Day 28 - T.G.I.F

Boy am I glad it is Friday!  Getting back into the "real life" groove this week was a rude awakening to say the least.

Between round trip drives to the beach every day, 4 full days of work video conference calls, the traffic battle on the 405 driving to LAX to pick up Cassidy, and my down and out day with the stomach funk; I am ready for the weekend!  

Once I was done with my final conference call today, I grabbed the girls and we headed down to the beach to meet up with Eli after Jr. Guards.  As you can imagine, the beach was packed.  I like going a little later in the day (which is a change from when I was younger - if I wasn't there by 10am....why go?!).  Later in the day, people start packing up to go home and the beach starts to clear out a bit which is nice...I don't feel like we are sitting on top of one another.  

Besides dropping Eli off in the mornings this past week, I have not been to the beach this summer - this was the first time!  The water is unusually warm this year, the sky was clear today and I was in good company.

Salt Creek Lighthouse, Underpass, Buried Cassidy, Best Friends,
my Boogie Boarding Fool, Required Equipment and the view at 5pm

End of week 1 - Salt Creek Jr. Guards

I don't know what is in store for us this weekend but I sure am glad it is Friday night because we had tacos for dinner and now we are all lounging around watching TV.  Olivia is our house guest again tonight with Cassidy and all is right with the world!  Until tomorrow.....

Day 27 -

Day 26 - Teenage Girls!

Cassidy flew home today from Kentucky!  She and Sammy were to fly from Louisville, KY to Las Vegas, NV together.  Sammy would be picked up and Cassidy would then fly into Los Angeles.  

When I got Samantha's flight itinerary from Charma about a month or so ago, I had not yet booked Cassidy's flight home. I purposefully put her on the same return flight so that the girls could sit together and keep each other company on the 4+ hour flight.  Well, I found out earlier today that there was a little snafu with this plan......Teenage Girls - ugh!

Apparently, when the girls arrived at the airport there was plenty of time...to the tune of about 45 minutes before they were to board - great.  According to Cassidy, they were hungry so they decided to find food, which I guess wasn't an easy task.  As they were looking around, Sammy realized that she had left her flannel shirt at security.  Cassidy tells her that she remembers someone announcing a short time before, that there was a shirt left at security and it needed to be claimed!  Off the girls ran, to claim the shirt - excellent.  Back on track for the food. They ended up at Chili's. Tacos were ordered and the question of how long it would take to get the tacos was asked.  The answer was acceptable so they waited.  Tacos in hand they start heading to their gate.  It wasn't long until they realized that their names were being called over the loud speaker, "Samantha Mount, Cassidy Mount; this is your final boarding call".  The girls had thought that the boarding time was the time listed on their tickets not the take-off time....whoops!  Of course, they were flying on the airline that seats people via cattle call rather than by assigning them.  If you fly at all....you know that once people are all "set up" in their slim 2 1/2' wide space it is likely they are NOT going to move - it is just too much of a hassle! Well, the girls got to experience that first hand today.  Nobody was willing to move so that they could sit together so Cassidy ended up at the very back of the plane and Samantha in the middle - big fat bummer!  

Well, the girls got to spend a little final time together at the Las Vegas airport when Aunt Charma came to pick up Samantha....they went to Wendy's for french fries and a Frosty - thank you Aunt Charma!!

Shale and I picked Cass up and hurried home because it is Mason's birthday today, he is 22!  When we left for the airport, Mason, Kirsti, Alexa and Ryan were at the house with Eli swimming and hanging out.  We all met at The Habit for hamburgers when we got back down south and then back to the house for birthday cupcakes!!

Happy 22nd Mason!!

It really is nuts how fast time flies.  I know I have said this before but tonight really reminded me of how fast.  Mason was 13 years old when he came into my life....that is Cassidy's age!  He was a cute little guy with braces and such a happy, fun spirit.  He may be older and yes, the braces are gone but he is still the fun, happy spirited young man that I met 9 years ago and now...he is 22 AND getting married - holy cow!  We sure do love you MayMay!!

Well, I am certainly happy to have my teenager home tonight.  I love that she is old enough to fly by herself and that she wants to stay and visit with family for longer periods of time and also sees the value of this time spent with aunts, uncles cousins and grandparents but, I also don't like it.  I hate it because she IS getting older. As much as I know she will always be my baby girl, she sure is turning into a lovely young lady and I am so proud of her!

I have a feeling that Miss Cassidy will be sleeping in late tomorrow morning by the look in her eyes tonight when we finally said, "good night" - she's had a long day.  We all had fun this evening and it is late so I am signing off and heading to bed.  Until tomorrow.....

Day 25 - Sick as a Dog

Day two for Eli at Jr. Guards and two days until Cassidy is to come home from Kentucky!  

Cassidy is actually in Indiana tonight hanging with the Indiana based family.  My nephew Joseph  made it back from Oklahoma  so he joined the group.  Sammy wasn't with us all a couple of weeks ago either when we all made the visit to Indiana so this, I am sure; was fun for her.  A visit to the new LDS Temple, which happens to be not too far from Marcia and Jeff's in Fishers, IN was a nice stop for everyone today also.  There will be an open house for the general public to walk through the Temple beginning this Friday and for a few weeks before the Temple is dedicated - too bad Cass won't be there, I've seen photos of the inside and it is beautiful!

Cassidy and baby Emerson

148th Operating temple in the world
Indianapolis, IN

As for me....I was down and out sick today!  Yep, I am thinking that my "yummy" dinner last night didn't sit too well with me!  I woke up feeling really bad and sitting in the truck as we took the trailer back to Chino wasn't fun, at all!  Shale picked up all the slack today which I am very grateful for.  Dropping Eli off this morning, picking him up after guards, running him to his orthodontist appointment, grocery shopping and making dinner for us!  The soup and sandwich Shale made for dinner is exactly what I needed....I am feeling better already, as I put this post together.  I am in hopes I wake up tomorrow as if I were never feeling bad at all - I absolutely hate being sick like this!

We are choosing a movie now to finish up the day with so I will say good night and look forward to a much more enjoyable day tomorrow!  Until then......

Day 24 - Back into Action

Not too terribly much happened today.

Eli went down Salt Creek Beach for his first day of Jr. Lifeguards and had a blast!  None of his friends are signed up for this session which is kind of a bummer, but I don't think he really cares.  Eli loves the beach and the Jr. Guard program so he is good!  I think a few of his girlfriends from school will be joining him in a few weeks so that will be fun for him!

I didn't talk to Cassidy at all today.  I know that Grandma and Grandpa took she and Sammy down to Nashville, TN for the day and I am in hopes to get some fun photos from her tomorrow!  I am guessing that they had a blast and calling me was at the bottom of her list!

Shale and I worked on getting the trailer all unloaded, cleaned up and ready to deliver back tomorrow.  A welcome surprise visit from our good friend Pat Hemstreet to help us out late this afternoon was nice.  He helped us unload the last of the contents and hung out for a little while.  We decided to meet up with his wife Lisa and the kids, Jordan and Olivia for dinner at one of our go-to favorites - Cosmos, in Aliso Viejo.   

Speaking of Pat and Lisa's kids......Jordan, who is a really good friend of Eli's is now driving!  What?! He got his license this past Friday while we were out of town so seeing him waiting for us to show up in the restaurant parking lot behind the wheel of his mom's car (without anyone else in the car) when we pulled up was to say the least, a little weird!  He looks good behind the wheel and this just really reminds me that it won't be too long until my own two kids are driving themselves around - agh!!!!  Where has the time gone?  The Hemstreet family popped over to our house for a little while after dinner.  Before the three of us went to bed, Shale, Eli and I had some pool table shenanigans going on - too funny!

So, as I said at the beginning of today's post; not too much happened today - we are just getting back into action and the groove of the "normal" life.  Until tomorrow......

Day 23 - Blog Day Off!

Aha!  I caught you......

Why is it that you are even looking here to see if I wrote anything!? Didn't I tell you I was taking the day off?  I definitely am...we are lounging around, eating crappy food and watching movies - need I say more?  

Until tomorrow.....

Day 22 - Homeward Bound

There were three things on our agenda today.....
     
     1.  Our granddaughter, Launa's baptism
     2.  Pick up Eli in Las Vegas
     3.  Getting home

These three items may not seem like a lot, but as yesterday went, today was also a VERY long day. 

1.  Baptism

8:00am the alarm buzzes and it is go-time.  Shower - check.
Dress - check.  Heels - check. Out the door at 9:30am to the church in Spanish Fork, UT for the 10:00am baptism.   Launa is the oldest daughter of Shale's daughter, Brittney and her husband, Porter. Launa has a sweet spirit and an independent mind.  She is definitely the leader of the pack between herself and her three younger sisters. We were so happy to have been able to make this stop and celebration today as a part of our trip!  Once again, I am bummed that Cassidy and Eli weren't with us - they were missed greatly!

Meet Launa Ming Nielsen...... Yes, her middle name is Ming!

Lunch followed the baptism at Brittney and Porter's home.  Lots of family joined the celebration.  I am always happy to spend time with this group of great people and.... it is always hard to say
good-bye.  We had to get on the road early today since Eli would be arriving in Las Vegas from Kentucky, so we were off to hook up the trailer and start the final leg of our trip.  We were officially going to be, homeward bound.

The drive through the beautiful Virgin River Gorge south of St. George, UT

2.  Pick up Eli in Las Vegas

Eli was to arrive in Las Vegas this evening at 7:30pm.  My brother-in-law, Max had agreed to pick him up for us since we weren't sure what time exactly we would be getting into town.  Because of the time change and the fact that we got on the road a little earlier than we expected, we got in before Eli even landed.  A favorite Las Vegas restaurant was calling our names so we stopped there to eat and pick up food for Max and Eli before heading over to meet the two of them and Charma, my sister-in-law at their house.

By far, THE.BEST.TACOS around!

Eli took this photo out the window of the plane on his way back - cool!

Why did Eli fly to Las Vegas without Cassidy?, you ask.  He will be starting Jr. Lifeguards this Monday morning down at Salt Creek Beach so flying home a little before Cassidy was necessary. I think Cassidy will be having some awesome girl-time with Samantha in Kentucky and I know that makes her happy!

Before Eli climbed on the plane in KY earlier today, Grandma and Grandpa had taken him, Cassidy and Sammy to Fort Knox for the afternoon.  There is a water park and miniature golf course there that they had some fun at.  Once again, Grandma and Grandpa are the best!!

                                  
                            I really need to talk to the kids about making sure they
                                           are in the photos....  Sheeesh!

3.  Getting Home

Visiting with Max and Charma is always a pleasure!  We hung out with the two of them for a couple of hours catching up, talking about the fact that they will be grandparents in just a few short months and we were also able to have some time with Charma's father - he is great!  


So here's a funny story...we are all sitting around chatting once Max showed up with Eli from the airport and I get a phone call from the mysterious "No Caller ID".  Don't you love those?!  It is about 9pm at this point so I silence the phone knowing that it was nothing remotely important.  We continue our chat session.  Ten minutes later...ring, ring, ring - yep, same "No Caller ID" - agh!  Ok, I feel at this time that I should pick up and give whoever is calling me a piece of my mind.  "Hello, is this Robin Mount?"  "Yes" I reply.  "Is your son, Eli Jackson Mount?"  "Yes".  "Does he happen to have a phone with him?"  "Well, no...he has an iTouch with him but no phone, why?'  Now, you have to remember that my son is at the "I lost my head" stage in life so the only thing I can imagine is that he has left his iTouch on the airplane!  Wait...I think about this quickly before my inquiring caller has a chance to say something else.  Eli is sitting in front of me and he and I "spoke" via text from his iTouch to my cell phone earlier this evening when he arrived at the airport, hmmm.  "Ma'am, do you know if your son has his iTouch with him?"  "Yes, yes he does...I am looking at him right now and yes, he has his iTouch".  The voice on the other side of the phone hesitates and says, "You are looking at your son now?  Right now?"  Seriously??  What the heck?!  "Yes, I am looking at him right now, he is sitting in the chair across from me....What is going on?!"  "Well", the voice continues, "He is NOT on the airplane going to Salt Lake City and we have been calling his name over the loud speaker to board the plane and we were about to call the police!"   You can imagine at this point that I am totally confused.  "Why in the heck would you be calling the police?" I asked.  Well, Ma'am, he is not on his connecting flight to SLC and he is a minor so we were going to call the police".  Agh!!!!! This is the point that I start to get really irritated because our world has turned into a "non-communicative world"!  You see, I had changed Eli's flight yesterday from a connecting flight to SLC through Las Vegas to a flight ending in Las Vegas not to mention that when Eli got to the airport earlier today with Grandpa, they made sure that they let the ticketing agent know AND had his bag checked through only to Las Vegas.  I let the voice on the other end of the line know all of this and he was, to say the least...upset with me.  "You need to let US know (hadn't I?) that he will not be flying through to SLC!!!"  Ummmm, what had I just told him?People just don't listen when we talk anymore.  Obviously, the gal I had spoken to yesterday about this didn't listen so that she could make a note of the change in her computer.  The ticketing agent earlier today listened to only PART of what was going on (I guess I should be happy that Eli's bag actually showed up in LV) and not one person let the people that apparently "needed" to know, what the change was...know what the change was!   Frustrating!  Anyway, if you are planning on flying somewhere and need to make a change....you should probably set aside say, eight hours of your day to continue calling the airline about your change so that EVERYBODY knows that you are changing something because obviously, communication between airline employees these days is obsolete!

So, after all that....we got on the road for the absolute final hurrah of our journey around 10:30pm.  Shale was REALLY ready to get out from behind the wheel. Although the 4 hours to get home was nothing in comparison to all the hours we have spent on the road, I am pretty sure this was the roughest stretch.  We finally rolled in at 2:45am - safe and sound!

As much as I am sad that our 22 day/ 5,800 mile road trip is over, I am happy to be home too.  Twenty-two days....1/3 of our sixty-six days of summer, over already.  I am ready for the next chapter of this time in our lives to begin.  Eli will start Jr. Guards on Monday, Cassidy will be home later this week, Mason and Kirsti are in town this week and well....Shale and I will begin by unloading, cleaning out and returning the Airstream - ugh!  Before all this begins though, tomorrow is our day off. A day of nothing, a day to sleep and recover, a day to lay around - something that is being looked forward to by the three of us very much.  

I am sure that if I were to post tomorrow, it would be anything but interesting so I am going to spare you the agony and I am officially declaring tomorrow, "Blog Day Off".  Until Monday...