Back from summer!

The one great thing I like about traveling is coming home.

I mean, think about it: how much time do we spend at home complaining about our town or our home, and dreaming about far-away places? I know I do. Not a whole lot, but I do get irritated from time to time about things here . You know, like how people in our town drive, the stupid nepotism in local politics here, gas prices, all the flakey people I encounter, and especially how far I have to drive to get things I need --- things like that. And then wish I were somewhere else.

I start to fantasize about getting out of town to be able to shop minutes away in really great places that offer everything I need without traveling more than 10 minutes. Or fantasize about places that have decent drivers. Or lazing around on the beach.

Of course, I guess for me that means it IS time to get out of town!

And so that frame of mind usually starts our summer. And the quickest and easiest destination for me is Mom's in California. Especially since she'll usually pay for the gas out there (a BIG plus nowadays!!). Plus, Mom likes to shop (did I ever mention she's a shopaholic?) and is like me in that she doesn't like to cook, so eating out is almost a daily event. So I usually go with a humongous shopping list -- mostly books. Barnes and Noble is a big hang-out for me and Mom! Plus they offer great coffee when we need to sit and "take a break" from book-shopping overload.

Shopping for clothes, shoes and hockey equipment for Derek is the other humongous list I bring. When we hit Anaheim, Mom usually measures Derek immediately to see how much he's grown. She's got this long cabinet in the kitchen which holds her ironing board. On the inside of the door to this cabinet she has marked her grandkids' heights along with the date of measurement.

Well, this time when we got there, Derek had grown 3-1/2 inches in a year!! AND, on the last day that we were there, she measured him again, and he had grown another inch while there!! Okay, so that makes him an even 5-foot 3-inches now. Poopy. So much for him being "little" any more! **sob**

So the first order of business was new skates before Derek's first camp started. He literally couldn't put his foot into his skates any more. Now, you have to realize that I was hoping that this year's new pair of skates would be MY size, so that next year I would have a really cool pair of skates for myself to skate with. Ha! He just skipped right over my size this year, and went up something like four sizes! **sigh** And, of course, a new stick, new pants, etc. were on the top of our shopping list. We're running into a problem with his pants now because he's built like Jake (my oldest son): tall and wirey, no hips or butt to hold his pants up. So Derek now HAS to wear his suspenders to hold his pants up under his jersey --- about which he's not too happy...

And he only had flip-flops to wear for shoes, of course, which meant he had no shoes for Church or for dryland activities at camp. And we forgot about having to get shoes (flip-flops being the shoe of choice in California). So for Derek's first day at camp he had to do 10 pushups for not having shoes. Which meant we rushed out after camp the first day and bought two pairs of shoes. Which I'm sure he'll outgrow in a couple of months...

When we're in California, Derek and I do piddly daily stuff for Mom like take out the trash, the dishes, yardwork the "gardener" is clueless about. Stuff like that. The yard is the big thing for Mom, because I can trim and weed like she wants (actually, I have KNOWLEDGE about plants vs. weeds, unlike these Mexican mow-and-blows that call themselves gardeners). But this summer, my brother Steve's beach/surf camping trip fell between Derek's hockey camps, so we went camping on the beach instead of catching up Mom's yard. Which is kind of sad for her, because there was a lot that needed doing (especially sprinkler adjustments).

But we DID have fun on the beach!! Surfed, boogey-boarded, swam, watched the dolphins and seals, and in general just hung out with my brother and his wife and their three boys who all surf really well. Derek really likes hanging with his cousins! I was hoping he would get brave enough to start to learn to surf, but he was still working on just using the boogey board. I must say, though, that my nephews (now in their early 20s) were REALLY patient with their 12-year old cousin! Actually, it looked like they enjoyed having him hang out, so I can't really feel sympathy for my nephews. Our trip took us from San Onofre all the way up to Ventura --- a total of 10 days, ending with the last three days with us being joined by a bunch of people from Church and their kids.

These people from Church are people Steve and Barb (my brother and his wife) grew up with, so they're all friends. They're all married now with kids of their own, and their kids all come, too. It's really great! Kind of like a reunion that they do every year. And for the first time, Derek and I got to go. 'Course, most of the people are people we see almost every Sunday at Church ourselves, but it was so nice to just hang out at the beach with all of them. And the food... ooooh, yummy! Barb arranges the schedule for meals, basically pot-luck. But a lot of the people are of Arab descent, which meant tons of really great dishes like falafel and tabouli (and a lot of other stuff I have no clue what the names are but am familiar with and love). Lots of vegetarian/vegan stuff!!! (which I'm vegetarian BTW). Yup yup yup, I was in food heaven those days!

We got back from the beach in time for Derek's last hockey camp, which is the Ducks Camp. This camp has at least one of the Anaheim Ducks hockey players come and visit the kids, signing autographs, taking pictures, and sometimes skating with the kids. It's really exciting for them! Chris Pronger showed up this year! Cool. And of course Wild Wing, the Ducks' mascot, skated out with the kids for awhile. But the thing that was MY big thrill was the last day of camp when Joe DiPenta showed up: he had on his Stanley Cup ring! And, of course, I had to touch and handle and scrutinize that humongous ring... **grin** I heard it's a $26,000 ring --- white and yellow gold, diamonds and stuff all over. Just HUGE. And BEAUTIFUL. Would make a better bracelet for a girl, it's so huge.

Camp was over Thursday, and we left for the river house that night (Colorado River), spending the night there, and then left early Friday morning for home. Saturday we headed down to Albuquerque where the first day of try-outs for the state competitive hockey team were held. Spent the night in Albuquerque, and Sunday morning concluded the try-outs. Hopefully Derek will make the team again this year. We'll know in about a week.

And today, Monday, is actually our real first day at home. Unpacking, laundry, vacuuming, weeding are all high on my list of things to do!

But it's nice being home. Our own beds, cuddling our pets, and enjoying our yard! Plus, we both now are renewed with appreciation for our little town full of familiar sights, sounds and smells. And we both have a renewed appreciation for what we have here like our tri-culture, museums, history, rich culture of especially art and music, the simple way of life, the beauty of the outdoors like the Rio Grande River, the mountains, and the large vistas of our sage-covered mesas. Plus we have our chess and hockey and all our dear friends.

Like Derek said, "Taos is a really good place to live, isn't it, Mom." That's why I live here. But that's also why it's nice to get out of town for awhile, so that we renew our appreciation of home.