We spent most of June on the mainland visiting family. Our primary mission was Ari’s high school graduation in Arroyo Grande, California. We had 3 great days visiting with the graduates (Ari and Asher, her boyfriend) and with Mailea and Greg (Mailea’s fiancé), juniors at Sonoma State.  Mailea is working at a horse riding stable this summer and arranged for us all to ride one afternoon. It was so fun riding the beach and through the Pismo dunes. Grandma Jean came for graduation and Grandpa Morley watched over our Maui family compound.

Next we drove to Ridgecrest and enjoyed Greg’s company on the way. Greg’s parents Mark and Terry Pierce live in Ridgecrest. It still amazes me that Neil lived in Ridgecrest for 11 years and my family lives there. I lived in Palo Alto during Neil’s years in Ridgecrest and I visited family but never met Neil there. This visit was to see my mom Audrey, her friend Bill, my sister Melanie and family, and my brother Warren. Unfortunately we only had 2 days and we didn’t get to see all the friends we would have liked to visit on this trip.

We spent Sunday night in Lawndale with my sister Pamela and her husband Chris. They are great sports about being the “LAX hotel and taxi service” since they only live 15 minutes from LAX. After returning the rental car Monday morning, we flew to Chicago where we picked up another rental car that we put nearly 2000 miles on in the next 2 weeks.

In Chicago, we spent the night with Neil’s Uncle Vietzek and Aunt Ursula and their parrot JoJo. Vietzek is Jean’s oldest brother and Neil had not seen them for many years. We all enjoyed the visit.

Next we drove to Ohio to visit Dad and Jane. The first night there Dad took us to what he called “an Ohio Luau”. Instead of all the poi you can eat, it was all the strawberry shortcake you can eat; it was delicious. We toured around the neighboring townships, and got to pick strawberries, black raspberries, and rhubarb from their garden (and enjoy them on ice cream)!  Neil even took a spin on the riding mower. One evening we spent with the Kreischer clan (my Mom’s side) and Neil got to meet many aunts, uncles, cousins, and second cousins. (I meet many second cousins for the first time or at least all grown up now.) And another afternoon, Jane served up a beautiful afternoon tea for the great aunts visit. The weather didn’t cooperate for us to get much time flying with Dad. We went up the morning we left, but we will have to visit again when we can spend more time in the air!

We drove to south Indiana for Neil’s second cousin Angela’s wedding. Angela lived in Honolulu for a few years where she met Rick. Rick was transferred with the Navy to Washington state. We met both of them when they lived in Hawaii so we were very happy to be able to share in their wedding celebration. I got to meet Jean’s extended family: three of her sisters, and many of Neil’s cousins and second cousins. Angela’s mom, Joanne, had an open house the day before the wedding where we got to enjoy visiting with many of the family. Neil figures he hasn’t seen many of the cousins since they were little. The wedding was beautiful and they both looked so happy. This month they transfer to Virginia for a few years, hoping to return to the Seattle area eventually.

Next stop: Des Moines, Iowa where Neil’s dad and sister lives. This was the first time I had met Neil’s dad Wilber and his wife Marilyn. They visited Hawaii before I knew Neil and it doesn’t sound like they will be able to come again soon. I am really glad I was able to get to know them. An added treat was that Mailea flew back to join us for 4 days. A highlight of the time was Wilber giving us a tour of the Iowa State Capital. He is Sergeant at Arms for the House of Representatives and he knows the capital well (as well as knowing everyone there.) He took us all the way up to the top of the dome (where very few get to go.) We walked on a staircase suspended under the dome by cables with no other support to get to the top where we were able to walk out on the balcony. A fantastic view. And we had tours of the ceilings, lighting, and even ductwork, before going down to see the 5 story law library, the old Supreme Court chambers, and a private tour of the Governor’s office. We also toured the building foundation walking in the catacombs and the underground tunnels that connect several state buildings.

We toured Neil’s childhood homes, where he went to college, the farm house he lived in at that time, and we ended Mailea’s time in Iowa touring the bridges of Madison County. We had several family gatherings: A BBQ at Neil’s sister Cindy’s where we met her three children, and her sweetheart Bob, his children, and his sisters and their families. Plus we got to meet and play with Neil’s great-nephew Jonathan, 2 years old, who is living with his Grandma Genie and Uncle Dustin, while his mom Stephanie serves in the Army in Iraq.   Another night we all met at a pizza place for more family fun. Elementary and high school friends of Neil’s gathered at the home of Jeff and Rose Weeks for an evening BBQ in his home town of Indianola. I have to admit that by this point in the trip, I could not remember everyone’s name by the end of the night. It was fun listening to their stories of Neil growing up.

We returned the car to Chicago, flew to LAX, and again spent the night with Pamela and Chris. We went for Indian food which we can’t get on Maui and enjoyed a good visit with them. The next day Morley picked us up at the Maui airport and it was wonderful to see the ocean and our little cottage after nearly 3 weeks away.

We treasure the chance to visit family because we never know when the next visit will be. But soon we hope!