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Was it only me starting the morning slower than usual?  I didn’t want to rush anything.  Checking out of the hotel, driving to the park, seeing the museums…each moment/activity is one moment closer to saying goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa and diving back into the thick water at work and in Fallbrook.  This hasn’t been an easy assignment. Maybe that is why I treasure these opportunities to break away so much.  Maybe it is because we realize what a gift we have been given to make memories together.  We dawdled a bit and still made it to the Air and Space museum 20 minutes before it opened. No worries, we found a shady spot as the sun was already warm overhead and checked out the old car displayed outside of the neighboring automotive museum.  10:00am rolled around and we headed into the Air and Space museum.  Right away we started down the flight hall of fame with so much to read, see, and learn.  There wasn’t enough time in the day to read every plaque.  So fascinating.  

    
    
    
    
    
    

    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
   A gentleman viewing the museum at the same time as us talked about seeing this next pilot fly when he was a child.  He said he could pour tea while doing loops in his plane and his hat never came off.  I had never heard of him.  
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    Could you imagine being the one to ride in the retractable ball turret?!?
    
    
    
     

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 We had a late lunch and decided to see the Automotive museum but that grandma and grandpa would have to leave in half an hour so they may not get to see the whole thing with us.  The Automotive museum ended up being quite a bit smaller than the air and space one so we were able to see the whole thing in just over half an hour. 

    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
 Donna and I joked that this was the first class B motorhome.  So cool you could hanged the tire while still drive no doen the road.  It had everything including the kitchen sink.  

   
    
    
    One of the firsts roads in the US was made of wooden planks. I didn’t get a chance to read the whole display, but I can’t imagine it weathered or withstood the wear well.  
    
    
    
    
    
 I could always say the time passed too quickly, but I can also say we took advantage of every moment. Saying goodbye, again…you would think it would get easier. Somehow knowing we will see them again soon only helps a little.  Hugs all around and I love you waves to send Grandma and Grandpa Owens off back to Oregon with our love and prayers for safe travel came next.  The kids were brave and picked thier chins up calculating that it would only be a few days and Aunt Suzanne  would come and then just a little more than a week they would be headed back to Oregon.  

We didn’t have nearly as long to travel so we decided to hit up one more museum before heading back to Fallbrook.  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 We were all five building towers   

 A husband and wife ventured through the exhibit where we were building and checked out all of our structures asking the kids about theirs especially Eve who had detailed answers as to why she had designed hers the way she had.  They went on and we went on building minutes later the lady reappeared and asked if we would be offended if she bought us tickets to see the National Parks IMAX show.  We said, “no” she disappeared and came back with tickets. She introduced herself and her husbanand explained that she had asked her husband to bring her to the IMAX show for her birthday and getting to take us to the show was her birthday gift to herself.  What a fun an unexpected gift.  The kids had never been to an IMAX show and they loved it.  I just kept praying that somehow we would bless this couple as much as they had blessed us.  Happy Birthday Linda,  and thank you Jim and Linda for the IMAX tickets may you be blessed for your giving hearts.

  

We just happened to be at the right place at the right time to enjoy this celebration.  It was like a street fare/ recycling/ conservation of our planet affair.   We walked from our hotel not wanting to risk giving up our parking spots that were hard to come by in downtown San Diego.  The traffic and people became thicker as we got closer to the park.  There were a few posted signs and it didn’t take too long to put two and two together.  Some of the smaller museums were closed but we didn’t even notice, this wasn’t an inconvenience but an opportunity.  The kids enjoyed looking at the tiny houses and electric cars, making bags out of old t-shirts and seed balls for planting in a flower garden.  The girls liked the hula dancing and jazz.  

    
 Caleb thinks he found his first car.  With a max speed of 55mph I told him it would be too slow to drive on the freeway. 

  I was a little surprised by the eastern religion portion of the fair.  I guess I shouldn’t have been.  

It was a hot day and so after lunch we ducked into the San Diego History Museum (really a museum of the San Diego Zoo history) it didn’t seem like much to my adult eyes but I am pretty sure it was the kids’ favorite.  And through thier eyes I could see its value.  There was a lot of hands on activities coloring, making hats, preparing food for the different animals based on their diets (omnivore, carnivore, herbivore) with shelves of pretend food. Matching plants with their smells, and animals with their sounds, dress up, zoo veterinarian exam room complete with X-rays and incubators, and the volunteer quizzed the kids on decade specific zoo history with a fabulous time machine formerly used for school assemblies and educational programs.   
    
    
    Bottle nipples for all the different kinds of animals.  I recognize the cow and sheep/goat ones from my childhood.  There are few in the front that look like ones used for human babies. In the back are surrogate marsupial pouches. 
    
 The kids got 100% on their zoo quiz, some of that was just lucky guessing.  

Hannah had been fighting a cold with an elevated temperature the day before at the zoo and it came back full force after we finished the museum.  We checked out a few of the tents and watched a manic show on our way back across the park, but she started melting quickly so even though we had a little time before the end of the day we didn’t try to hit up any additional museums.  We bee lined for our hotel a different route than we had been walking and it seemed to pay off.  Some crackers and an ibuprofen later and she was nearly back to her smiley self in time to enjoy some pizza dinner and a game of exploding kittens.  Chuck and Donna reserved adjoining rooms for us which we are always so thankful for.  We enjoy being altogether although it is occasionally too much invasion of personal space with the kids continuously clamoring to be the closest one to grandma and grandpa.  We haven’t figured out a good system for turn taking with hand holding, sitting by at meals, riding with, sleeping in the room with grandma and grandpa.  I guess they are making up for lost time, I just hope we don’t scare them off 😉.  

The zoo doesn’t open until 9:00 am.  Hannah was up coughing early around 0615.  It was a croupy cough so I had her get a glass of water and we sat out on the balcony of our hotel while she drank it.  Her cough went away but she was still sounding s bit raspy.  She jumped in the shower and it seemed to clear the rest of her morning cold away.  We all took our turns showering and getting dressed.  Then headed to the continental breakfast.  My phone rang and the women calling me inquired as to why I was not at my fetal monitoring class this morning.  Chad ran up to our room and retrieved my papers that clearly stated my class was Sunday and Monday and today was Saturday.  They weren’t sure what the problem was with the sign up but class had already started and they were calling because I did not show.  They  apologized about the mix up and since I only have to have a fetal monitoring course it doesn’t have to be intermediate the Advanced course I have scheduled for Tuesday (I double checked the date and time with the lady on the phone) will still work for my job requirement and because it was their mistake as the paper and event calendar clearly stated that it was a Sunday Monday class they will refund the amount of the class to me.  The bonus is that for awhile this morning I thought “Oh no, not only am I going to miss hanging out with my in-laws on Sunday now I will miss our big event day Saturday at the zoo with them as well😪.  Also because they are going to refund the money we are out for the class and any fetal monitoring class will fulfill the requirement I now get to spend Saturday, Sunday, and part of Monday with my family. 😊 Although I really wanted the class/ it is the best of all the fetal monitoring classes doing only the advanced will work and God knows I needed this time away with Chad, the kids, and my mom and dad-in-law.  I’m not complaining but there have been many things that have made this a hard assignment for me.  

Parking is free at the zoo so after breakfast even though it was only a two mile walk we decided to drive to the zoo and save our steps for covering the zoo’s 100 achers of amazing animals.  

      

    
   We started off with the bus tour…I remember a lot more open space things have changed a lot in the last twenty years.  So many cool animals to see.  
    The polar bear put on quite a show for us. 
    
   

  

 In this pen was a dog and cheeta supposedly they buddy up really well, playing together and bonding.  The cheeta supposedly experiences less stranger/human stress because it doesn’t stress the dog out to be around humans and since it doesn’t stress the dog out the cheeta trusts the dog and follows its lead.     
  There was a tiny baby giraffe born in December who is now just 7 feet tall.  I guess giraffe babies are around 6 feet tall when they are born.  He looks so little when standing next to the rest of them.

     
   It is hard to read the sign since I cut half of it off but this little Joey koala was found on the ground see how tiny she was.  The put her back in her momma’s pouch and stitched the pouch shut for a few days hoping for the best and now she is a healthy thriving adult.  All the koala’s were sleeping and the zoo worker in that area said that koala’s sleep for 20 hours a day.  
    
    
    
    
  

 These are leg less lizards. They are very bizarre looking, but fun to watch.                              Baby ducklings that didn’t look to be much older than a few days.     The hippo mom and baby were so affectionate toward eachother that was fun to watch.                                   Incase you are worried the kids know better than to pet real rattle snakes.         

 We were at the zoo from open to closing and I’m afraid besides the bus tour we saw maybe 1/3 of the zoo.  Maybe 1/4.  Oh well it was very fun and we all learned new things.  For dinner we found a nice Vietnamese resaurant and had pho for dinner as well as Vietnamese espresso for dessert.  I don’t know if I can blame dessert on me being wide awake at 0400 this morning or not 😬 in sure it would still be worth it if it was to blame. 

  

  
   

We have been counting down the days for a few weeks now to Grandma and Grandpa  Owens coming to visit us.  They got in Thursday evening meeting us at one of Uncle Richard’s favorite restaurants called The Mill in Temecula we didn’t tell the kids that they were getting  in early as they weren’t expecting   to see them until Friday.  I don’t think I could wait another minute anticipating there visit just as much as the kids.  We ate dinner then stopped in at Uncle Richards visiting for a while getting home late but happy.  The kids got tucked into their beds and us adults visited for a little bit longer.  In the morning Chad made boba tea for all of us and pancakes as the kids took grandma and grandpa to the abandoned lot where we like to pick fruit and they showed them where we have been going to church as it isn’t too far from the abandoned lot.  Grandpa Lawhead and Samantha visited for a little while before we headed towards Dan Diego.  We checked into our hotel and walked to the park. We decided on a plan to get the 7 day pass to all of the museums and zoo.  We visited three of the museums after finding some lunch at an outdoor cafe.  We started at the model train museum that I remember visiting as a kid with Babs (a friend of Grandma Lawhead) Grandma and Samantha.  Babs’ husband Geno had a model train that took up almost their whole basement and was really my first exposure to this fun hobby.  I loved that it was the favorite museum of the day.  Then we saw the MOPA (Museum Of Photographic Art) it was small but there was so intriguing pieces, then lastly we saw the San Diego Natiral History museum mostly enjoying the 3D whale movie.  
    
    
    
  This is a model of a real railroad can you imagine riding a heavy train over old wooden tresses this high up.  I would be holding my breath for sure.  
  Look at the shark in the swimming pool!  
  I think the load may be just a bit too heavy for this donkey.  
    Even Thomas is here!
    
 Such a beautiful butterfly garden we had to take the opportunity for a group photo.  We walked our way back to the hotel and took Chuck and Fonna out to Slater 50/50 for dinner.  It is fun to share a few of our favorite places with them.  

This has been high on the list of most expensive weeks ever in our lives as a travel nurse family.  It started out with a surprise  you have to take these classes before you can work again costing $150, $213, and $354 for a little over $700.  A facility background check that cost $75 to register $60 for fingerprinting, and $50 to overnight the ink fingerprints to Alaska, a day off from work, and we need to pre purchase our $600 ferry tickets to get to Kodiak and our next assignment. Not sure when my Alaska licensing check cleared the bank $275 +$50(temporary)  and the passport cards for the girls which were about $70 each we are feeling the cost of traveling right now.  This is why a big savings cushion is so important with travel nursing….😬.  

The day was starting out well, at work, when I was asked for a copy of my fetal monitoring certificate.  My intermediate fetal monitoring was in 2010 and the advanced was in 2013 (actually I think I took both in 2013 but those were the two documents I had saved in my scanner and my most recent was 2013).  There is no expiration on AWOHNN fetal monitoring class certificates and at Silverton I was required to take it only the one time in 2010 and I worked there from 2005-2014. I have worked at several hospitals since my two year since the class mark and it had not been an issue.  I had planned on taking it again this assignment just because I wanted to but all of the sudden the tables were turned.  I was told that I could work today but not again until I had the fetal monitoring class.  Ok then.  I looked up classes in the San Diego area and noted that next week they had AWOHNN Intermediate Fetal Monitoring two day class, AWOHNN Advanced Fetal Monitoring one day class and S.T.A.B.L.E. in a row I only had to trade one day of work with a coworker who happened to be working and willing to trade and I could get them all done at once.  I looked at the rest of the month and never again are they all offered in a row like that, so although I feel bad that it has become an issue and I will miss one day of work because of it, causing my manager some stress, I find it amazing how once again God has perfectly orchestrated the details in ways we could have never anticipated.  Of course the state decided to visit that very same day causing additional stress.  Needless to say before the end of the day I was fighting a pounding headache just wanting to be home in the arms of my very supportive husband.  Yes for sure it was providence and for sure I trust that God will take care of me but I was feeling the stress and pressure/heat today.    

Both of the families that we came to Sacramento to visit had work and school during business hours so we had decided to spend the day at Old Sacramento which continues to be one of our favorite things to do in the Sacramento Area.  We had the time and needed the activity so we had decided that we would walk from Williams house to Old Sacramento.  (The kids were up early and out jumping in the trampoline by 0645.  It was so nice out.)

 Chad and I have done it several times but not with the kids.  GPS suggested a different route than the along-the-river route that we had taken in the past along a newer walking trail called the Clarksburg Trail.  I still wanted to walk the river, it was the route I knew and it held fond memories that I was enjoying remembering.  We headed toward the river passing by another cousins house.  We knew he had to work and the kids were at school, but as we passed a car pulled up (the baby sitter).  I text him and asked if he was home when he answered “yes, but I’m getting ready to leave.” I replied that we we out in front.  We talked for a while as Gerrit gathered his things for work, then he proposed that we come check out the tiny house he as been working on as he builds them now as his new job since retiring from the police department.  We rode out with him to his work.  The house he is working on is near enough to completion that you can imagine how it will look and flow.  It was a layout that would work for our family of five which is amazing to me.  I guess it shouldn’t be as I see fulltime families traveling in RVs.  They were so cool, I enjoyed hearing all of the explanations of how it all worked.  There was another house that was in progress, not quite as far as the first.  It was harder to visualize the layout, but fun to see the recognizable differences and customization.  That detour took us an additional mile away from our goal of making it to Old Sacramento.  It was no problem though as we were not far from the Clarksburg Trail so we hopped on there, and it was quite enjoyable.  

    
 After the trail ended we continued to walk up the train tracks.  The kids found loads of rusty old railroad nails, washers and other treasures to fill their pockets and purses.  They had fun watching the ground for treasures and pretty rocks.  It reminded me of walking down the railroad in Greenleaf with my Grandma Sherman..more fond memories.  

   5ish miles later we made it to Old Sacramento just in time to hunt down some lunch.   
    
  Eve banging the two railroad nails that she had found together to the street music being played behind her, enjoying the beat.   

  

Socks for Grandma Sherman, and a giant mug for Michael.  Old Sac has changed some over the years, but it is just such a relaxing place to just be that it keeps calling us back.  

    
    
    
 The horses and carriages must not be out in the middle of the week as we saw maybe one.  The school kids out on field trips were in full force. We again bypassed the train museum.  I think we have gone once, but we need to go again now that the kids are old enough to remember it.   

  

  

  

  

  

 We walked around for a couple of hours before deciding to take the along-the-river route back. Another 4-5 miles.  The kids were troopers we estimate that they walked about 12 miles on this outing.   Hannah was getting a little tired of her shoes and so she walked with out them for a while. No one complained about all the walking. 

 We made it back to Will’s house in time to spend som time with Trinity before she ran off to basketball practice.  The kids although tired loosened up out on the trampoline.    When it was time to go to Gerrits for dinner we all decided to walk (it is only a couple blocks away) except for Chad as he had to run to the store really quick.  We visited while the kids played and watched Frozen, then we all kind of watched Beauty and the Beast.  It has been a long time since I have watched that movie.     At the end of of the movie we found Nena painting Eve’s fingernails Eve was beaming as Nena had taken the time to paint every fingernail a different color and have even mixed a few colors to make a new color of purple just for her as that is her favorite color.   It was late, we were able to visit with Terri a little after work, but alas again the goodbyes came too soon.  Thank you for letting us come hang with you and your family on such short notice.  We love you guys and are glad for the opportunity to be with you even if it is just a short visit.  
 

Flying by the seat of our pants is the way we live most days.  We plan ahead for a few big things but mostly plan as we go.  We have often been lucky and been able to participate in opportunities  that came up suddenly as we are not booked out months in advance.  We have wanted to take another trip this assignment to Sacramento.  It is a ways away from Fallbrook (8 hours) but as close as we will be getting to our Sacramento family we didn’t want the rest of this assignment to slip away with out taking time to visit with them.  The three day break this week was as good as any time to get away and as week looked at my she file yesterday it really was the last time this assignment we could go.  So it was now or never. We had another friend in the area also that is a L&D travel nurse.  She has four kids two older boys and two girls that are our girls’ ages.  We had been wanting to get the girls together for the last two years.  Since we don’t plan these trips ahead it had never yet worked out to get together. I sent Jen a message last night telling her we would be in the area, and to my suprise she was going to be off today. Yay! It was going to finally work to get together.  We met at a Sushi Cafe where the girls seemed to be instant friends then headed to the park where they could run and get some energy out.   

    
    
    
   
 

 We didn’t plan to stay out so late, it just happened.  The time passed so quickly.  Now to make plans for camping together some time in the near future.  Thank you Jen for the delightful evening! It was so fun to meet Matthew and the girls too! 

  

We have what we believe to be our last assignment away from home.  I am hoping to go back to school in the fall and Chad is needed at work.  So for those main reasons as well as the fact that we are only a few states shy of the full 50 state goal,  a few states that we plan on seeing sometime this year, we are planning to settle back down in Salem Oregon come fall.  Our next assignment contract is done we were offered the job 3/15/16 the housing hung us up for a little while, but it seems like the details are all worked out.  The contract is signed and as we enjoy the sun and warm temperatures here in Southern California and look at the forcasted temperatures for Kodiak Alaska we just pray that we acclimate quickly and enjoy this journey for what it is.  

We met Tiffany on assignment in Hilo Hawaii.  An L&D nurse, traveler, nature enthusiast, hiker, loves the ocean, loves the sun, and loves the son.  If you have haven’t read Ecclesiastes that means Jesus God’s son.  Besides having a lot of things in common she is amazing with the kids and they all adore her.  In Hawaii she lived on a peacock reserve for a short time and so when we told her that we were going to hang out with Tiffany today they were very excited. “You mean the peacock lady!!!” “Yay!!!” The weather was  perfect the sun was out and we were doing a hike that was along a gorgeous section of the beach.  The Ragnar relay was going on, and I think we must have just missed my cousin who ran in it as the team was just south of us waiting for their next runner at Torrey Pines High School. That as well as it being a weekend and a ton of cyclists were out it made it hard to find parking and a lot of people to contend with.  We found eachother pretty quickly and picked up where we left off in Hilo.  The kids were shy for about 30 seconds then we could hardly talk over them in their excitement.  Caleb who had been sick most of the week was dragging a bit but he did well and didn’t complain at all.  Tiffany and I have been making plans for a longer hike in the beginning of May so we were talking over plans for that as we walked, as well as other work related things.  

    
    
    
    
    

    
    
    
     
  The greenery was amazing.  

    
    
    
    
    
  

  
    
Hannah found a fun little ledge to sit on while we enjoyed the beach. 

   
    
    
    
 It was a fun and beautiful hike.  We enjoyed the Mexican food that followed at  Roberto’s Mexican Food!  Their carne asada tacos are the best. Thank you Tiffany for such a fun day.  

We ran into traffic on I-15 as a plane had crashed on the freeway.  We found the suggested alternate route vet scenic with a few for sale signs, that would be a fun area to live.  We visited with grandpa and Marisa for a few hours making it home in the dark, well past the kids bedtimes.