Vacation

Really nice time visiting the New England area last week. First time in Massachusetts, New Hampshire (briefly), Maine, and Rhode Island. More to share later.

Looking forward to a week home

Family time. Haven't had more than a weekend in MD since summer of '14. This will be nice!

Nice beach times

Two really wonderful days, so far, in Florida

Running. Swimming. Baseball. Good company. Reading. Praying.

Very nice. Thank you, God.

Made it here, finally

Saturday was great. We had a fabulous Unbound seminar on Saturday, and my talk seemed to be well received. We got on the road on time, and drove nearly as far as Chattanooga, where we attended Mass at St. Stephen parish. Their approach to Lenten liturgy is much like ours, only more so: solemn entry and Latin Memorial Acclamation. We then got back on the road.

We decided, even though we hadn't been able to reach him by phone, to try to drop in on my stepfather, even though that would add about 90 minutes (at best) to our drive. So we stopped by to see the place, which is clearly still his based on the equipment that's there, but there was no sign of anyone currently living there. Particularly, there were no working vehicles, including no 'Vette in the garage. We left a note on the door and headed south.

And the fun began.

The worst was around Macon, where traffic was a standstill. We finally left the highway and found our way around the traffic jam. We ended up stopping for dinner, which added some time, but we really needed the break from the car at that point.

Final arrival time: just past midnight.

Slept in this morning, and had a nice run. Beautiful day.

Ahhh.

A beautiful day on Caney Creek

It was a fabulous day for kayaking, even with the showers as we paddled back in. The mini waterfall was refreshing, as was the rain. The temps were perfect: not too hot while the sun, nor too cool while it was raining.

Not exactly a vacation - especially by our recent standards - but a really nice  weekend extension!

Mikey

It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. We were going to travel further west that evening, to get a bit more of a head start on our travel home the next day at the end of a long week of vacation. We'd driven from Dayton to Ocracoke Island on the weekend - well, ferried the last part, of course - for our nephew's wedding, with a visit with Ashley and Garrett tossed in along the way, an overnight in Richmond, VA, a backtrack to retrieve the camera I'd left in the hotel room, and the unnerving discovery that the night clerk had pocketed our cash payment rather than enter us into the computer system. (He actually indicated a cancelled reservation, when we hadn't had a reservation to begin with!)  There had then been a two-hour drive each way on Monday to pick up our daughter and son-in-law who'd gotten a ride halfway down from Norfolk with her childhood cohort in "crime." (I sure hope those quotation marks are called for.)  On Friday we'd driven back to MD, which included an unanticipated couple-hour wait in stopped traffic due to a car fire on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel - which, let's face it, wasn't nearly as bad for us as for the folks whose car caught fire. Still, that long drive had left my back seriously aching, to the point that we'd decided not to go to the Orioles' game as we'd planned. I definitely didn't want to be too rough on it again just two days later.

So we had to think about it when my cousin in Ellicott City invited us to stay with them overnight. I'd planned for us to get about another hour further west after the wedding, making the next day's drive that much shorter. But we didn't have reservations anywhere yet, and we enjoy Matt and Jen's company, so took them up on their offer.  That was when we first met Mikey.

We'd heard him once before, when we'd visited for a pool party, but that day he was kept out of the reach of the company. Mikey was huge, maybe a collie-German shepherd mix, but he was also definitely showing his age. He didn't seem very amiable, and since my wife is nervous around big dogs, Mikey spent most of the evening in the basement after the introductions were done.

I awoke fairly early the next morning, and went downstairs to use the powder room. I noticed the basement door was open, but didn't think anything much of it, until I heard Mikey's distinctive growl through the closed bathroom door. When I was finished my business, I cautiously opened the door, but Mikey wasn't there. I started to make my way back upstairs to grab a few more winks of shut-eye. Except there on the landing, very clearly standing guard, was Mikey. I started to go up past him, and his posture and his growl made clear that I wasn't going to be allowed to go upstairs to where his people were.

I did eventually get past him, but it took a long time for me to convince him that I was maybe not a threat, and he kept a close eye on me even when he did finally suffer me to pass.

Mikey died today. He was a good and faithful guardian and friend. My heart goes out to my cousin and his family.

Final days in Hawai'i (text added)

This cutie was beached for almost the whole time we were there on Thursday afternoon. I saw a couple of her buddies up close, in the water about a quarter mile along the beach, too.

Such a good time!

The last day of our visit started with a school production that is apparently a big deal each year. They called it their May Day celebration, though Hawai'i generally celebrates this holiday on the first of May along with the rest of the world, as a spring festival. Thursday night before bed, Cassie noticed that Nicademus had played in the sprinkler with his shoes on, even though she'd told him not to. At that point she gave him a choice for the next morning: flip flops or wet sneakers. I don't remember which he chose; perhaps he expected mom to put them in the dryer for him, and maybe she even indicated while she was out of my earshot that she would try. But as the evening worked out, there wasn't a good chance for her to do that, and in the morning Nic reneged on whichever choice he had made the night before. So g-ma and I took Hannah to school while mom and dad worked out Nicademus' issues and got the other girls ready. We were trying to figure out the best place to camp at the school field to see the kiddos dance, but as it turns out there was no good choice. We also kept an eye out for mom and dad's arrival with the rest of the kids (and the chairs we'd need for seats). Finally we saw them, Nic on his crutches, little Nic needing to be taken to his classroom. I quickly walked across the field to meet them and remove Cassie's burden of chairs so she could take her little guy to where he needed to be, and we set up in a place that really didn't afford us a good view of where either of the kids were in their dance formations. Oh well. The program was filled with mostly traditional Hawai'ian dances by each of the grades, in the large field behind the school. The kindergarten classes, however, including our grandson Nicademus, did the ChaCha Slide. It was a fun program.

Afterward we headed back to the house, where Madelyn needed her morning nap and the rest of us needed to figure out what beach we were going to. It turned out that the choice was Bellows, but Nicademus wasn't pleased with that - he was afraid the surf would be too rough for him - and decided to hang out at home with daddy instead. The rest of us gathered our stuff together and headed out.

I had never boogie boarded before. I'm pretty sure I'll never enjoy it more than I did my first time with my granddaughter Hannah! The particular place near the east end of Oahu is one of Cassie's favorite for hanging out with the kids, with a small streamlet which also has sea water that washes into it from the surf.  It provides a nice balance for the smaller kids to be able to play in calm, shallow water while the bigger kids can play in the surf. On the other side of the breakers is the beautiful ocean, and the sand there is the finest we encountered all trip.

On Monday the surf was a little rough, but Hannah was able to get comfortable with her boogie board in the inlet area, and Emma and Grandma boarded for a while, too. After a while I grabbed a board and hung out with Hannah for a bit, venturing out far enough from the inlet that I could tell she was ready for the big beach. She was a little nervous at first, but soon got the hang of it, and we ended up having a great time! I was glad to be able to off her the additional security of my presence; I only hope she doesn't get so emboldened by the experience as to become careless in her future beach play!

It was a wonderful way to spend our last day in Hawai'i. We made our way back to the house through the traffic, and hung out there until we shared our teary goodbyes with everyone. As usual, Hannah was the most upset at our departure, along with g-ma and I. We love and treasure our time with them, and hate it when we have to leave!

Next-to-last day in Hawai'i

Our last couple days on the island might have played out a little differently had we not lost all of Wednesday afternoon to our flight delay. (Just in case you need the reminder: avoid Go! airlines if you can!) My bride was still justifiably lamenting a lack of beach time on our two trips to Hawai'i in a little more than 5 months, and I had to make that up to her rather than pursuing something else I might have preferred to do. I don't have anything to complain about, though, as these last two days were plenty enjoyable for me. Friday will be a separate post.

We decided that Thursday afternoon would be grandparents' beach time by ourselves, and Friday would be family beach time, with the kids out of school early. We got a later start than we'd planned because the logistics of the day made it easier for us to get the kids from school. Then we suited up and headed on out.

We were trying to decide between the parks at Haleiwa Beach and Waimea Beach.  The former would have offered calmer water than we'd seen on the weekend at Waimea, which can be a bit of a crap shoot for conditions. It would have made for some good snorkeling, though, as there is a lot of coral rock there. But I thought we might go there the following day with the grandchildren, so we headed toward Waimea instead.  The traffic was so much lighter than it had been when we were out on the weekend, and we noticed that there was plenty of parking available at Laniakea Beach, commonly referred to as "Turtle Beach" for the green sea turtles that beach themselves there. We'd visited several times on our previous trip, finally managing to see a turtle on shore, but had never tried to swim there; the surf had always been quite rough, which made the spot popular with surfers, but we had noticed a lot of small rocky areas along with the sandy beach.  But for the first time the traffic was light enough for me to notice a lifeguard station there, so I realized there must have been some satisfactory swimming areas, and we quickly decided to give it a shot. It turns out that a turtle was sunning itself on the shore there, and remained there for the full 90 minutes or so we spent at the beach. We didn't realize that at first; it was hard to tell from the distance where we'd set up our beach blanket. Meanwhile I decided to work my way back toward the lifeguard station, and found a suitable area for swimming where I could enter the water safely and do my first ever bit of snorkeling.  I wasn't very good at it, and after a short while began wading in the surf back toward our blanket.  Suddenly I spotted two turtles in the water about 10 feet away.  Knowing that we're supposed to keep our distance from them, I resisted the temptation to put my mask back on and snorkel toward them, and they soon headed back out further from the shore. But it was very cool being so close to them in the water.

When I got back to my wife, I could tell that the lump on the sand in the other direction was a beached turtle, so we made our way over for a look.  She was considerably larger than the one we'd seen briefly in December.  She'd been there long enough that they'd placed a cordon on the sand to keep folks from approaching too closely, and had identified her and set out her placard. I swam in the area for a while, then walked back to retrieve our phones so we could each grab a couple pictures. I was disappointed I hadn't grabbed the camera bag for one of the few times of the entire vacation. The volunteer there explained that there had been three turtles in the area when this one had beached, but the other two had been spooked off by the people in the water. Perhaps they were the two I'd seen a little while before. After a while we headed back to our blanket so Teri could grab a bit more sun. Then we stopped back in Haleiwa Town for our (second and) last shaved ice of the trip. Yum!

A longer than expected 3rd day on Hawai'i . . .

. . .  and back to Oahu. Just a few quick thoughts:

• Another very nice breakfast. Dennis, our host at Plumeria Hills Bed and Breakfast, runs a great place. If you're ever looking for somewhere to stay in the Puna district, I strongly recommend this place!
• A brief stop by Hilo Bay left me longing for a chance to paddle an outrigger canoe across its smooth surface.
• Really, if we'd known we were going to have four hours of delay in the airport, we could have had some canoe time.
• Go! airlines never gets another cent of my money unless I hear from reliable sources that they've resolved their reliability and timeliness issues.
• My efforts to avoid Honolulu at rush hour were well warranted. H1 is no fun at 5 p.m.
• It is good to be back with family.  It's going to be so hard to leave them tomorrow.

Day 2 (with pics)

Oh my!  What an incredible world!! What an incredible corner of it!!

Today started with a fabulous breakfast from our host, including lots of fresh fruit (including some delicious crepes), a delicious local sausage, and pecan flavored almond butter croissant french toast. Then it was off to the Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, and one wonder after another. The park focuses heavily on Kilauea, with the far more massive Mauna Loa as a backdrop to it. As we drove around Crater Rim Drive, after putting together our game plan at the visitor's center, we stopped first at the steam vents viewing area. ₂ fumes. Instead, her health status and energy level served as an effective barometer for keeping the visit from getting too strenuous for her knee.

View of Kilauea caldera from steam vents observation point

This provided our first impressive view of the Kilauea caldera, and had it been the last one we would have been amply impressed.

View of Kilauea crater from Jaggar Museum

The two successive stops were each more impressive than the last, ending with the well positioned Jaggar Museum with its observation deck. Had Teri been in better hiking shape rather than feeling sick, we might have been disappointed that the trails across the caldera are all closed due to SO₂.

Thurston lava tube

After spending a little time at the museum, we next headed down to the Thurston lava tube. This was also incredibly impressive!

Next up was a drive down Chain of Craters road. We didn't make it to the bottom before Teri ran out of gas, but viewed one impressive site after another until she had all she could stand.  On leaving the park we found a little cafe for some lunch - probably our most affordable meal purchase in our two visits to the islands, but appropriately so given its pedestrian quality. We then headed back to our room for a brief nap before trying to find a beach.

Roadside pull-off on the coastal road to Kalapala

Which turned out to be a vain errand, but we still had one neat adventure after another for the remainder of the afternoon and into the evening. We drove along the ocean where I thought our host had indicated we would find a beach, but this was not the case (unless "rocky coast" is a synonym for beach on the leeward side of Hawai'i) until we ended up back at Kalapala and the black sand beach. We ventured down onto the beach this time, and though we didn't swim we did wade in the breaking surf. It was a special time (my only new pic from this visit to the beach is already on FB). We also took a family picture for a young mom and dad who were their with their two pre-school sons.

MacKenzie Park

We were beginning to run out of daylight, but still wanted some real beach time if we could find it. So we headed back toward Pahoa, which I thought would be the quickest route to the only remaining areas on our host's map where we could hope to find a suitable beach. The roads we were driving on during all this time were incredible, including some winding one-laned sections, vegetation surrounding the road on both sides occasionally giving way to a view of the ocean and the rocky coastline. In one section, the lava trees seemed to form walls and a canopy over the road. We went to a couple of parks. First was Isaac Hale Beach Park, but again, we found only rocky areas; perhaps we didn't venture far enough away from the parking area. Next was MacKenzie Park, which turned out to be a good 50 feet above sea level, though the breaking waves splashed up onto the lava shelf at a couple of points.

Now that it was too dark to continue beach hunting, we returned to our room and changed clothes for dinner. And now I can believe that Kaleo's may be the best restaurant on the island. Oh, my, what a meal!! I had an incredible edamame hummus appetizer served with fried pita wedges; Teri's corn chowder was comped when it was served as it was the bottom of the pot and didn't have much substance, though what was there was delicious. My entree' was a fried ahi filet served with rice and a wonderful slaw that I just can't do justice. Teri had a yummy-looking chicken parmesan, and we finished the meal off with a banana lumpia served with ice cream. Oh, and we were sitting right next to a fine guitarist whose repertoire heavily overlapped my own, who it turns out is also praise and worship leader in his church and is going to be praying for me on Sunday during our citywide Pentecost celebration in Dayton.

Teri wasn't feeling up to a return to the observation deck for a night view of the Kilauea caldera, which I think would have been spectacular to see. However, on the drive back to our room, as we were amazed by the vast array of stars visible in the night sky, I noticed the Southern Cross before us. I hadn't seen it on our previous trip or earlier on this one, due to either light pollution on Oahu or cloud cover, but I have always wanted to. It turns out that my window of opportunity was pretty narrow, as I looked out for one more peak at the night sky before retiring for the night, but quite a bit of it is now obscured by clouds.

First day on The Big Island:

It was so hard to say goodbye to our sweet grandchildren this morning; even though we'll be back in two days, we'll also only have two days left with them. I'm thankful that Friday's flight is late, so we'll at least have the whole day with them.

The flight to Hilo was delayed, as were five of the other six flights from Go! airlines on the departure board. The other inter-island carriers seemed to all be running on time, by comparison. There was also an adventure with getting our bag once we landed: they announced the wrong baggage claim on the plane, sending us to the opposite end of the airport. By the time we realized it and got to the correct carousel there were no bags there; they had apparently removed our bag to the ticket counter, only there was no one manning the ticket counter either time I walked past it. But we finally got our bag, and our car, and made our way to our B&B, the Plumeria Hill Bed and Breakfast, near Pahoa in the Puna region.

The view from our room is wonderful!

On the owner's recommendation, we went to the local restaurant he called "the best on the island." It was indeed a very nice meal, but if it really is the best restaurant on the island then there is a dearth of fine eateries here and someone should plan on making a killing with a high-end bistro.

After lunch we returned to the room for a short nap before heading out to try to find the lava viewing area. First we stopped at the town of Kalapana, almost by mistake. We were looking for the lava viewing area, drove into town first, then backtracked to a road that was marked with signs indicating that access was restricted to those authorized to enter. So turning back around, we returned to Kalapana, where we were informed that it was about a fifteen minute walk to the beach, and that we would see the steam plume in the distance where the lava was flowing into the ocean.

Indeed we did, but I could tell we would never be able to see the actual flow into the ocean from here, as it was clearly too far away.

Still, the lava fields are incredibly striking, with the stark contrast of the vegetation growing in the midst of a sea of black rock.

I'd been lamenting how limited our time here on the island is going to be, fearing we weren't going to be able to see the famous unique beaches here. But soon the lava rock under our feet gave way to black sand . . .






. . . and cresting the last short rise in the path we beheld the world famous black sand beach.

We simply enjoyed some time in the presence of the crashing surf and each other's company before walking back in to Kalapana town.

On the way in, one of the tour guides saw me taking a picture of the smoldering lava flow off in the distance, and let us know that if we proceeded beyond the restricted access sign we'd previously encountered we would reach the lava flow viewing area. By the time we got there it was getting dark, and my lack of a camera tripod kept me from getting any decent shots of the glowing lava in the distance. Still, it was a very impressive sight.  We were standing on a two-year old lava flow, surrounded by a 23-year old lava field with vegetation sprouting all over it. The staff member at the viewing area told us that, prior to the 2011 lava flow, the viewing area had been significantly closer to where the lava enters the ocean. We could still only see the steam plume. There are paid excursions that would get us closer, but I doubt that will be on our agenda.

What an incredible day!!

Waimea Falls and Beach

(All photos are at the falls)

What a great day.  Madelyn stayed home and hung out with Daddy, while Mommy and the other three and g-ma and I went for an outing. Waimea Falls has a beautiful botanical garden with an abundance of tropical flora from many different areas. At the end of the trail is a waterfall, with swimming. Very cool. It was an economical outing, too, as the family purchased an annual pass to the facility, so only Grandma and I had to pay admission.

I was a little frustrated, though. I would have liked to have spent more time in the pool and less behind the lens. That just wasn't working out, though.  It turns out to be just as well, as the mild sunburn on my shoulders would certainly have been worse had I spent more time out in the sun.

My Facebook page has some different pictures of this outing.

After we finished with the falls, g-ma caught the shuttle back down to the entrance while Mommy and I walked with the kiddos. But as g-ma was the only passenger on the extended golf cart that served as a shuttle, the driver stopped as she passed us walking and offered to let us ride. We put the grandchildren on board with grandma while Cassie and I continued our walk.


We weren't sure whether a trip to the beach was still in the cards after we finished at the falls.  We had given up on it due to the lack of a parking space, when two young men walking past from the beach let us know they were parked in the last spot on the right.  There was a very light mist which our daughter informs us is the predominate form of rain here during the summer, but we decided to risk the beach anyway.

It turns out there were very strong waves breaking right at the shore, so the kids couldn't really get in, and g-ma wasn't interested in braving those conditions either.  However, the kids did stay at the edge of the water, letting the waves wash over their feet and more.  A couple of times the undertow started to carry one or the other of them out, but I was positioned in the water where I could grab them quickly and return them to safety. Then we had them go further up onto the shore with grandma while Mommy and I swam a bit and body surfed a couple of waves.

All in all, it was a really fun day. On the way back to the car, we saw the greatest rainbow! It seemed extremely close, between us and the nearby mountain, and was a pretty flat section of arc. Unfortunately my camera and phone were in the car, and by the time we got back there it was no longer visible.

A few moments of panic

So, on our second time getting a temporary pass, on our second trip trip here, the staff at the gate tells us for the first time that, because our rental agreement indicates that we have declined the car rental company's insurance, we can't be allowed access to the post without proof of our own insurance. I could have shown them the documentation they insisted on via my phone had I just been able to remember the damned password. My passworded password file, however, was on my computer, which was already on the post due to their previously and consistently lax enforcement of their proof-of-insurance requirement.

A civilian member of the staff proceeded to lecture us at length about how foolish it is to *ever* decline the rental car company's insurance, primarily based on the threat of an unscrupulous agency charging our credit card for damage that was already done to the vehicle. Then he provided the pass we needed.

Since I don't have any way of printing here, I now have my insurance account info on my smart phone. The first time I try to use it I'm sure to be highly anxious that this won't be good enough.

Ready for this vacation to start!

This has been the hardest vacation ever for me to get ready for. In addition to the lack of sleep this week, we didn't plan things very well in advance, which left us scrambling for last-minute arrangements for our side trip to the big island. There has been too much to do and too little time to do it. The limited number of people who are available for us to visit in the time we have in Washington is a little disappointing, but a drive down to Oregon to visit my cousins just isn't doable.

But there's a big upside to that last part: we get to start our vacation by relaxing!  What a concept!!

Today's words

Apollonian \ap-uh-LOH-nee-un\ - 1. of, relating to, or resembling the god Apollo  2. harmonious, measured, ordered, or balanced in character

pomander \POH-man-der\ - 1. a mixture of aromatic substances enclosed in a perforated bag or box and used to scent clothes and linens or formerly carried as a guard against infection; also : a clove-studded orange or apple used for the same purposes  2. a box or hollow fruit-shaped ball for holding pomander

The second word was actually the WOTD a month ago, when I wasn't paying attention because of the natural beauty by which I found myself surrounded.

As for the first word, I definitely knew its first definition, but wouldn't have guessed its second; now that I know that it wasn't necessarily very applicable to Apollo, either - at least in the temperamental sense - I'm not sure how I'll manage to recall it in the future.

Hawaiian memories

How wonderful these last eight days have been.  Here are just a few things I want to be sure to remember:

• Warm temperatures, but not too hot.  Always warmer at the lower elevations than up here at Schofield.
• Rain, practically every day.  But also at least a little sunshine every day.  Again, differences between the coasts and the higher elevations inland.  And rainbows!  The one while we were driving on Monday was the best; wish I could have gotten a picture of it.
• Three tries until we finally managed to visit the USS Arizona Memorial.  What a solemn and moving place.
• Hale'iwa, and the North Shore in general.  
• The traffic around Honolulu and Waikiki.  No fun, but we didn't spend much time there.
• Two tries to get to the Hard Rock Cafe, then a visit back right away to get the right shirt.
• Beach after beautiful beach.
• Laie Point State Wayside Park: stunning rock formations, the serpent, the wind, the awesome views all around it.
• Every turn in the road bringing another breathtaking view of mountains, beach or ocean, and sometimes all three in one turn.
• Finally immersing in the Pacific, 23 years after missing my opportunity to double-dip in the Pacific and the Bering at Shemya.
• The luau and show at the "Polynesian theme park" (I can't think of it any other way) run by the LDS.
• Lots of yummy food.
• Dancing with Teri on stage on our anniversary.
• Adequately clothed hula dancers (there are some advantages of going to an LDS facility).
• Fire dancers!
• Shave ice, first at Matsumoto's, and then even better shave ice (snowier ice, better flavoring, yummier coconut topping than the condensed milk) at The General Store; I'm glad we had it at the original place, though, too.
• Turtles just off the beach in the water off the North Shore the first two times we tried to see them, then finally one on the beach on the third try.
• Two lunches at places featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives:
• Hank's Haute Dogs, where Teri had a Hawaiian Dog and I had the best Andouille I've had outside of Louisiana.
• Sweet Home Waimanalo.  Cassie and I shared a vegetarian meat loaf sandwich and a tofu and black bean burger, and Teri enjoyed the pulled pork.  Cassie and I didn't miss the meat on either of them, and agreed that the meatless loaf was delicious, suffering only by comparison with the tofu and black-bean burger which was absolutely incredible!
• Wonderful time with our daughter and son-in-law, along with his mom and brother.
• But mostly great time with our precious grandchildren:
• Getting up with Hannah and Nic for school in the morning.
• Grandma going to read in Hannah's class.
• Doing the gingerbread house project with Nic.
• Emma shaking her head "no" when I told her I love her, just so I'd tickle her.
• Taking Emma to the Dole Plantation and riding the train together, then watching in amazement as she ate a whole Dole Whip cone.
• Madelyn ("Baby") finally warming up to us.
• Lots of hugs and kisses and "I love yous"

Wonderful day

What a wonderful day.  Nice prayer time this morning.  Took Hannah and Nic to school after getting them ready.  Great visit to the North Shore with them and Hannah this afternoon.  I'm really pleased with the whole day!

Thanks to Daddy and Uncle Bubba for cooking, again.

It's real now

It is a great blessing to be with our daughter and her family in Hawai'i.  I'm looking forward to doing some things on the island, but for now it has been nice to just hang out with the crew.

Mass today with the older three was an unexpected opportunity to explain some of what they were hearing in our prayers, of encouraging them to pay attention to what was going on, of sharing the Lord's love with them as we worshiped.

But I was especially pleased when our 7-year-old granddaughter thanked me this evening for praying for them at bedtime.

What a blessing this trip has been already.  I know the remainder will hold many more . . .