I hope this blog finds you well rested and relaxed. I also hope you are enjoying time with your favorite people and adventuring in your favorite locations. Whether you spent your summer brushing up on academics or traveling to do servant leadership, I hope you will take some time to share your stories with the rest of the Darlington Community on our school blog!
I have never been a fan of people asking me to do something that they are not willing to do themselves... So I will start. My wife, Alethea, and our three boys are worn out from all of our summer adventures! First, we all piled into the minivan with enough clothes, ukuleles, martial arts gear and camping gear for four weeks out West.
We took a three-day drive to Colorado, where we visited with friends on their ranch -- a real fourth-generation homestead cattle ranch. Our boys thought they had died and gone to Heaven! Next, we drove out to meet dear friends in Moab, Utah. Moab is famous for hiking, mountain biking, rock climbing, river rafting, canyoneering, Jeeping and motorcycling. It is also home to amazing restaurants and stunning red-rock scenery. While there, we rented a river raft (Alethea was a river guide) and rafted the Colorado with our friends. Our families took evening hikes to enormous rock arches and stopped to appreciate delicate cactus blossoms.
Our next stop was Salt Lake City, where we went to help Alethea’s mom and dad move. The next day, we went to visit friends in Central Utah for a 4th of July celebration. They kids had a wonderful time riding their bikes in the parade. After returning to Salt Lake City, I ditched the family with grandma and grandpa and flew to San Francisco. I was on approach to land when the Asiana Airlines plane crashed right below us! We were diverted to Oakland. While there, I visited with my sensei (martial arts teacher), Cynthia Hayashi. We are collaborating to develop an app that will help aikido teachers everywhere.
Returning to Salt Lake City, I taught martial arts lessons and seminars. I was thrilled to see longtime friends and fellow teachers. The family went hiking at 10,000 feet, enjoying wildflowers and patches of SNOW!
Thankfully, our minivan made it home -- but just barely. So, for our 11th wedding anniversary, we traded in the Kia minivan for a 2013 GMC Yukon! Upon our return home, we also adopted a baby St. Bernard puppy -- 70 lbs. at 6 months! Be sure to stop by my office to say hello to my new office companion, Molly.
After all those adventures, I am equally glad to tell you that I enjoyed an entire day at home, without doing anything, before coming back to the office. There really is no place like home and we are all glad to call Darlington ours.
Whether you are still far away, returning from a vacation, service learning, or just relaxing around the house, I hope you are all safe and sound. We can’t wait to see you and get back into the swing of things. There have been many exciting developments around campus this summer. My next blog will highlight a few of them and talk about gearing up for the new school year.
Best wishes to all of our Darlington family!
