Day Seventeen: What a great weekend!

Hey Everyone,

I’m so sorry it’s been such a long time since my last update. Things have been kinda hectic since my last post. As you know we couldn’t get into California, so we went into overtime trying to figure out our next step. We got to Oregon and immediately began working on getting a flight to California. Tim has an uncle that works for Southwest and he told us he could get us a good deal. After a weekend game of telephone tag, it all worked out and we got round trip tickets for about $260 per person. A sweet deal for booking it just two days in advance.

Plus, Uncle Kirk kept us busy! Our first day he and Aunt Linda took us to a few viewing sites where we could see the Columbia River and this really awesome waterfall. Aunt Linda was really excited about the Sugar Gliders, and now it looks like she’s going to be getting one of her own! It makes me really happy that she likes them so much, because now I feel a little less like I’m burdening her with them. It’s kinda like they are getting a trial run with them before they commit to one themselves! Later that night I got to meet Nick’s girlfriend Lindsey, finally! We had this amazing take-home pizza from a place called Papa Murphy’s. Let me just say, Yum!!!

The next day we went to a store downtown that sold overstock Military equipment, along with a lot of other really handy things! Tim got two new pairs of pants, and we bought a silverware combo tool that we figure will come in handy on the return trip. That night Uncle Kirk, Nick, Lindsey, Tim and I all went out for some Chinese food. Unfortunately Aunt Linda was at a wedding, so she couldn’t be there with us, but it was really nice to sit down and spend some time with everyone else. The food was good too! Tim and I shared the house special fried rice, and still had leftovers (which we had for breakfast the next morning)! After dinner we all went back to the house where there was a friendly debate about when the new Twilight move was coming out. I could have sworn it was set to come out on the 20th, but after some research on various iPhone’s we determined that Lindsey was correct in that it doesn’t come out until the 30th. Bummer.

Yesterday Uncle Kirk took Nick, Tim and me to a brewery down the street called McMenamin’s Edgefield. They are “50 acres of fun” as Uncle Kirk put it, and I’d have to agree! They have their own orchard where they grown the grapes they use to brew their wine right on the property. They also brew their own beer and liquor, which Uncle Kirk says is all really good. On top of that this place has a hotel, spa, three on site restaurants, a golf course, and a glass-blower! Sounds like heaven, don’t you think Daddy and Karen? Actually, it would be heaven for anybody as far as I could tell. Even though it was Father’s Day, Uncle Kirk made us all dinner. I can’t complain though, because it really was incredibly delicious. Plus, Aunt Linda made us her outstanding strawberry shortcake for dessert! If I didn’t know better I would think they were trying to fatten us up with all this yummy food!

So, this morning we woke up at 5:30 to catch our 7:40 flight to California. I can’t say enough how grateful I am that we can take this trip knowing that our Sugar Gliders will be safe and happy! I miss them already, but I know they will have a good time with Aunt Linda! In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy my flight and trip to California! I hope to keep you posted more regularly from now on… I’m really going to try! Hope all is well back home! We still miss you all!

Love from the air, somewhere over California!