ToddlingAroundTheWorld

Austin challenged me to post a #bookofmormonchallenge, so here it is: The past couple of weeks, I have been watching a bunch of LDS Missionary movies while on the treadmill during my #toddlingaroundtheworld journey. Many of these have brought back so many fond memories of my time as a missionary in Japan in the early 1990s. I love seeing the camaraderie, fun experiences, spiritual moments and though it was two of the hardest years of my life, it was definitely two of the best years of my life. Making forever friends, and striving to help others to understand the importance of eternal families and the love of Jesus Christ and His gospel, were experiences that impacted my life  so intensely, both then and to this very day. I was able to watch and walk through 10 movies, 1,047 minutes of viewing, which came out to two Marathons of distance, plus 27 extra minutes. #treadmillmoviemarathons. I have now completed 4,165 miles of the #seattletobahiablanca walk, with 2,854 left. This has bro...

We have had this time planned for a year or so. We were finally going to have a Miller Reunion in Washington! Then Covid. :( The governor put restrictions on gatherings of people in groups of more than 10. Since we would have 30 plus people gathering, and grandpa Miller has some problems with diabetes and his kidneys, we thought it would be safer to cancel this years reunion. It was sad and hard to do, but decided that would be the smart move. We still had our condos at World Mark Long beach reserved, so we still kept that and went down. We asked Jaylin if she wanted to invite a friend, and she invited Kiriauna Bolli. It was good for Jaylin to have a friend there to hang out with. Kelly and Ruth were also down at their beach house, so we were planning on seeing them a few times while down there, since we would still be under the 'group of 10' gathering limitation. We packed up and left around 1:00. Had a good drive down and then went over to Kellys for dinner after unpacking at...

We went out to Beards Hollow on the beach at low tide this morning. It was so cool to be able to drive along the beach on the way out there and then see the fascinating sealife in the tide pools. The girls rode out on the back of the truck and had a blast. Here is a video of their ride: The girls went into town and LeAnn and I walked the Discoery Trail boardwalk along the beach. This is truly a beautiful place!

We went out to Beards hollow again to see the low tide. LeAnn and I walked the beach a bit. Then we went up to the Lighthouse. I even picked up this shark souvenier there! I sent the picture to Cindy from the Aquarium where I volunteer. She asked if it was a Lemon shark. :) I replied that it was a little lemon with a spritz of lime, so I call him 'Sprite'! :) After that, headed back to the condo to get the girls out on their horse ride at the beach. It takes quite a while to get ramped up after checking in. They had to wait around for about 35 minutes after getting the horses assigned and out on their way. Sounds like they had a great time. Here are a few photos. Went back for dinner at Kelly and Ruths and then took the girls back to the condo. After returning to Kelly's, watch the 15:17 to Paris. Good movie.

Saturday morning, July 25th. After rousting the troops with some swedish pancakes and bacon, we drove down to the Ilwaco market. Pretty much everyone was wearing masks, which was good. We wandered around through the booths for a while, but didnt end up getting anything. Then we headed back to the condo to go to our 'pool appointment'. You have to reserve the pool at the condos by unit and then only your family can go down at that specified time #becausecorona. It was fun to get the girls out there and then I had my hot tub time. Pretty peaceful having the whole place to yourself! Then, that evening, we went out to dinner at a burger place in town. You have to place your order, then they bring it out to you. We walked across the street and found a picnic bench to eat at. It was a bit windy, but nice. Didnt get much walking in today. Just out to town and back pretty much.

Had my Sunday morning meetings on Zoom and then we went down to Kelly's to pick her up for a bike ride. Because of her injury from Friday, she still wasnt terribly mobile. We drove down to the town and rented a Surrey for me, LeAnn and Kelly and a tandem bike for Jaylin and Kiri. We were going to get them electric bikes, but they needed ID, which neither of the girls had brought with them. We loaded up the Surrey with Kelly and her cane and headed off into the neighborhoods. Found that the Surry is 300 pounds before passengers, so you are having to work hard to keep that thing going. LeAnn was in the front and helping pedal, while Kelly was in the back like Cleopatra. It was a tough job with the pedaling, especially since I couldnt really extend my legs much. We took it down a mile or so and then turned around. Seems that Jaylin and Kiri were having a fun time on the Tandem bike as they raced past us. On the way back, we switched and the girls drove the surrey for a bit and I took ...

We packed up at the condo at Long Beach this morning. I made hashbrowns and eggs for breakfast. Needed to run over to the market to grab some ketchup (Catsup?) I was able to go down to the hot tub, which you have to reserve for your own unit separately because of Corona. Jaylin didnt want to go down at 8 during our slot because it was a bit cold out there. I ended up having the whole pool, (which I didnt use) and hot tub to myself. Once we got everything packed, headed over to Kelly and Ruth's beach house to get some extra food that they had for the reunion. (Which we didnt use of course, because Corona cancelled the larger Miller Reunion). Then headed out for the three hour drive home. It is a pretty drive. Had to try and make an emergency bathroom stop, but the gas station line had about 10 people in it and people kept cutting in front of Jaylin, so we drove 5 miles to the next town. There was a grocery store there in Raymond that everyone could use. Then we got a Subway sandwich...