Ten Things of Thankful: Joining the Party Again

 

A group of king penguins congregate on the shore, while one stands alone in the water

Hello! I have missed blogging the past few months, and am happy to be joining the party again today. Of course, I've had more than ten things I've been thankful for since I last joined the Ten Things of Thankful blog hop, but if I tried to list them all in detail, this post would become too long to read in one sitting. I'll do my best to catch up, but I realize that I will probably forget something--and I'll try to avoid letting so much time pass between posts in the future. I'm coming to understand that regularly taking the time to write down things that I am thankful for helps me slow down and stay grounded, which is particularly helpful when life gets busy. 

And life has been busy! The last time I posted, one of our cars had just died and we were still living in California, but preparing for John's retirement and our move back to California. Here has what has happened since then:

1. We moved back to Utah on November 1st. We managed to fit everything in the one working car--and we didn't even need to use the roof rack! The drive was uneventful. Our son (who had been watching our house in our absence) did report that our clothes dryer had just died the day before we arrived home, but fortunately, it was relatively quick and easy to replace. I'm thankful for John, his ability to retire, the year we had in California, our son for taking care of things in Utah for us, and our safe return home to Utah.

2. Between November 1 and November 12th, we reconnected with friends and family here, started getting unpacked, and prepared for Christmas, because. . .

3. On November 12th we flew to Florida in preparation for leaving on a 35-night cruise. John has always been curious about what his own personal vacation "limit" is. Could we be gone so long that he would think, "It's been fun, but I'm ready to be home now."? (The answer is that in general 35 days is not too long, but arriving home before Christmas was definitely the right call this year.) And while a 35 day vacation is long, considering all the years he put into working (and the exceptionally long hours he put in this past year), I'm thankful he had a long vacation to unwind. 

John stands by an electronic board on the cruise ship that says, "Happy Retirement John B!"

4. We visited many different ports: St. Kitts; Fortaleza, Brazil; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Montevideo, Uruguay; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Punta Arenas, Chile; Ushuaia, Argentina; and the Falkland Islands. I hadn't been to South America before. I had no idea how absolutely beautifully stunning the physical setting of Rio de Janeiro is. The tour guide we had in Punta Arenas was one of the best we've ever had anywhere. Visiting the Falkland Islands gave me a new perspective on what happened during the war there. Arguably the most exciting part of the cruise, though, was the days we spent cruising through Antarctica. A fellow passenger described it as "Alaska on steroids," and I would have to agree. The number and size of the glaciers was incredible. I finished reading Endurance while we were there, and reading about Shackleton's experience while looking out the window and seeing Elephant Island was powerful. I'm thankful for this beautiful world.

The Atlantic Ocean is on the left, the Caribbean Sea on the right. As seen from the lush green island of St. Kitts.

The Fortaleza Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We visited several temples during our cruise.

Sun sets over Rio de Janiero. On the tallest peak on the right, the Christ the Redeemer statue stands with arms outstretched over the city. 

Buildings in the La Boca area of Buenos Aires, painted in many bright colors

An old building made out of peat moss stands at Fort Bulnes outside of Punta Arenas, Chile

John and I stand in front of the marker signifying the southern end of the Pan American Highway

If it weren't for the group of penguins on this white-sand beach, this view of the blue oceanside in the Falkland Islands might be confused for a Caribbean paradise.

A stark snowy peak in Antarctica is reflected in the smooth ocean waters

A whale tail, just before it dives back down underwater

An Antarctic rainbow

The ship passing by some enormous icebergs

5. Neither John nor I are what you would call social butterflies, but one of the most memorable aspects of travel is getting to know other people: fellow cruisers, crew members, and locals. And those people often become friends. Just this morning, I received a message from someone we met while on the ship. And believe it or not, our dinner companions from the cruise happen to live in a neighboring town! I'm thankful for our new friends.

6. We returned from our travels (before our luggage!) less than a week before Christmas. Our reliable (?) car--the one we moved back from California to Utah in--decided to start acting up, so we accelerated our timeline to replace the one that had died in October. We managed to find a new-to-us vehicle that meets our needs, and got the other car in the shop. (It was "fixed" then subsequently had the same problem, so is currently in the shop again, but I'm hopeful we will soon be able to trust it again.) I'm thankful for transportation.

7. Some of our children were able to join us for Christmas. (And even though we didn't have everyone together at the same time, we were able to see all of our kids and grandchildren, as well as John's parents and my parents, over the Christmas season.) I'm thankful for family.

8. We drove to California (using two cars--thanks to our son!) to pick up the grandchildren. (The car that is big enough to fit us all was/is in the shop.) They stayed with us for a week after Christmas. It's always good to see them, and we packed in the fun while they were here! It even managed to snow enough for them to make a little snowman and do some (rather muddy) sledding in the backyard. I'm thankful for those sweet children. 

9. We drove back to California after a week to drop the grandchildren back to their house. This time, we rented the second car, because we wanted to drop it off in California and then we drove up to Oregon in our car to visit my parents. Amazingly, the rental car was very affordable, and it got excellent gas mileage, to boot! I'm thankful our transportation issues worked out.

10. We just got back from Oregon last night. This week will be spent taking down the Christmas decorations and working further to get settled in. (We just might still have boxes we haven't unpacked since our move back to Utah.) I have enjoyed the past few months, AND (not but) I am looking forward to being home for a while. That's not to say we haven't got other things planned for 2025; John wants to front-load travels while our schedule is open, because we have learned that life has a way of surprising us, but I think that now that our home-base is in just one state and not two, I won't feel quite so discombobulated! I'm thankful for John and home. 

And though we are in Utah now, I must say my thoughts have been with friends and family in California. As far as I know, no one I personally know has lost their home to the fires, but one of the fires was quite close to where we lived last year, and roads in the area have been closed and power has been out. I'm thankful for the firefighters who work tirelessly to put out the fires. 

How are you? What are you thankful for today? Feel free to leave a comment, visit the other blogs, or link up your own Ten Things of Thankful blog post! 

I realized I failed to put in a glacier photo, so here is one of many Antarctic glaciers!

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