March Travels Quickly...

Yes, while the month of March seemed to fly by, this is really a quick reference to the travels I had in March. The month seemed to move quickly through the first couple weeks, though not as quickly as I could handle. Why? Well, my mom and dad "sponsored" me to attend the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress, a professional development opportunity for me. The bonus was that I would be meeting my mom in CA for the congress and spending time with her, too! I headed off on St. Patty's Day, flying out of Denver. I saw friends and former colleagues briefly before my departure, but as I am want to do, I packed it in and raced from place to place. My book was too interesting to rest, though I needed it. It was hard to leave Thomas still asleep in bed that morning because I wouldn't get to see him until the following Tuesday! The congress was awesome, overwhelming, and refreshing. Time with Mom was sublime! The icing on the cake: staying with Bob & Joyce Armen, long time family friends of my parents who I only seem to see once a decade. We had a lot of fun catching up, eating, talking, eating, and so on. I got to see all but one of their kids and all but one of the grandkids. It was great fun, especially seeing the little girls playing dress-up with feather boas torn apart like confetti and thrown all around! We also met my cousin Peter and my aunt Janelle out for dinner, whose son Wyatt just happened to be in town for Spring Break. What a blast to see all of them, too! Despite my best intentions, my camera was left out of most of the fun, but I do have a picture of the youngest grandchild - Charlie. He was such a cutie!

Charlie's Dad and Mom (Bob & Joyce's youngest daughter) and Joyce and Bob

Upon my return to Denver, one might imagine the running around that I did since I didn't have to drag Thomas along and make him suffer my social bug. First stop was some Thai cuisine for lunch with Britta. Then I headed back across town to Nikki's for a walk with her, her cousin Amy who happened to be in town, and Nikki's son Henry. He wasn't so sure about me or my camera.

Then I headed to see my friend Minerva, but I missed her - bummer! I made a few stops before picking up Jennifer, heading to Mary's, and then riding down with them to Castle Rock for a family dinner. Unfortunately, my camera stayed in my bag until it was go-time, and then Hafner had already left. But here we are: Char, Mary, Jennifer, Ahna, and I! What a treat that we could all get together!

Only because I knew I wouldn't have another quiet weekend for several weeks, Thomas and I snuck off a few days later and headed to "town" for shopping and the like. We stayed in Taos and stayed away all weekend. It was nice to have him all to myself. We drove to Chimayo, so I could see the Santuario - magnificent! We went in to Santa Fe for a little shopping and an early sushi dinner. We ate ice cream and wandered around the plaza. And we even watched Back to the Future in our room. The hotel has a rare collection of DH Lawrence that we got to check out, and we otherwise lazed our way through the weekend.

Now it is April, and I am quickly catching up!