The trip to New York City this Fifth Sunday in Lent was as plane travel is. Flight delays, gate changes, a lost item to be retrieved, but all was as easy as it can be flying from one side of the country to the other.

Catching a yellow cab (so organized and easy at LaGuardia), my grandson’s face when he first saw the New York skyline made the whole trip worth it.

After settling in to our hotel, we walked a couple of blocks to purchase NYC slices. By then, we were more than ready to call it a day, and settled in to stream Home Alone 2, set in NYC.

Waking up on Monday, we decided to create a prequel to The Lightening Thief.

It’s the pre-volume where Percy, before he knows he’s the son of Poseidon, goes to visit family in Brooklyn—that is, his grandmom’s nephews and niece and his cousins (even though Austin reminded me that Percy had no grandparents or aunts or uncles, but this is fiction, after all). Austin has named the Percy Jackson prequel, The Calm before the Storm.

A train to Brooklyn for delicious vegan enchiladas prepared by Tex for lunch and so much fun playing with his little cousins.

Uncle Andrew taking him on a tour of Brooklyn in his Jeep which included a drum duet with Andrew (who plays in the Night Spins).

Then a drive to get Steve’s Famous Key Lime Pie, eaten with the Statue of Liberty watching over him.

A subway ride to the hotel to clean up before going uptown in the rain (the storm before the storm) to Dizzy’s club for a fancy dinner and jazz played by the Juilliard Jazz Band. A bonus was Percy (aka Austin) meeting the Dean of the Jazz School at Juilliard who gave him tips for improving his own saxophone play.

A final subway ride to the hotel to end the prequel to The Lightening Thief.

Waking up to more snow this morning on the Eve of the Percy Jackson trip. It is also the Feast of the Annunciation—the day to remember being obedient to an unexpected God and nothing is impossible with God. (Luke 1.37)

Having the first answer to prayer, unexpected, this morning when I realized that when I had modified our NYC hotel a few weeks ago for a better room at a lesser rate, that I had modified it to a different location—from the upper east side to Times Square. Oops. The answer to prayer bit is that I have Prayed. So. Much. about the details of this trip that I have to believe that all will be well since we are indeed covered in grace.

Part of preparations today include, besides laundry and packing, getting a gift ready for the grandson who is staying in Bend. He prefers being with Mom and Dad, but I didn’t want him to miss out on a little extra Grandma love.

One of the things I always have when the grandboys visit in the summer is a special Lego set. I already had the Lego world globe waiting for summer 2023. Since the Bend Fain’s trip to Texas won’t include Houston this summer, I decided to bring it to Jonas for his stay at home spring break trip.

The challenge was figuring out how to get the huge box on the plane. After trying one option after another, all that were too small, I found one that was just right—my clergy vestment bag. So rather than chasuble, stole, alb, and Book of Common Prayer, it was filled with the globe Lego set. Thank you, St. Mary’s, for the even more perfect gift!

I’d bought gift cards to be opened each day Austin and I are gone for Jonas’ local favorite places (Mom approved), and my vestment bag is also a perfect gift bag (to be returned, of course).

Other preparations included putting together the Metropolitan Museum’s Percy Jackson tour packet (yes, they have one) to which I’ve added an appropriate t-shirt, and buying travel umbrellas because, yes, it looks like we may have rain.

My daughter in law has gone to a friend’s birthday celebration so it’s a boys’ night (with Grandma invited)—burgers and perhaps a trip for ice cream. It has to be an early night so we can arise for a 3.30 departure to the airport in the morning.

Before the New York adventure begins, I have three lovely days in Bend with my sweet family.

Quotidian days where they allow me to join them in their daily life. The pre-school and after-school shuffle, with slow days in between enjoying my dear daughter in law who is always so welcoming. A little conversation, a little running errands, a little tv watching.

Lego building, karate, reading books. The years of story time are past, yet we settle together with our own current chapter books.

Austin shares his latest musical learnings, and Jonas does art.

Lisa cooks fabulous love-filled meals, and Jacob cleans up afterwards.

Today it snows, as it likes to do when I visit.

Tonight is pizza and a movie.

This is a good vacation.

An adventure my grandson and I have been planning for the past several months has begun. It’s phase one of recreating Percy Jackson’s adventures from The Lightening Thief, the first book in Rick Reardon’s Percy Jackson and the Olympian series.

Our five day journey will take us through the events of Chapter 10. We have a plan to take up where we left off next year.

It’s been super complicated figuring out how to do this trip with the limits of a 71 year old who lives in Texas traveling with a 12 year old who lives in Oregon. For me, it means I’ll travel through Denver flying hither and yon four different times in the next week.

Today is the first leg—me getting to Oregon from Houston for a few days of visiting with the Bend Fains before Austin and I depart on Sunday.

I left after work today for my first trip to Denver. I had been able to upgrade to first class and I’m delighted to report that hot towels and warm nuts are back for the first time in three years. We had a great flight attendant, Rosa. After a two hour layover in Denver, imagine our mutual surprise when she was now serving on the different plane flying to Redmond.

“Seltzer, no ice?” she asked, remembering my preferred beverage. Now that’s service.

Looking forward to family hugs shortly.