Justin's Graduation Weekend

This weekend, my older brother, Justin, graduated from the California Highway Patrol Academy. I got up at 7am on Saturday (the day after Halloween, and since I live in Santa Barbara--one of California's major Halloween destinations--you can imagine how wonderful I was feeling) and made the 6 hour drive up north.

I spent the afternoon at my older siblings mom's house (they're 1/2 siblings...but to me it doesn't seem that much different than if we were 100%), eating great food, hanging out, and sharing Justin's special day. That night, Zack, Justin, Jeanell, and I all went to Shannon and Joe's and played Wii and watched The Big Lebowski.

It was a really great day of family.

On Sunday, Zack and I got up, packed our bags, had some Dad-cooked eggs n' bacon, and got back on the road. Almost as quickly as I came, I was headed right back down to Santa Barbara. The drive back, however, was much more pleasant. I was rested and I had two new passengers--Zack and Jackson. The 5.5 hour drive went smoothly and we arrived back in Santa Barbara at about 7:30. When we got to my house, however, we had to build a fence.... yes, build a fence. While our yard is enclosed, the gate closes in at the front of our driveway, making it a bit inconvenient for parking....Luckily, there were sections of an old fence in our back yard and that haphazard construction project ended up getting accomplished rather easily... especially considering Zack and I only make up about 75% of a person right now with our respective injuries.

All in all, I just want to voice how much I really enjoyed seeing my family this weekend. It's pretty cheesy, but I haven't been home in quite some time and I didn't realize I had gotten a little homesick. Thirty hours of home-family-time sandwiched between a half day's worth of driving and piggybacking off of a wild Santa Barbara Halloween, was actually quite refreshing. I feel rested and revitalized after seeing so many of my family members and want to thank everyone for a great weekend and let you all know I really enjoyed this whirlwind of a visit.

Hope to see you soon!