Richardson Report

 After our first family visitors left we had a turnover day, and then the next family group started streaming in.  ;-)  We had some family stay with us and some had arranged their own housing.  We planned three days of activities.  One thing that I loved was having all my sisters together - that is a rare treat. Not too many photos from the anniversary picnic.  We had professional photos taken which will be coming in a few weeks.  It was crazy hot but we had a good time nonetheless. On Thursday the sisters packed up our kids and went to the redwoods and enjoyed the afternoon playing in the river at Jedediah Smith park.  We got lucky with the BEST weather. And that concluded our family reunion and anniversary celebration.

 Oh goodness - it's always a treat when we get Nathan and his family all to ourselves in Oregon.  It's a sacrifice for them to drive all the way out here in a busy summer.  This year they came so that Aves could attend FSY with Kenna and Natalie.  While the girls were gone, the rest of us played.  Faith had the week of her life.  Summer Camp at Miss Annie's with her cousins was a highlight. We also read books galore, ate treats, went to a baseball game and played and laughed hard together.

 On the afternoon of July 6 Josh got a text from his mom that his Dad was not doing so well.  We had a full week ahead of us, but Josh immediately started considering the possibility of heading to Idaho at some point.  Later that evening he called his brother Barry, who was on his way home from Pocatello and was able to give Josh a more detailed update.  He said his Dad might make it through the night, but definitely wouldn't make it to Friday - which is when we were considering driving to Idaho.  That started a flurry of changes to plans. We canceled our commitments for the week, which included Kenna, Natalie, and I not going to Girls Camp.  Sunday morning we got up early and started driving to Pocatello.  We had been on the road only 30 minutes when Sarah called us.  She had Nina with her on speaker phone and they told us that Darwin had passed away just before midnight.  We were saddened to have missed him, but not surprised.  We opted to continue on to Idaho, knowing that likel

 On Thursday we left Palmyra and drove the 6 hours to Boston.  We had planned a fun day in Boston as the culmination of our trip (also it was the cheapest flight home after Palmyra).  The Boston Celtics had just won the NBA championship so we also found out that there was a parade scheduled on Friday...and the parade route ran right in front of our hotel.  We knew that we would want to be sure to get away from the parade chaos on Friday as soon as possible. The drive into Boston was uneventful.  When we got there it was 95 degrees and humid - we were melting.  Our room wasn't ready so we braved the heat and took a walk to the Boston Commons, which was one block away from our hotel (Omni Parker House - home of the Boston Cream Pie and Parker House rolls).  Boston Common is featured in the children's book "Make Way for Ducklings".  The kids were too hot to explore much of the garden, but we did find the ducks.... Once we were in our hotel room, we opted to relax and coo