Home Again

After an uneventful flight from California to Atlanta, Squishy Bear arrived back on his home turf after a fun-filled two weeks with Uncle Chuck and Aunt Karen. Eventfulness made an appearance, however, when David arrived at the gate to find ... no Squishy Bear. Caught in traffic to the airport, plus bottlenecked getting through security, plus the flight arriving 20 minutes early, and Michael had been relocated by the "sweeper" from his gate to another area. It took a few minutes for the gate attendant to figure out where he was, but eventually David found him and brought him home.

Found at the airport

Michael thoroughly enjoyed his adventure, and was happy to be back home in Georgia with his family. Yes, even his oldest brother.

Favorite way to ride in the car

Squishy Bear's Big Adventure

Today Michael (aka Squishy Bear) left on what is surely his biggest adventure to date. He flew solo from Atlanta to California to spend two weeks with his Uncle Chuck and Aunt Karen. This was his first flight, and went without his family, to be 3,000 miles from home, for a long stretch. He was as nervous as he was excited.

All packed up and ready to go.

After thoroughly checking his packing list to be sure everything was in his big suitcase, it was decided at the last minute that Mom could pack everything into a carry-on (which I successfully did) so he could avoid checking a bag. Then Dad took him to the airport, got him to his flight, and watched while it took off.

Arrival in CA

After what was later reported to be an uneventful flight (except for some uncomfortable ear pressure), Michael arrived and was greeted by his hosts, Chuck and Karen.

As every traveler knows, traveling can take it out of you. After a meal at In-N-Out, a bout of motion sickness in the car ride to his lodgings, and a brief call home, it was time for a crash on the couch. And that was the successful beginning of Squishy Bear's Big Adventure.

 

Bushed from a long day

Visit Home

William and I flew to California for a visit with my Mom. She'd been having a bit of a rough adjustment, and I felt like I wanted to be there with her, even for a short time, and that having William along to see his Gramma Charlotte again was an important thing. So Papa Bear used his sky miles to buy our tickets, and off we went.

I probably don't need to tell you I was really focusing on NOT getting stressed out about getting through security with a bunch of sharp objects, and travelling a full day with a diabetic child. I managed to remain pretty serene and calm through most of it, only getting a bit flustered as we went through security. Instead of the usual metal detector, the ATL had full body scans. So you can't have anything on you or in your hands. So all of my mental prep work was kind of shot.

Anyway, our flight out was great, mostly because William got to watch two movies on his private video screen, and I got to read. At the end of our non-stop flight, I was chilled and relaxed and happy to be at our destination. Of course the glass of wine probably helped.

Mom was waiting for us at the airport. She's one of the old-fashioned types who actually parks the car and goes into the airport and waits for you at baggage claim. It really makes your arrival and first greeting more enjoyable than doing it on the street in front with a thousand other cars waiting for you to pack your stuff into the trunk and get out of the way.

So, what did we do while we were in Marina with Mom? We went to the beach...what else? Each day there we visited a different beach. Cool, alternately overcast and sunny, and beautiful.

William on the beach at Carmel....his little bit of heaven.

We also visited with my Grandma GeoE for a brief time. It was difficult for William especially, knowing that she no longer knew who he was (or any of us), but he was fabulous about chatting with her, holding her hand, and giving her his attention.

One of the highlights for me was having Mom's friend, Randy, to the house for dinner. Randy has Type I, and it was fantastic for William to be able to have a meal and conversation with an adult who has been living with the disease for most of his life. It was great for me to "talk D-shop" with someone who's handling his business as well as he does, and manages to lead a full and interesting life to boot.

Our time was too short, and at the same time long enough for William to start getting homesick. We packed up our suitcases and carry-on's, being certain Rufus would be comfortable for the trip home....

Thank you, Mom, for a wonderful visit...

Huey Haiku

Papa Bear just returned from a longer-than-usual business trip to California and Colorado. He was able to slip in some much-needed visit time with relatives, and arranged a video conference with the Bear Cubs on Easter evening. He was also bitten by the Haiku Bug, and put together some ditties to share with all.

Enjoy!

L.A. to Salt Lake

Through cloud saturated skies

Now onto Denver
.

Safely in Denver

Here to enjoy some of this

Rocky Mountain High!
.

Meetings all day long

Necessitated coffee

To keep from dozing…
.

Peered out my window

To examine great vistas

Of awesome grandeur!
.

Outbound tomorrow

Home to see my family

And sleep for a week!
.

Rockies capped with snow

Like a thick blanket of white

Splitting earth from sky
.

Home at last am I

Reception incredible

Return to normal

.

Welcome home, babe! You were missed by all!

Brilliance in Patches

A question had been quietly lingering in the back of my mind since our first family camping trip to Unicoi State Park back in March. The question became considerably louder and more urgent when we returned from our Tour of America a couple of weeks ago. “What to do with the patches?”

When we took our first camping trip with KitMama and family, Papa Bear observed that they have a backpack onto which they sew patches collected from places they have camped. “Ah,” says Papa Bear, “something else I can collect!” No, make that, “Ah, we should collect patches, too, as a way of remembering all of the great places we camped at!” “Okay,” I say. All the while thinking, what am I supposed to sew those patches onto so we can keep them for all eternity?

A backpack? No, we haven’t had one last us more than a few years. Our tent? No, we don’t use it, really. Popper? No, eventually we’ll be trading it in for a larger model. One of Papa Bear’s field jackets from his AF days? No, that’s not quite right, either.

So, I stuck our first patches in my sewing drawer, and put the question on the back burner.

Till we got home. And I opened up my travel bag and found about two dozen patches. Hmmmm. What am I going to do with all these patches? It took me a couple of days of simmering, and then it came to me in the wee hours of the morning.

A quilt! And, not just any quilt, but a denim quilt made from cut-off jeans. Brilliant! No other fabric says “camping” like denim, especially broken-in denim. And, we can take it with us when we camp or travel.

Of course, it’s going to take several years to finish, but I got a good start by attacking some of BooBoo’s too-short jeans, as well as one of my maternity overalls, all of which are now shorts. That yielded enough squares to affix almost all of our recent trip patches, so I started sewing.




I left two squares vacant under the “Georgia State Park Camper” master patch so we can collect and affix each State Park patch-lett as we collect them. I dated each patch with a Sharpie pen, because I’m too lazy to embroider dates. I zig-zagged all the seams and raw ends so it should put up with some handling and light use for the next dozen years or so until it will be finished (if ever?).

Some day, Papa Bear and I will be snuggled up together under our Travel Quilt in front of the fireplace, fondly remembering each of our family’s journeys. Won’t that be sweet?

Travel Tradition

It has long been a tradition of Papa Bear’s to bring home a T-shirt or some other clothing item for each Cub from each city he visits in his business travels. Saves me from having to buy many shirts for the kids, and gives them lots of colors and themes to choose from as they dress in the morning.

But, it has now become a particular tradition for Papa Bear to visit H&M when he’s visiting LA and staying with Big D and Family. The first trip, he came home with some totally cool cargoes for each of the boys, which they are still wearing. This time around, he came home with not only cargoes, but also jeans and semi-dress shirts, all of which were awesome. At about $25 each, the cargoes are a pretty good deal, VERY well made with great details, and NOT made in China. It’s hard to beat that. And, there are now several locations in the Atlanta area.

BooBoo in new shirt, cargo pants, and Mama Bear's boots.

Brother Bear modeling his new shirt, pants, and tie featuring pix of him as a baby. Cute, huh?