Since the day I arrived, I had been talking to Niki and Cooper about how many days I was staying and when I was going home. I thought it might make it easier for all of us if we talked about it along the way. I am not sure if it helped, but we all knew that Saturday was my going home day.
Ava was the only one awake when I was ready to go for my morning walk, so she got to be my partner for the first part of the walk.
She was a good traveler and even agreed to a selfie.
It was very quiet on the base this morning, which was July 4th and a Saturday and we were able to watch two deer grazing along the other side of the road. He checked us out and then went back to eating.
We headed a different direction and enjoyed being surrounded by the forest in some spots along the trail.
I planned it to end back at the house with about 15 more minutes to go on my walk just in case the boys wanted to join me for this last morning walk. They did so traded Ava for Niki and Cooper and walked another 15 minutes around their neighborhood. It was a sweet time as we talked about me leaving. Niki told me that he didn't want to say good bye to me and Cooper asked me to take him on the airplane with me. I told them that we didn't have to say goodbye, we could say "See you later" which reminded us that we would see each other again. Currently due to the pandemic, they have to remain in the state of Washington until things improve significantly...so we don't know when we might see them next. Hopefully before our mission we can make one more trip, but we will see.
See that little Pocahontas bear in this basket in Ava's room--- that was Tosha's when she was little. It used to have a headband but that has been lost over the years. It was a sweet moment when Ava came out hugging that bear like her mother did before her. (I think that this bear was a gift from Sis. T.O. "Robynn Thiot". All of my kids still refer to her as Sis. T.O. even though my other friends they usually refer to them by their first names. I think she gave it to Tosha when she had surgery in kindergarten. )
On the way to the airport, Niki said, "Grandma, can 'see you later' be tomorrow?" I wished that it could be. These little moments are some of the great treasures of being a grandma. I hope they will always want "see you later" to be tomorrow. As always, I was a bit tear-eyed when I hugged Tosha good-bye and had to say 'see you later' to her, too.
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| our selfie Saturday morning |
I left my nuts and packages of trail mix at Tosha's, so I was able to clear security with no problems all the way to Salt Lake.
All three airports I was in-- Seattle, San Francisco, and Salt Lake-- had their own take on the pandemic. All required masks by everyone. Traveling on July 4th is very slow, at least this year so social distancing was no problem.
In Seattle, they had signs everywhere--
And they had a collection of funny signs about social distancing. Here is just one example.
And cleaning products were offered along the way.
One funny addition to the safety instructions which are given before each flight was the instruction to REMOVE your masks before trying to put the O2 masks on in case of emergency. Another sign of the pandemic!
San Francisco---I have flown in many times to this airport, but these were the best views of the city that I have heard seen from the plane and that is the Golden Gate bridge in the far distance.
Not sure what these polka-dot shoes were for, but welcome to the airport.
Mostly, this was the signs that were common in this airport--closed businesses due to the pandemic.
Seattle and San Francisco both had places for dogs. I had never seen that before this trip. This was located right next to the human bathrooms.
Departing view of the city----
And landing in Salt Lake, there was this huge flag reminder of the holiday.
And what should I get when I arrived home. A cherry pie! Because everyone knows that is my typical birthday treat. Gary said that Jena reminded him all week to get one for my return. No more Marie Callendars so he bought a Marie Callendars frozen one and cooked it for my return. Coming home is always sweet, but that made it even that much sweeter--thanks, Gary and Jena, for a great welcome home.
Jena made me a sign to welcome me home and for my birthday celebration--she determined that since I was home on July 4th, it was my birthday this year!
Unpacking, I found this treat I meant to give Tosha for her birthday---
And my other birthday present-- a BYU mask. It is 2020 after all and birthday masks are probably a thing now.
We headed out for a July 4th walk around our neighborhood to enjoy fireworks and say hi to friends. Like many places around the US that didn't have city fireworks, our neighbor, town, and all over the area was filled with the sights and sounds of fireworks....
and also a full moon.
Corbridges' home is ready to celebrate---
Enjoy the fireworks....
Back home I had a chance to read my mail which included a birthday letter from Tosha. Austen had told me that a card was on the way. He said he couldn't think of a reason for her to not mail it even though he knew I would be there the next day.
It was fun to read her card and know that we made her wish come true of sharing our birthdays, although she pointed out when we texted that we didn't do our birthday breakfast so she wants a rain check for that.
My collection of cards and gifts from neighbors and my ministering sisters.
And that truly was a great way to start off being 65 years old! I hope all of you have an amazing 65th birthday, too!
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