Summer and Still Traveling

It's the Summer Solstice!  Happy Summer!  We are traveling (still!).  I chose to miss writing Friday Fave Fives last week and chose to not post anything during the weeks because, well, we were traveling/visiting family. And truly my heart is just so full this week that I hardly know how to post about it all.  Here is what has so filled my heart.  (Follow the Friday Fave Fives link to join in and read what others are thankful for.)

1.  Driving east into South Dakota, we visited two special places.  One is a National Park and very well known and visited.  Mount Rushmore. 

"Mom! Why are those men up there on the mountain staring at me??"

The other place we loved but almost no one stops there--yeah, we are totally museum nerds.  Minuteman Missile Nation Historical Site (and museum).

2.  Time with grandchildren.  Our daughter-in-law brought PAL out to visit the cousins while we were with them.  Oh, it was so much fun to watch them!

 Who says that mamas can't play on the trampoline??

3.  We visited a couple of special places in the area where my daughters live.  Every time we are there we make a special effort to get to the local arboretum.  I always love this place.  So do the kids!

Do you have ANY IDEA how hard it is to get a NOT SILLY picture of four children??

4.  Friends.  I love how we have gotten to know our daughters' friends.  We bumped in to two of them in the first two days we were there--it was like seeing old friends.  And then we had breakfast with our young friend from our church in CA who took a job in the same company where my older daughter works!  AND we met a new friend who we will be having lunch with 'next time'.

5.  We found a new coffee shop!  And their cinnamon rolls--oh my!  We all met there the morning we left and enjoyed some time, coffee and breakfast before we had to say "good bye and we will see you again really soon, we promise."

See why my heart is bursting with thankfulness?

More Road Trip

This past week has been a blur.  Starting with Friday, we have been visiting friends, classmates,  and family nonstop.  While it has ALL been wonderful, the schedule has not allowed for much down time (or computer time).  I didn't even get online to check in with other FFFers.  I hope I will have a bit more time this week to do that.

Here are my Friday Fave Fives from this past week.  There was so much it was hard to narrow it down to FIVE.  The link above takes you to Susanne's blog where you can post your link and share in the goodness of others' lives.

1.  This past weekend, `the alumni from FIVE classes got together for a reunion.  My brother was three years ahead of me, so we were both part of the group (and he and my sil were on the organizing committee) as well as my sister-in-law.  Oh! It was wonderful reconnecting with so many people from our high school years!

2.  Then on Sunday, we visited our former church.  We moved away from Oregon sixteen years ago, but we keep in contact with many people.  One amazing thing that happened was that our former adult ministries pastor, who has retired and now lives in Maine, and his wife were visiting their daughter who still lives in the area.  So we hugged and chatted after the service.  None of us had any idea we'd be in town at the same time!

3.  Then we hit the road.  We drove east.  In Idaho, we had two groups of people to connect with.  Mission Aviation Fellowship is headquartered in Nampa, Idaho.  During our years of ministry in Indonesia, we depended on MAF to provide transport for us in and out of our village.  In fact, on two different occasions, MAF pilots flew in on the helicopter and med-evacuated us.  Literally, they saved my life and my sons' life.  We value their ministry!  Those two pilots are still on staff and working at the headquarters.  We were privileged to stay overnight with one couple and have dinner with both families.

4.  Our pastor of church ministries moved to eastern Idaho six months ago to take a new church position.  They have four lively little boys and we had so much fun hanging out with them and eating an early dinner before we had to leave and drive on to our campsite for the night.

5.  Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park were our next destinations.  One paragraph cannot possibly contain enough expression of my awe of the beauty and majesty of those places!  (I haven't had enough time online to get all my photos downloaded and organized.  But, WOW!)

Eleanor was very impressed with the Grand Tetons!

She was a bit out of breath at 8,530 feet above sea level!

Lake Yellowstone is the largest high altitude lake in the United States.  

(those mountains almost hidden by the clouds way out there in the far distance are the 'back side' of the Grand Tetons)

Bonus:  we have discovered that when we chat with people in various landmark places, we find kindred spirits.  I commented to The Professor that people who travel to these amazing places have, like us, adventurous spirits.  We've met people from all over the world and with some of them we have really connected.