Orange County

We have been going to visit my brother the last few Thanksgivings - he lives in Tustin, CA. It is kind of central between Seattle where my folks live, and Texas, so we meet there. There is so much to do there, so we usually try and plan something exciting to do while we are there.

We left on Wednesday morning. We (or maybe it was just me) had some anxiety about meeting up with Cam. This was his first time to do everything by himself. He had to catch the shuttle (even made his own reservations) to the SLC airport and fly to meet us on his own for the very first time. We actually bought him a ticket so he didn't fly on Continental (which was also a new experience for him - different terminal and everything!). We didn't want him to get trapped with so little time, flying standby in and out of SLC, which is usually kind of bad. The other bit of anxiety I had was the fact that Cam managed to get his cell phone busted the night before the trip playing Foosball - so we couldn't contact him by phone all day to see how he was doing. We all made it though. We flew into John Wayne Airport and got the car, quickly checked into our hotel (the Hyatt, very nice), then drove up to Longbeach Airport to get Cam. It all flowed pretty smoothly looking back on it now. After we picked up Cam we went over to Allen's and visited for awhile. With the 2 hour time difference it really becomes obvious at night, we are just plain tired before anyone else.

It was so good to see Cam. It felt "normal" - and I haven't felt "normal" since he left! Him being in the car, in restaurants, watching TV, or just near me felt so good. I can't really explain it. On Thursday morning Cory went to run in the annual Dana Point Turkey Trot and I stayed there with Cam sleeping in. When I woke up I just laid there listening to him breathe. No, I'm not a stalker - I just miss everything about him.

When we all got cleaned up and Cory returned from his run - I think he said he was 38seconds slower than what he was aiming for (good for him!), we left to head over to Allen's house. The guys put up the ping pong table - played ping pong - people cooked - we talked - watched football etc. Dinner was very good. Before everything was even cleaned up we took off for the theater to see Harry Potter. Cam and I actually both waited to see it so that we could see it together. It was nice sitting next to him and watching what has been so bonding for us for 10 years now. I don't think there is a parent alive that appreciates Harry Potter like I do. It came out when Cam was 7 - he wore glasses, but Harry did too so glasses became cool (and so did reading!). We read these books aloud together many many times and listened to the tapes and saw all of the movies and loved this story together. Cory even accompanied us and I don't think he hated it like he thought he would. We tried to get to bed early because we had a kayaking adventure planned for the next morning at Balboa Island.

The next morning we dragged Cam out of bed. We (and Allen and Tori) had 8:30 reservations for a 2 1/2 hour kayaking tour around Newport Beach/Balboa Island. While we were driving I listened to a message that the kayaking guy left at 11 pm the night before saying it was too cold to go. Great! so we were there waiting to kayak and we were willing to be cold, but the wimpy California guy wasn't! I tried to contact him but he wasn't around - so we made a new plan. First we went out to breakfast, which was yummy, then we rented some bikes and rode along the beach and around town. We hiked out to the end of the jetty. It turned out to be a gorgeous day and I was sad because kayaking would have been awesome - but we did alright. After this adventure we went to find a phone to replace Cam's broken one. We got him hooked up and returned to Allen's where the boys played more ping pong.

It is always hard saying goodbye, especially when I only see my family once a year. I got to thinking that they probably wouldn't see Cam again until after his mission, which blows my mind. When we took Cam to the airport to leave him for his flight I didn't even cry (I admit, I already cried that morning and the night before) because I kept telling myself that it is only two and a half weeks till he comes home for Christmas!!