We spent the better part of the last two days buttoning up loose ends. The usual affairs of planning, organizing, coordinating, and cleaning before our trip to NC, VA, and PA to see family and friends. This is going to be more of a whirlwind than relaxing, but it is farming season and spring break, which means that a week away is what the calendar allows.
It has been far too long since we have seen our oldest Son, Micah, and his wife, Elise who relocated to Charlotte. I wouldn’t be surprised if they ended up in West Africa given their gradual migration east. We will spend a few days with them before Elise heads off on a medical mission trip and we head off to VA to visit friends in Richmond for two days.
And then we will finish off the last leg visiting another son, Andrew, his wife, Abby and their new baby Kylan Rhys. Joelle was able to catch a red eye back in early February, when we got word that he was on his way, a few days earlier than expected. She missed the birth of our 8th grandchild, only by a few hours. Still amazing, considering we are 3 time zones away.
Getting to meet Kylan for myself and introduce him to his aunts and uncles, Maleah, Stephen and Joanna is the primary driver for this trip. This is our first grandchild born and living outside of WA. Not sure how I feel about that, I would love to have their family closer, and while facetime is a good substitute, it is a distant second at best.
Our crew finally got packed and off to bed for the 4 am start. One of our kiddos greeted me immediately when I started to roust them. Mind you this is not the norm, all of them require a few reminders to get them moving normally. Not this time, that one loves an adventure and I about fell over when she greeted me wide eyed and bushy tailed, “Good Morning!” The other two got moving after only one reminder :).
We planned our trip to leave a few days before the official spring break, but even then, the park n ride we use was already chock full. I was thinking “Oh My, we should have left earlier to get through the TSA line.” However, I was pleasantly surprised when we arrived at SeaTac and got through fairly quickly.
Maleah, was teasing me, “Dad’, are you one of those dads who gets our family to the airport 6 hours early.” I retorted, “No, I am one of those dads who prays for no traffic and gives myself an extra hour 😉”. We had an hour to spare.
Joelle is the organized one in our family; she can think of things I didn’t know were things to think about. Her thoroughness always pays off.
Well with the farm and Box of Good in good hands, we are going to relax, visit and love on the newest Klesick.
Signing off on this edition of the newsletter somewhere over Utah!
Tristan, Joelle and the Box of Good crew