Remember that great feeling you had when you were a little kid in elementary school and you were going on a field trip? It was always exciting to be somewhere other than at school on a weekday. You know, when you “should” be in school.

That’s me in this photo, taken along the beach in California in March, 2010. Melinda, the girls and I had taken a field trip to San Francisco from our home in Seattle, needing to visit the nearest French Consulate in order to get our visas for our year of living in France. We stayed with Melinda’s cousin’s family, who took us to the beach on a weekday when anyone under the age of 18 “should have” been in school.