Back from vacation

Hi, I'm back! We enjoyed a great vacation to Lakeport, CA (where my mother-in-law and her husband reside) and Sunriver, OR (where my mom's family reunion took place). The kids did awesome in the car for many hours. We drove 5 hrs the first night, then 7 hrs the next day, and then stayed in Lakeport for 3 days. Then we drove 7 hrs to Sunriver, and stayed there almost a week. Then 5 hrs to Boise, and 5 hrs back to Salt Lake. 29 hours total, and no significant problems. The DVD player was a godsend, for sure - Calvin enjoyed watching Thomas the Tank Engine, Bob the Builder, Arthur, Baby Beethoven, and more. We enjoyed listening to two audiobooks - Echo Park by Michael Connelly and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Two very different books, but both quite worthwhile.

The vacation itself was wonderful. I loved having a break from the kids in both places we visited. My mother-in-law and her husband are great w/kids, and had a blast with them. My mom's family enjoyed them a lot as well, and Aunts Sue and Kate especially liked their time w/the kids. My dad got in lots of babysitting time and said it was the highlight of his trip. Me, I liked canoeing, biking, hiking, and sightseeing. We hiked a 9-mile round trip to Green Lakes (near Mt. Bachelor), canoed on the river (Little Deschutes? Deschutes?) through Sunriver, biked around Sunriver, and drove to Crater Lake for a day of sightseeing and a short hike. It was awesome. I also got in some serious hot tub time, some reading, and some fun cooking with Aunt Kate. Cooked 3 meals for the family, and it was great to cook w/o kids underfoot.

More books... I started and finished the new Harry Potter book while on vacation, and it was great. If you haven't read it yet, you will NOT be disappointed. I loved all of them and can't wait to introduce the kids to them when they are old enough. In the more serious vein, I have almost finished American Jesus by Stephen Prothero. It's a history of all things Jesus in America, from Jefferson's ideas about Jesus to the Mormon Jesus to Jewish thoughts on Jesus. It's very well researched and full of interesting tidbits that help me to understand more about how and why Americans picture Jesus in certain ways. Recommended reading if you are interested in they whys and wherefores of American religion - whether you are an atheist or a Christian or something else, it will help you to understand things a lot better. Finally, I am reading a good ol' Puritan classic The Mortification of Sin by John Owen. I had been wanting to read it for a while, and then Jonathan offered it on loan, so I took him up on it. I wanted to finish the whole thing while on vacation, but am only about 1/3 of the way through it. That's OK, as I'll continue and will finish soon - it's not a very long book.

Now back into the routine - off to work tomorrow, which I'm actually ready for and looking forward to, believe it or not. I also need to write up a training schedule for my next race... however, I'm not sure what I'm going to do next, so that complicates matters a little bit. I will be thinking about it this week. Any suggestions??? :)