California Part 3...

I think it's fitting to end with this final post of our trip on this last day of Summer Break for Max.

You can catch up on part 1 and part 2 here.

Part 3 really isn't that exciting...we all were quite tired, and certainly by the time we were nearing home we were tired of being in the van.  It took us 13 hours the first day and 14 hours the second day to get home. The pictures are a lot of the same as going to California, only in reverse.

 I can't believe how well Max did on the journey overall, but those long stretches in the van were incredible!  I think I needed more breaks than he did.

Coming home got me thinking of how different life was the last time we made that journey.  Max was not as strong then as he is now.  It makes me wonder, was it harder then -- or have we just been on this road longer?  Do we just know him better and have more tools in our toolbox to help him have a better life?

Max starts 7th grade tomorrow - 7th GRADE!!!!  He will get to tell his teacher about his trip, and maybe he will surprise us with some more descriptions of his time at the ocean.  Last week he told his speech therapist, Robby about being in the ocean and surfing.

 He told me to "Put it on" -- the video of him "surfing" the waves.  He then told Robby "my likes" and he did a "great job" and that being at the ocean was the "bests".

On our first day there, Steve found this little trinket on the beach. It looks like it fell off a keychain, but I want to keep it somewhere special to remind us if we work hard enough at something....even if that something takes 8 years to accomplish, we will get there.  We don't give up on life just because we were given one with more obstacles than some have.  We go to plan b, and c, and d, all the way down to plan M....because he's the one calling the shots anyway.

We're going to keep on believing in happy times ahead...more journeys together...and new adventures in this wild life we live.  Thank you for coming along with us.