Late summer summary...

Wow! Amazing how fast a summer can go... John finished up his summer job with Safeway in the Everett & Lynnwood districts and we are now footloose and fancy-free again - yippee!! The last few days before we left Everett were pretty busy with some last minute visits with cousins Theresa and Angela, RV’ing friends John & Susan and, of course, saying goodbye to Vance, Jody and grandson Sebastian. Definitely the hardest part as we're not sure when we'll be seeing them again.

Here are a few pictures from our Pacific Northwest summer...

Several members from our Escapees "Class of 2007" gathered on Whidbey Island in July for lunch and then we soaked up some sun at Fort Ebey State Park for awhile. Fun group/beautiful day!









Several days later we hopped on another ferry (we enjoyed the Washington State ferries this summer!) and went to see Port Townsend. This is a wonderful place to visit: the uptown and downtown areas, Fort Worden, and the harbor were our favs.

Near the end of July we finally located a reputable business to replace some severely rusted framework on our motorhome. Aalbu Bros. of Everett did an awesome job for us. The only bad part (besides the bill!) was that we couldn't stay in the rig and the first week at Vance & Jody's was the hottest of the summer in Seattle. High 90's to 100's was too much for us! We also spent four days in a hotel to make room for Jody's family. We were thrilled to get our home back!

Our oldest son's (Eric) in-laws came for a visit in early August and we spent a wonderful day on the Kitsap Peninsula visiting the Elandan Gardens where the owner, Dan, kept us well entertained and made sure we knew how to correctly pronounce "bonsai"! We enjoyed the ancient trees and beautiful flowers, had two lovely picnics and two fun ferry rides. Good friends, good day!

Our oldest grandson enjoyed visiting grandma and grandpa at their motorhome this summer. Don't you think we should sign him up as a substitute driver?

September 4: time to head south via our friends, Curt & Diane, in SE Washington, son Eric & his family in Colorado, brother Jon & family in Kansas and then on to the Rio Grande Valley in southern Texas for our workamping job!

Tourist Time in Leavenworth

Ohmigosh! Two posts in three days!

Seems like we finally had a day with something to write about besides work (John) and hanging out (me)! John has a couple of days off, so today we got up early (sure seemed early to me!) and hit the roads heading east towards Leavenworth, WA. If any of you have been there you know that it's a Bavarian village up in the mountains of central Washington. Definitely a tourist trap, but a kind of neat one! Many of the shops carry a higher quality of product than you normally find in touristy towns and it's fun to hear the polka music over at the gazebo! Best accordian music I've heard in years!!

We enjoyed good brats sitting in an outdoor restaurant, picked up some cheese and taffy to take home and even found a Christmas present. The plan is to leave the grandson's gifts with their parents during the next couple of months rather than try to find storage room in the RV and then pay postage to ship them! Goodness - we've really got this retirement/budget thing down pat, don't we??!!

On the way home, we stopped at Deception Falls and took the half-mile hike along the Tye River and Deception Creek. Beautiful place and a joy to spend a little time in the "wilderness" again. It was also a reminder that we are not around water as much as we used to be and we miss it. There was a quote on one of the information sign-posts that struck a chord:

There is no rushing a river. When you go there, you go at the pace of the water and that pace ties you into a flow that is older than life on this planet. Acceptance of that pace, even for a day, changes us, reminds us of other rhythms beyond the sound of our own heartbeats.
- Jeff Rennicke, River Days: Travels on Western Rivers

Good thing we had that little chunk of peaceful time, 'cause the rest of the drive home took two hours longer than it should have! We assumed the problem was either an accident or construction but we saw no sign of either. Pretty slow going, so we caught up on some phone calls. Hmmm. Reminds one of that old saying: something about making lemonade....

All in all a fun day. And, the kicker was that it appeared to have been cloudy and rainy in Everett all day and it was mostly sunny and about 90 degrees in Leavenworth - yeah!!

Me Bad, Bad, Bad...

I can't believe so much time has passed since I last wrote here! And, I certainly can't claim lack of time right now - just a lack of initiative, I guess...

Anyway, to summarize the last couple of months: I had a great time babysitting for little "Seabass", John & friend, Curt, thoroughly enjoyed the trip west in the motorhome - stopping for the night/shopping at not one, not two, but - yes! - three Cabela's. Probably a good thing I wasn't along:):)

John & Curt left the motorhome in Spokane for some work/maintenance. The last couple of weeks in May we spent in Hawaii with our two sons, their wives and our two adorable little grandsons. One daughter-in-law missed the first five days because of work commitments (bummer!). We had a wonderful time playing with the babies and especially enjoyed seeing them experience the pool and ocean for their first times! The (adult) kids had fun surfing, snorkeling and sightseeing.

After returning to the mainland, we resumed babysitting again. And, since we needed to go pick up the motorhome, we packed up baby and gear, hopped in the toad and made the five hour drive back to Spokane. It took awhile to get gear situated in the motorhome and we made it partway back to Seattle before stopping for the night. Sebastian was a wonderful little traveler, sleeping through refers beside us at the truck stop all night and watching the trees and trucks go by his window over the sofa where we had his car seat strapped in. We drove straight to the RV park north of Seattle where we are spending the summer, checked in and got the rig settled and hooked up in less than an hour and "flew" back down to Seattle to get us and baby cleaned up and dressed, daughter-in-law's mom/stepdad picked up at the airport and all of us to the courthouse for daughter-in-law Jody's bar swearing-in ceremony - whew!

John started his summer job the next week and I headed for Alaska to visit my parents, take care of the annual medical appointments and go to a niece's wedding. It was wonderful to spend time with family again, but getting back "home" to the motorhome - after what seemed like forever! - was even better. We've been full-timing for about 21 months now and still love it - our home and the lifestyle. It doesn't get much better than this!

So, to end this rather longish post, I leave you with a little tidbit of our life - one which will come as no surprise to those of you who know me well and for those of you who don't know me as well, now you know that I've been a very spoiled wife for a long time now!

Since John is working full-time (6 days this week) and I'm not, this morning I was going to put the roast, etc. in the crockpot for our evening dinner. But, because of me not cooking for the past 20 years or so (told you I'm spoiled!), I totally forgot. You see, I'm not exactly in the habit of even thinking about meals (at least, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!). So tonight we had leftover spaghetti and this is what my loving husband left on the kitchen counter for me before he retired for the night:

Complete with directions...

Changes, changes, changes...

My mom tells me that my generation is the "in-between" group right now and it's very obvious to us right now that she knows what she's talking about!

We spent all of April helping out with John's dad through his hospital stay and now his recovery at home. And, just when he was showing definite signs of improvement, our youngest son called from Seattle and asked if one of us could come babysit for our oldest (nearly 6 months now!) grandson, Sebastian, while his mother takes on a 6-week job. So, last Sunday I flew from Des Moines to Seattle to help out the younger generation...

John is still in Iowa. His brother and wife will be there any day now and next week John will fire up the motorhome and head west. On the way, he'll pick up our good friend Curt at the Minneapolis airport for company. They're SOOOO looking forward to a shopping trip at Cabela's in Owatonna, MN and a sightseeing trip through the Black Hills of South Dakota. Things certainly have a way of working out, don't they?

We would like to thank all of you for your thoughts and prayers for John's dad's recovery. He is doing much better and he's happy to finally be feeling better.

"Homecoming" for Dad

We sure wish seeing into the future were an option so we could have skipped a step or two the last few days...

To make a long story short, John's dad was released from the hospital last Monday afternoon and transferred to a nursing home/rehab center very near the hospital. Twenty-three hours later he was in his own home!

Nothing drastic, but the little things (not all of them were little to him!) added up. The final straw came when John's sister and I arrived the next morning only to be followed into his room by two nurses who insisted that he wasn't supposed to be wearing the immobilizer (a strap/velcro affair that keeps his left arm stable while the pacemaker heals). Needless to say, we responded that they were not to touch him! John's sister, Jane, is a registered nurse so she immediately went to see the orders while I "guarded" Dad. She returned several minutes later and announced that he was going home. Jumping through all the Medicare/doctor hoops took several hours, during which John was kept busy lining up a hand-held shower head, oxygen and a hospital bed at home. The smile on Dad's face when he finally settled into his own recliner at home was worth all the hustle and bustle - definitely the right decision!

He is doing much better already and his spirits have improved dramatically. We're keeping up with the meds and have started his exercises. Fortunately, one of Jane's daughters is a physical therapist in a nearby state, so we have the advantage of tapping her knowledge. Tomorrow a nurse from the local home health agency will come and assist us with anything we might have missed and let us know which services would be helpful.

Just a little detour in the life of a pretty special 87 year old...

Life at the hospital

It's hard to believe that it's been nearly two weeks since our last posting. Life at the hospital seems to supercede the rest of the world. John's father was moved out of ICU last week and has spent the time since recovering from the pneumonia and trying to regain some strength. His pacemaker was postponed several times but his doctor finally put it in today. The nurse who came to get us afterwards scared us to death when she was wiping her eyes before she told us anything. It turned out to be sweat she was dealing with and were we relieved! Dad came through the procedure with flying colors and will likely move to a rehab facility on Monday. His doctor is quite cautious about recovery and very strongly recommended against taking him straight home. Needless to say, Dad's first reaction was not positive. We have spent much time this past week exploring various options for him. Hopefully we didn't pressure him too much to make this decision - such a fine line we walk sometimes...

The weather here has improved tremendously since the snowstorm on April 5, although rain is forecast for tomorrow. It'll be fun to see spring arrive. It's been many, many years since we've been here in the midwest at this time of year.

Iowa instead of New Mexico

Well, we had planned to head west last Thursday, but John's dad ended up in the hospital in Iowa, so we turned the rig north instead. We made it to Iowa in 2 1/2 days with no more problems than high winds in southern Texas which forced us off the road in George West for about 3 hours.

John's dad is finally showing some improvement after being diagnosed with an atypical pneumonia. He'll also get a pacemaker before leaving the hospital. He's still in ICU so the family is spending most of their time there.

We are so thankful to not be working anymore and marvel at how easy it was to simply make a change of plans, head our home a different direction and stay as long as necessary. Jello plans are definitely the way to go!

We are sorry to miss seeing many of you in Albuquerque for "The Rally", but being here for family is, without a doubt, more important. Hope to join you all for another one down the road in the future...