Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Few more days in the Lower 48


Our stay in the Lower 48 is quickly drawing to a close. I think that for the most part though, we are more than eager to return. Not only are we getting tired of living out of suitcases, but the busy-ness, the crowds, the traffic, and the heat (it was 74F in Sherwood, Ore. yesterday) is getting to us.

We've continued to shop for additional items to take back with us. On Sunday we returned to the mall to get Amy's new glasses repaired after they were squashed in the car door. (There is still a crack in the frame that we might put a drop of Gorilla-Glue into.) I purchased a double-burner griddle at Williams-Sonoma. I found a large griddle to be quite useful during our stays at the WorldMark resorts. We then browsed at the Beaverton Powell's. I didn't purchase anything but made notes of some books that I found interesting that I might order from Amazon.com at some future time.

We stopped by our property to drop some things off and visited with family there. Elise and Shelley wanted to go to Jo-Ann's for some fabric and craft materials so we spent some time there. I went over to Joe's and found some socks. (I have several shoes and boots that don't work with cotton socks -- they just slip down. 100% synthetic materials seem to work well.) Afterwards we had dinner at the Swagat Indian restaurant in Beaverton.

Yesterday we went to the local Adventist Book Center in Gladstone where I picked up a number of volumes that I wanted. Now I have a foot or two of books that are on my reading list. From there we made our way to Sherwood. We stopped at Tualatin and grabbed a few bites to eat at a Taco Bell (my first time in Taco Bell in probably 36 months). We stopped at Target for more items, and then arrived at the ice rink.

We met friends there who had a day off from school yesterday. Shelley was annoyed with the beginner skates that she was trying. She tried to make the best of it, but as soon as the pro-shop opened, we were in there looking at better skates. The least expensive boots and blades that would work for her was $299. We weren't too enthusiastic about spending that much for something that would only get used a few times a year. So she went back out. Meanwhile Elise was in the Christian bookstore next to the pro-shop and in her conversations with the owner, discovered that she had just placed a pair of skates on consignment. So returning to the pro-shop Shelley tried out these skates and found that they worked quite well. And better yet, the price was $150 for ones that would have been $399 new. And so we purchased them. We plan to return to the rink on Wednesday for a final skate.

After the rink we went over to a mini-golf place where the kids played a round, and afterwards had some ice cream.

We still have a few more places to go to purchase additional supplies to take us through the next 18 months or so.

Meanwhile, over the next few days I have to prepare a sermon while being in the middle of all this busy-ness.

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