A Picture List for My Son’s 24th Birthday
Category Archives: Family
Places I Visited On My Road Trip of Awesomeness Earlier This Summer
- Mount Rushmore
- Wall Drug (Wall, South Dakota)
- Gillette, Wyoming
- Missoula, Montana (including dinner with 2 college roommates)
- Spokane, Washington
- Idaho (a gas station somewhere along I-90)
- Columbia River Gorge
- Horsetail & Multnomah Falls (Hood River, Oregon)
- Portland, Oregon
- Crescent City, California
- Redwoods National Forest
- A beach somewhere along the California coast
- Trinidad Bay & Memorial Lighthouse (Trinidad, California)
- Redding, California
- Reno, Nevada (visit with the Lewis family)
- Virginia City, Nevada
- Lake Tahoe Overlook
- Bonneville Salt Flats (Utah)
- Salt Lake City, Utah
- Casa Bonita (Denver, Colorado, with another college friend)
- State Capitol Building, Lincoln, Nebraska
- Huxley, Iowa (Aunt & Uncle’s house)
Twenty Three Ways My Kid Is Amazing (in honor of his 23rd birthday today)
- His sense of humor is unmatched.
- He’s smart and conceptual and thinks deeply.
- He never gets embarrassed. About anything.
- He taught himself to play guitar.
- A headbanger from the start, he now headbangs in his own heavy metal band.
- He’s hilarious.
- He is deeply compassionate and empathetic.
- He desires to make the world a better place.
- He works ridiculously hard.
- He desires experiences more than things.
- He sets goals and works to achieve them.
- He’s been “adulting” since the age of 19, paying his own rent and bills and way.
- He married his high school sweet heart and loves her with his entire being.
- He has a global outlook and cares about the world outside of his own.
- He laughs with his whole body.
- He carries things for me, (which is to say that he helps me any time I need it.)
- He programs electronics for his grandparents.
- He still loves old school video games.
- He has an inborn gift for music.
- He hugs his mama and tells me he loves me.
- He is never afraid to show affection to people he cares about.
- He has been through some things that would cripple lesser men, but the fires have forged him into a resilient and capable man.
- He is the best thing I have ever had a part in creating.
Places In Consideration for the Next Vacation with My Sister
- Any beach anywhere
- Costa Rica
- Jamaica
- Southern California
- Cayman Islands
- Charleston, SC & then a cruise
Things I Did in July
- Flew into Houston, Texas
- Drove down to Galveston
- Beach time
- Dolphin watching tour
- Watched 4th of July fireworks over the Gulf of Mexico
- Had a visit from my parents and my nephew
- Said goodbye at work to one of the most impressive leaders I’ve ever worked for
- Conducted outdoor swim lessons for my first time
- Kleindolph Family Reunion
- Achieved Team Leader certification for the YMCA
- Reunited with my high school BFF!
- Spent lots of pool time
- Read a bunch of books
