When my son first started college three hours away in Williamsburg, at William & Mary, people told me to make him find out about bus service.  But I have to say how much I treasure my trips down there to pick him up and take him back.  What a treat!  I’m so glad I didn’t listen to them.

Traffic is usually bad for the Thanksgiving trip, but yesterday it only took a half-hour longer than usual to get there, and it was a glorious day, chilly but sunny and still with colorful trees shining in the sunshine by the roadside.

Once he gets his stuff from his dorm, we walk through the lovely campus to old Williamsburg.  We bought a sandwich at the Cheese Shop and I got some of that incredibly spicy ginger ale that I like so much.  There’s a ginger theme, because then I get Gin-Gin candy at Wythe’s Candy Shop.

And then we drove home.  Yesterday, we talked so much, I didn’t notice whether there was bad traffic or not!  It seemed like before I knew it, we were almost home!  (I even took a wrong turn when nearing home, because I was paying more attention to our conversation than to where I was going.)

It was so lovely to talk with him!

And now my boy is home!  I worked today, but have the whole rest of the weekend off.  I’ll take him back to school Sunday — and then three weeks later, he’ll completely finish his college career, and I’ll have one last trip down to pick him up.

It’s been a good three and a half years.

Another highlight of my trip to Oregon was a day and overnight with my brother and his family, including their 2 and a half year old, Arianna.

She is active and outgoing and so much fun!

We had a busy, exciting game of hide-and-seek with her daddy and me doing the hiding.  It made me laugh how it got my heart rate up waiting to find out if she would spot me!

The next morning, I got to go with her to an open gym.  Such fun to watch her enjoying the equipment!

You can see how proud she is to get up on the “horsey.”

And my sister came by with my other two nieces — and I caught Baby Zoe smiling at my sister-in-law!

Just a lovely time with little ones!

When I arrived in Portland, the next day, I visited my sister Marcy and got to hold my 6-week-old, not-quite-9-pounds niece Zoe.

She smiled at me!

There is nothing quite so wonderful as holding a newborn.  You forget how tiny they start out.  I’m still smiling when I think about it.  She fell asleep in my arms, which was a break for her mother and a thrill for me.

Of course, another wonderful blessing was getting to spend time with Zoe’s 3-years-and-one-day-old big sister Alyssa.  Another true delight.  (In this picture she’s feeding us pretend food — busghetti — at the park.)

I’m now going to go into more detail about my wonderful trip to Portland, Oregon.

The highlight was definitely getting to spend time with my adult child Jade, who is newly become my daughter and used to be my son.

This has taken some adjustment in my mind — but it was wonderful to just have some time together and be reminded each day that this is the same fabulous person I love with all my heart.