Holy cow, it was just Halloween, I blinked and now we’re less than a week away from Thanksgiving!!!! I’m super excited for the holidays but I fear the next month is going to FLY by, once again, much too fast. 🙂 As always, my goal is to savor every moment of the holiday season…the harried, the quiet and the festive!!! But I’m getting ahead of myself, there has been much to savor this month already.
It was a bit of a blur but Rolf and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary on the 7th. As it turned out, Stanford was playing Oregon in Palo Alto that day so Rolf and a friend stole away for a long day trip up north to see the game. Rolf and I managed a quick breakfast date on the beach before they left and we’re looking forward to a little overnight getaway after the holidays when things calm down a bit. 😉
Bright and early on Veteran’s Day, Olivia, I and her entire 6th grade class/teachers/chaperones boarded a couple of Air Buses and headed down to Long Beach to catch the boat to Catalina Island on our way to CIMI (Catalina Island Marine Institute). CIMI is a special rite of passage for our 6th graders every year…a three day camp experience filled with hands on education in oceanography, marine biology and ocean fun! Rolf had the privilege of going with Max and this year it was my turn! I admit I was quite nervous leaving Rudy…it was a huge effort to leave town…but I’m so glad I went. It was an amazing experience to share with Olivia and her classmates and I welcomed going to a completely different world for a couple of days. We went day and night snorkeling, kayaking to a world-famous kelp forest, tide-pooling in the camp’s beautiful cove and had lots of “classroom” time petting sharks and learning about fish, plankton & algae. As much as I loved growing up in the Midwest, I kept telling the kids how lucky they are to live in a place with access to such beauty….they just looked at me like I was crazy (ha, ha)…they’ll get it someday. 🙂 I thought about Rudy A TON while we were on the island…about how much he would love to do the things we were doing and it made me even more grateful for Camp del Corazon (camp for heart kids) as it is also located on Catalina Island!!!! Camp del Corazon purposes to give heart kids a “normal” summer camp experience in a safe, medically monitored environment! I sure can’t wait until Rudy is old enough to go (summer of 2015)…he’s going to have a blast!!! 🙂
Oma and Opa flew in from Alabama while Livy and I were still on the island but we all finished out the second half of their visit together and had a great time…lots of walks around the cul-de-sac with Rudy and lots of schnitzel! Yum!!!
I’m looking forward to the Thanksgiving Feast at the Rescue Mission next week…it’s always such a privilege to celebrate with the SBRM residents and homeless guests! As we begin our Thanksgiving preparations and look ahead to Christmas, I pray we’ll have many moments to stop and savor all that is good and rich…we have so much for which to be thankful! 🙂 Happy Day Day Everybody!!!
- Celebrating 21 years – November 7, 2013
Rudy's Beat 
I chuckled at the line, “It has been somewhat of a blur”……from my perspective….your life is dizzying most of the time….but so full of fun and amazing memories for your family!!! We were just talking about you all yesterday….CC is doing a report on abortion (10th grade), and with tears in her eyes, she said “I’m going to tell the class about Rudy!” There is so much quality of LIFE in your family! We pray for you and applaud you!!!
The picture of Rudy is priceless!
As always I love your posts. The pictures on this post seem so much clearer and more beautiful. Maybe I just missed your posts for too long. I am sorry you won’t be home after Thanksgiving but I will get up there another day to see Rudy in his natural environment! The picture of You and Rolf is especially beautiful!
What fun it was to spend a few days with you all andbe included in the activities. Much fun with Rudy walking and talking. What a difference from last year !!!! Happy day day to you ALL
What a wonderful, fun entry to read! So glad you got to go with Olivia to Catalina and experience all of those activities. Loved all of the photos. Happy Thanksgiving!
Yes! CDC… What a huge blessing and located at the most beautiful spotoff our coast ! I look forward to Rudy joining camp
in 2015… Perhaps Lucas will be a camp counselor to him one year? You never know. Keep up the awesome, loving, good work Mom, and happy anniversary to you and Rolf !