You'll never guess where we will travel this summer!?!

The last blog highlighted some of the fun activities that kept us busy this spring. But we were a little restless, with nothing planned for the summer. We were in a bit of a traveling conundrum. We couldn't go RVing during those delightfully cool spring months because the motor home was sitting on a consignment lot. Likewise, we couldn't plan anything definite for the summer because we didn't know if we would still own a big motor home, or if we would be traveling in a smaller trailer. Those two different RV options would require two different kinds of camping strategies. So as the temperatures started rising this summer, we were making local trips in the heat to places like the "Field Station:Dinosaurs" park in Derby, Kansas. We used the Kansas Sunflower program that provided free tickets for Kansas children and two adults into a nice list of summer activities. On this warm summer day we walked through a herd of life-size dinosaurs that swung their heads and roared as we walked by.

Even though we would like to spend part of Summer 2024 somewhere cool in the mountains, we couldn't make any plans or reservations. When the motor home sold, we didn't want to rush and buy a different RV without doing due diligence on what would be best for us. So suddenly we didn't even have an RV to make that summer trip to the mountains. So we sat looking at the summer calendar, with no plans. Where are we going to travel this summer?

Well, one thing we could do was to help with our church's vacation bible school. We had assumed that we would be gone to the mountains in June, but here we are. So after passing the background checks, and personal reference checks, and going through the training, and passing the exams on the computer, we were approved to help with the elementary children. Volunteers have to really want to help with the children's programs to go through all that! It was a fun week, and Carter loved seeing Gram and Grandude during vacation bible school.

The summer was really heating up and we were still sitting in Kansas City. Then we got a very interesting phone call from a dear nephew and niece that we have traveled with before. They started the conversation with something like, "We know you always have plans, and this is really short notice, but would you like to go to Europe with us this summer?" Usually we would have had plans, but it was perfect timing to accept such a unique opportunity. We didn't have to think twice about heading across the pond with their family!

This was a special treat because they were making the plans and the reservations. We would be traveling with their family of six, and we know their four children well. We were hoping to help keep the adult-to-kid ratio evened out at 4-to-4. But since the two oldest are 16 and 18, we sometimes feel like we are probably on the kid side of the ratio. Their family was going to tour around Europe for two weeks, and then they would have to get back home for church camp and work. But they suggested that we could stay longer if we wanted. So we started looking at options to fill out a month-long itinerary. Suddenly we were very busy planning for the Summer of 2024!

So instead of sitting in a woeful conundrum of what to do for the Summer of 2024, we were super excited to look at the endless options ahead of us in Europe. After a little planning, we would meet them in Houston to begin the European adventure. Stay tuned to see where it took us!