The AMAZING Summer 2009 Vacation

June 16 - July 6 = 20 amazing days for Bill and Dianna on the mainland.

First, we traveled to Des Moines, Iowa. We visited my mother there and told her that all of my family would be assembling there with her on Thursday! She was quite s u r p r i s e d, of course, and the preparations were exciting as we gathered what was needed for their arrivals. The big surprise, though, was on us all--stormy, threatening weather slowed some flights, so the Pennsylvania children/grandchildren didn't arrive until Friday! Visits from aunts and cousins welcomed Lindsey's family. Photo ops dominated the scene on Friday at Union Park, and also at Grandma's Mercy Park apartment, when everyone finally arrived. It was a quick lunch there prior to us all leaving in a caravan for Shell Rock, our next destination.

By Friday evening all of my children were at the CF hotel, and a pizza party with Betty's family was followed by a fun swim in the pool. Leah's kids enjoyed it, too.

Saturday morning the Hauschildts entire family drove up to Cedar Falls and we assembled for a delicious picnic at George Wyth Park--with Subway sandwiches and Mary's yummy cookies for dessert! playgrounds helped break the ice for our grandchildren, and bocci ball entertained our big kids. It was just a great pleasure to visit and enjoy this time with them.
Once, we were 10, now we are 22! That happened in a 10-year span though we had started expanding by the time of their visit to Hawaii in 2003. We've always felt something special with the Hauschildts, and always will hold those special bonds.

From one picnic to another family gathering, we headed to Shell Rock for the Neal Picnic at Cindy's. ALL FAMILY MEMBERS WERE THERE! AMAZING! It was so well done, thanks to Trisha, Carol, and her extended family. Yummy food, and very tender, funny, memorable thoughts about Grandpa Galen Neal were expressed by many. His letter to family was read, with significance to all. More photo ops???? OF course!!

Sunday we attended church in Cedar Falls, took a family photo outside--thanks, elders--, then picked up Grandma Neal for a lunch and Father's Day dinner at Texas Road House. All of my family enjoys that place.
Then the Pennsylvania kids headed back to DM to catch an airplane--or they tried to. Another traveling surprise for them. Once again they were in Detroit for the night instead of arriving home. Good thing no one had work that Monday! We took Grandma to Shell Rock, to the farm where ashes were spread on two pear trees near the road, and in the adjoining field. It was a perfect day for this. Some breeze, and it was overcast slightly. Didn't feel the heat but watched the clouds as we headed back to CF. Hmmm....after naps, what was happening???
Tornado warnings!! Spotted in the CF area, this kept us inside--the PA crew would have had to drive through the tornado track if they'd left an hour later than they did!! No harm nearby, just one barn about 15 miles away.

Monday a.m. we headed to Cedar Rapids/Marion. We spent the day with the Hauschildts and the Pierces joined us later. Very hot weather kept us inside, but we did enjoy our Olive Garden together, and later maid rites and the left overs from Saturday's picnic. It was so good! Who won this 2500 game? ME! On the last hand. Amazing!!!

Tuesday we left early and headed to Oskaloosa for some hours to track down family history. I'd been wanting to go there for years, but hadn't gotten to do that. We found great help at the city/county library then headed to the cemetery to visit graves of my great grandparents {NICHOLS} and also found graves for the great-great grandparents {REYNOLDS} and my grandfather's older sibling with the same name, FRANCIS REYNOLDS. It was a VERY productive day, and meant to much to me to connect with these names, people, I'd gotten to know over the years.

Hot, sticky weather followed us to DM--and it also got stormy again after getting really dark so early! We stayed at home with my mother for dinner, and packed up for our departure the next day.

It was time to head to Boston via Chicago for Bill's conference...We made it to ORD, but then had a late plane departure, sitting on the runway for over an hour. Weather, wind affected this. Our arrival was 3 hours late into Boston, but we headed to our hotel in Back Bay, near where we'd stayed in 2002. Thursday was touring day with the Tuellers and a temple visit.



We visited Quincy, the homes of John Adams, JQAdams, and their families. Very interesting--and our informative tourguide was from Iowa City! Small world!

Bill's days were then busy until Saturday afternoon. I joined Laurie T. and the boys for some Freedom Trail walking, and also caught up on sleep, being 6 hours still jet-lagged from Hawaii, I guess. We enjoyed favorite restaurants here...Boston Legal Seafood, PFChang, and Cheesecake Factory, plus some new ones.
By Sunday, we ventured to Cambridge for church, walked back, and rested up. Monday we enjoyed the Freedom Trail together this time, and also visited Cambridge to walk the Harvard campus. Our Boston souvenir, which ended up being our trip souvenir, is a pewter tree ornament. We enjoyed cookies and gelato in "Little Italy" near Paul Revere's house on the tour. The fruit stands along the trail on Fri. and Sat. also provided good snacking for me. Loved the inexpensive fruit / blueberries!!!

Travel to NYC was on AMTRAK, and we enjoyed the "quiet" car on our way there. Our midtown hotel was not luxurious, but was so close to Times Square, Columbus Circle and Lincoln Center, and proved to be just what we needed. I'm glad we were on the second floor, though. Our whim was to find tickets after we arrived for West Side Story. FABULOUS! Very drawn into the story and the music was tops. The next day we wandered to Lincoln Center to investigate...and found our theatre for the South Pacific performance. Also had another whim...we found tickets for the NY Philharmonic Summer Concert that night! So, our 15 block hike wasn't bad at all with two round trips there that day and night. Excellent, in all ways. Special occasions we'll always cherish.

Thursday we walked across from Lincoln Center to the Manhattan Temple. So glad to see and enjoy this, too. In the evening, we had our L O N G walk to 34th and 2nd Avenue for a dinner with Beznik Loxha, our friend from Kosovo. SOOOO special to dine and be with him. Umbrellas came in handy! But it cleared after dinner for our two mile walk home.

Friday was another AMTRAK day. Not much time is given between the "all aboard" announcement and the departure! So much different from airlines. But love the spacious seats and large bathrooms. Clean trains. Enjoyed our relaxing trip to Union Station in Washington, D. C.

Jenny, Aaron, and Kylee arrived about when we did. Met them and their puppies at the hotel. We had an amazing experience at this hotel--MADERA. Again, second floor, so we could walk easily to our rooms. Had an interesting dining experience, but then visited in our room and ate our Krispy Kremes.

Saturday Wil, Erin, and Avery drove up to join us for the Independence Day activities and to see the museums, too. After baby naps, ours too, we got ready for dinner at Buca then for our fireworks visit. Loved the clean metros and stations in DC. We saw lots of those in our two days there! We all sat just steps away from the circle of flags at the Washington Monument. Perfect to view the spectular display that started about 9 p.m. After, it took two hours to make it home as all needed to board the metro! Next time idea: stay in a place nearer to the capitol building so we can walk home!!!!!

Sunday right after church Erin's family went back to PA. Jenny, Aaron, Kylee and we enjoyed a brunch at a newish, organic restaurant in capitol hill area on Pennsylvania Ave. Aaron had wanted to see the Botanical garden, near the foot of the capitol, so we enjoyed that peaceful, green, pleasantly fragrant respite. Home for naps, and time for the Jensens to head back then. By 8 p.m., both little families were home. That's when we headed out to see the monuments lit at night. Walked past the White House, saw them all, even got to view for the first time the World War II Memorial, one of the more recent memorials in the area. I liked the words on the dedication that described it was fitting to be between the Lincoln and Washington memorials....these were 20th century heroes, Washington was an 18th century hero, and Lincoln was a 19th century hero. All had done what they could to defend the freedom we continue to enjoy. It was a special time for Bill and me. An experience to cherish as we finish up our time in DC and our wonderful 3-week vacation.

These weeks were filled with family, friends, family history, memory making as well as remembering, new experiences, renewing old acquaintances, adventures, professional opportunities, history appreciation, and appreciation, generally, for all of our blessings that mean so much. LET'S DO IT AGAIN!!!!

We are rejuvenated in our return to paradise and our lovely home, ready for a new semester's preparation time, a new grandchild, new experiences and opportunities that await us all.