantime, we dropped off Andy for his weeklong training in Indiana and then ultimately, on to Afghanistan.  That was a bit emotional and harder than I expected, although I did have quite the déjà vu.  I assumed since I had sent him off many times before (pre retirement), this would be ok, but in hindsight, I guess it was never easy…  To be fair, Jake wasn’t six years old at the time either.  He understands what’s going on this time.  We took a trip to Target afterwards and he got the “mommy feels guilty and wants to cry too but please don’t be sad” present and all was better.

So here we are now, in sunny California, working on our tan!  My dad is a member of the YMCA here, so Jake and I were able to get a free week’s pass and we’ve been going to the pool every day.  It’s perfect for kids and lazy moms…it’s brand new and the deepest part is 4 feet (and it’s not crowded!).

While enjoying our next two weeks here I’m also trying to plan out the rest of the summer.  My plan was to rent a car in Atlanta and drive to Virginia, but when checking one way rental cars I’ve discovered that the rental car agencies have insane drop off fees ranging anywhere from $300 - $500!  I can get a car for $650/month but I will pay $700 in fees and taxes!  I will have to rent a car in both cities regardless so even if we fly, it only ends up being about $200 less, but the idea of paying a useless fee like that makes me crazy.  I’ve gotten used to walking up to a window at someone’s little house, renting a car for $35/day, MAYBE showing our drivers license, signing our name on a one page form and driving off (albeit with a car with an empty tank of gas).   Well Dorothy [Monica], you’re not in Kansas [the islands] anymore!

Regardless of what we decide, we are thoroughly excited to be here and are still having a great time.  I bought a new camera today (mine has been randomly deleting photos and running through batteries like crazy) so maybe I’ll get a little more inspired and take more pictures… stay tuned.