Only half dead. Will be wiped out by Friday.

Our second grandson lives in Oxnard, California–about an hour north of L.A. He’s finally out of the military, so HH and I and our nurse daughter (Nate’s mom) flew out to see him and his serious girlfriend. We just got home today (late afternoon Tuesday). Nate and Jenna went WAY out of their way to show us a good time. HH’s brother, who lives in Oakland, took the train down to join us. We got an airbnb and had a wonderful time.

We went to Santa Barbara to eat and shop the first day because Nate knows how much I love sightseeing, and it’s beautiful there. We went out on a wharf and I bought salt-water taffy, a secret vice of mine, and then stopped at a restaurant to eat seafood. A perfect day. Then he drove us to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, because there’s Reagan’s Air Force One plane there,. along with an Air Force One helicopter–HH loves train and air museums–and there’s a stealth bomber on display because Nate, HH, and Holly read the book Skunk Works—(don’t ask me.) HH, Nate, and Holly loved it. I enjoyed it. So did HH’s brother, so it was a good day.

The only snag was coming home. Our flight got delayed because of a computer problem, so we sat in the airplane for two hours before take-off and a 4-hour trip home. Lucky for me, I was reading C.S. Boyack’s WRECK OF THE LANTERNFISH, so that helped pass the time. We didn’t get back to Indy until 2:00 in the morning without much to eat but found a 24-hour Burger King so we didn’t starve before going to Holly’s apartment and crashing. We had a slow start this morning but finally got back to our house at about three this afternoon. We were all dead, so took a break before I started making chicken for my writers’ club carry-in tomorrow. On Thursday, I’m going to my cousin’s holiday appetizer party at the assisted living home she’s at. And on Friday? I’m sleeping in and being a bum. Too much fun makes me tired anymore:)

Hope you’ve had a great start to your December!