Fun Long Weekend

It's hard to believe it is the Memorial Day Weekend. It's been such a cold spring and summer still "feels" a long way off. We did have a great past few days, however, and it's been a wonderful treat to be outside, basking in the SUN! Last year at this time, we were on our cruise to Alaska and it's been nice thinking about the fun memories we share with the Garvey's about that special trip.

On Saturday we headed south and spent the day at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle with Steve, Angie, and Evan. There is something about zoos and the animals that live there that children just love. Watching Evan taking it all in was fun indeed! It brought to mind the happy time we had with Hannah when she was about two and we visited the St. Louis Zoo. Observing our sweet grandchildren learn about the world is one of my most favorite things in life. Evan was pretty quiet for the first hour or so, but once he got out of the stroller, he had a blast running all over the place.

On Sunday, after church, we helped clean dishes at the community meal. Then we headed to Fairhaven to enjoy the festivities around our annual Ski to Sea race. It was the 100th anniversary of this big Bellingham event that has 7 legs including skiing, biking, kayaking, and canoeing. There were over 1000 participants and 500 teams. It is quite a production every year and when there is great weather, the whole town seems to be out and about. The festival that celebrates the race is always a great time and despite the fact that my feet were killing me with all the walking we did over the two days, it was well worth going!

Today we ended the weekend with a Memorial Day barbecue at Angie's sister, Jen's house. It's been a few months since we've gotten together with Angie's family and it was fun to get updated with everyone. There was lots of good food and Greg cooked turkey burgers and steak. Bob did not go away hungry! It was such a nice day and a great way to end a fun filled weekend.


Getting ready to leave for the zoo


Maybe I'll water Mom & Dad's new plants before we leave


Fun with the elephants


Okay, enough elephants, let me down so I can run around

Life is too Complicated....

...at least for this oldster. I just got through booking a ticket to New Jersey for a 35th anniversary nursing school reunion and boy was that a task! This is not a new process for me as I book all our travel and flights. How hard could it be to get a flight from Seattle to Newark? Famous last words! I started looking a few days ago and with prices so HIGH, it took me some time to digest the cost. Then, if you fly from the West coast, there are so many things to consider: do I really want to fly overnight, arrive at midnight in Newark by myself, have a four hour layover, etc, etc! These decisions were making me dizzy ( and I am already dizzy enough, thank you very much)!!!! I know the "technologically hip generation, ie, our kids and now our grand kids" find all this choice easy to navigate, but it just causes my anxiety level to spike!!! I almost gave up this morning and even sent a FB message to our reunion host and dear friend, Rosemary, that it was "not to be" for me. But...I thought I would try Southwest one more time and the deal that did not look good a few days ago, now looked just perfect. So, with credit card in hand and reeling in my emotions (I'm going, no, I'm not going, I'm going, no, I'm not going) I booked my flight, sent an updated "good news" message to Rosemary, took a deep breath and told her to contact the reality show people. I think "the hot, old, nursing chicks of NJ" has good ring to it!

Too Busy?

I have written before about how busy "semi-retirement" feels and I've been thinking about this a lot recently...I guess because "we're SO busy"! I'm even wondering if my saying "yes" to everything offered to me upon arrival in B'Ham was such a good strategy after all. The GOOD news is that I definitely feel connected and have met lots of people (case in point...I usually see somebody I know when I am out and about in B'Ham). The BAD news is that I'm beginning to feel stretched..............in all kinds of directions. Who knew that settling into a new life could be so complicated? Who am I kidding? I knew because we have done these transitions so many times before. And, maybe, that is part of it...I'm emotionally exhausted from TRANSITION!

Actually what set this "rant" off was looking at my calendar this am, seeing our summer plans and realizing we are ALL booked up!!! I remember last summer flying by and for some reason I thought this summer would be quieter...but, alas, that is not the case. Still, there are lots of fun times ahead and there is no reason not to take advantage of these opportunities...none, indeed, so why does it feel so overwhelming? I am taking some positive steps to back away from some commitments and I have promised myself NOT take on anymore right now. I know I am incredibly lucky to have the means and health to be at this point in my life. I know I will look back at this time one day and wish for the energy I now have. So, for now, I know I just need to take a deep breath & enjoy each and every day. I have a full day planned today and really should not be sitting here, writing this blog...but, it does feel good to sort through my thoughts. So, for now, I'm off and running!

SUCCESS

IPOD update: getting more comfortable with my new technological device. It was so easy to look up a drug the other day at work...handy indeed! When we were at Steve's this week, he singlehandedly (I mean he literally handles the thing with one hand) showed me some of the "features" of my little gadget. The best thing, though, was filming little Evan eating his yogurt and posting it "in a flash" on FB...now, that got a WOW from me! In fact, as I ponder about this little miracle, it's hard for my 57 year old brain to grasp HOW MUCH THIS THING CAN DO! Watching Evan's smiley face as he watches the instant movie we just made of him...priceless!

Mr. Gadget Strikes Again

Bob decided to go "all out" this Mother's Day and bought me an IPOD touch. I knew something was up when I saw the debit withdrawal from Best Buy. Actually, I thought it was an IPHONE, as we've recently been talking about possibly getting rid of our land phone lines. After much discussion and price checking, however, we've decided that this IPOD is fine for now. It is a little scary having another "technical" thing to learn. It's even more scary that Bob also seems a little overwhelmed with our new "little", but very "big" (money wise) purchase. As we've been sliding this and pushing that on the IPOD screen today, I kept thinking, "if our kids could only see us now"! We really do look like two oldsters...we even had to ask the coffee girl at Wood's how to turn the darn thing off! (Thank you, Wood's Coffee girl)!!!!

Bob did do some investigation before this purchase and one great advantage for me will be the ability to access NPR internet radio when we travel. Listening to the radio at night is my cure for any insomnia I have and I am very excited about this great feature. We've already loaded our music on it and, of course, there are THOUSANDS of APPs to choose from. One that will be very helpful with work is a drug reference guide that my co-workers rave about. Ah, well, I guess I am being dragged into the 21st century bit by bit...who knows, maybe someday I will even learn how to text!

One wonderful piece of the technical miracle we experienced today was "seeing" Hannah & Lizzie via Facetime. It truly made my Mother's Day to see their smiling faces & hear their sweet voices. I marveled to the girls that talking this way to them felt like a miracle, but to them, it's just "the way life is"! And, in addition to the fact that Bob will eventually figure out all the twists and turns of my new "gadget", I always have Steve nearby. Steve, like his brother, and Anne, and Angie, and now our grandkids just seem to "get" this newfangled stuff. So, I am ready to begin this new IPOD adventure...I'll start by taking a deep breath...and just...add another APP!

Christmas in God's Country & Seeing Snow in May!

For Christmas this year, all of our offspring gave us a "gift weekend" to Leavenworth, WA. Located about 160 miles west of B'Ham, over Steven's Pass on the eastern slopes of the Cascade mountain range, Leavenworth is best described as the "Bavaria of the West". During the early 60's it was a dying city, but with some foresight, reinvented itself into the tourist area it is today. Although it certainly has all the trappings of the typical tourist town, it still is a delightful place. The mountain scenery is so gorgeous, that it was hard not to feel comfortable & relaxed.

With lots of rain (even for the NW) and record breaking cold temps, it has been a terrible spring this year. So it was with much trepidation that I made our reservations for our stay in Leavenworth. And, even though I came down with cold symptoms two days before we were to leave, we decided not to change our plans. We headed out "in the rain" on Saturday morning and made our way east. As we went over Stevens Pass, it was amazing to see how much snow was piled up. The ski area at the Pass averages over 450 inches/year & I'm sure this was a banner year. As we began to get closer to our destination, blue, sunny skies beckoned and remained until we left Monday morning. With the extraordinary weather, we were able to hike, shop, eat outdoors, relax and relish the warmth of the sun on our faces all weekend.

Everyone in the city was friendly and welcoming. We stayed at a great place, the Hotel Pension Anna, rightfully ranked #1 on Trip Advisor. The innkeepers and their staff were quite helpful and we met a nice couple from the Tri-Cities area who invited us to call them "if you are ever in our area"! We ate entirely too much food, but that's part of the fun traveling to new places. Bob, of course, had to have a "Bob's Big Brat" for lunch and my Wiener Schnitzel with red cabbage for dinner was yum! Of course there was ice cream for dessert, but then again, there is always ice cream on vacation whenever Bob is around!

We did quite a bit of walking and one moderate to difficult hike. The hike had amazing views of the valley below...one of the prettiest views of any valley I've ever seen. We definitely see more trips to this fun city in our future. Christmas sounds like a wonderful time to visit and the summer would offer lots more hiking trails to climb. This part of WA has more sun than the West, so it often is a day trip for Seattlelites looking to escape the winter gloom. It sure ended up being a great escape for us and many thanks to our Pete, Steve, Anne, Angie, Hannah, Lizzie, & Evan for the perfect Christmas gift!