There’s no place like home – and Oregon will always be home to me

Surrounded by Green

All our plans are always subject to change-we’ve become extremely flexible in retirement.  Pat and I had planned a leisurely two week trip back to Oregon from Iowa (mostly centered around various wine growing areas!); however, a week before we were scheduled to leave Iowa, my 87 year old mother was rushed to the hospital with a variety of serious issues.  Fortunately these were dealt with; but after being hospitalized for a week, the future outlook was still pretty much up in the air.  We decided to cancel our original plans and head straight back to Oregon.  So, we left Iowa early Monday morning and after three 600 mile days of driving  hauling a 10,000 pound 5^th wheel behind us, we arrived home in Oregon late Wednesday afternoon.  Good news, by Friday afternoon, Mom was able to be transferred to a Rehab unit where she’ll remain for up to three weeks as she gains her strength back.

We are in Eugene until mid-September and are looking forward to seeing many old friends and visiting favorite places in the area.

Mea Culpa

This year was all about family

OK, I know it’s been almost a year since I updated this blog; but we’ve been really busy (don’t you just hate retired people who say that-I know I use to-but it’s really true in our case!).  When I left off, we were leaving Colorado last September and headed for our new home in Tempe, AZ.  A lot has happened since then, almost all of it related to home and family:  remodeling our home, finding out we were going to be grandparents again, moving all our belongings from Eugene to Tempe, our youngest daughter getting married,

We welcomed Trevor Pentecost to our family in February

traveling back to Colorado via Utah to help Sara and Drew

We treasure our son-in-law, Drew Blass

as they expanded their family while packing up and relocating to Iowa!

Isaac Stephen Blass joined us in April

Clearly no rest for these retired folks.

I love being Gramma to Isaac Stephen

and Jonah Patrick

I’m posting brief blogs and pictures of the various phases of the past year.  If you want to start where I last left off, scroll down to "Tempe Home Remodel".  If you don't want to look at them all, I strongly suggest reading "The Bed Saga" in "Our Furniture Moves to in Arizona".  If you want more details (and the thoughts of a significantly better writer) you can visit Pat’s blog (he does a much better job of keeping current than I do!).

Iowa

I like corn; but, enough IS enough!

 OK, I’m a west coast girl.  The Midwest just doesn’t work for me.  The weather here is icky. Thunderstorms and torrential rain at times.  High temperatures and high humidity at other times. And, I'm lost here! There are no landmarks. You know, like hills or mountains or valleys or coastlines to clue me into which direction I'm going. I'm constantly thinking we're heading one direction (like north) only to find out we are actually heading west

Iowa wildflowers

And people here call it hilly (because it's not as "flat" as northern Iowa); but to me, if you can't look out over the land and see a significantly higher piece of land, it's not hilly; it's just rolling flat land.

There are some really pretty rivers

And, some really weird, unknown things

All the Bridges in Madison County look the same

However, since a big part of my family now lives here, I’m sure it will grow on me.

Husking corn in a John Deere T-shirt.  Already a true Iowan

Pat and I have already discovered an extensive wine country; so we’re headed in the right direction!  We’ve spent our time babysitting the grand-kids, helping the kids unpack and baby-proof their new home, discovering a huge Farmer’s Market;

Des Moines, Iowa awesome Farmers Market

and generally exploring the area.  Soon after we arrived, Jonah turned two (born on the 4th of July).  He seemed to enjoy his presents.

Jonah LOVES water

Trying out his new "bike"

We’ll spend four weeks here before we hit the road again and head home to Oregon for a month.

Our campsite while we're in Iowa

Colorado to Iowa with 2 under 2!

Blass family takes much needed break from packing

Picture this:  a new mother returns to work; a new home is purchased in Des Moines, Iowa; a three bedroom house with a double car garage, two outside storage sheds, and a rented storage unit get packed up for a move;

"Let me explain to you about moving"

grandparents are parked in driveway trying to entertain a newborn and an almost 2 year old; 

How these grandparents entertain:

Let them style their own hair

Let them be in charge

Rock them, and yourself, to sleep

In desperation, let them entertain themself

Let the cat handle things

Turn them loose with the sprinkler

Multi-task

Turn on the sprinkler, take off their clothes, and turn them loose

a car gets shipped out; a big moving truck gets loaded with all household goods and pulls out headed to Iowa;

a family “camps out” in (mostly) empty house for a couple of days; and then the trip begins! 

 

Jonah is ready to head out to Iowa

So, we had this little caravan from Louisville, Colorado to Des Moines, Iowa with an overnight stop at a KOA in Nebraska. Pat and I in the pickup, towing the 5th wheel, with our two year-old grandson, Jonah, strapped in the backseat for company much of the time

Jonah keeps us company as we head east

Followed by Sara, Drew, and our brand new 2 month old grandson, Isaac, strapped in their backseat, with the two dogs riding in the back of their Subaru wagon.

Isaac just wonders what's going on?

Isaac Stephen Blass Arrives

Isaac Stephen Blass

We made it to Colorado with two days to spare!  So we parked “the 5^th” in Sara and Drew’s driveway and got ready for extended grandparent duty.  Our 2^nd grandson, Isaac Stephen Blass, arrived on April 22^nd.

Blass Family (Jonah, Drew, Sara, & Isaac) April 2015

Like his big brother, Jonah, he was born with tons of dark brown hair (he could actually have used a haircut on the day he was born!).

Getting to know his little brother

Already a good big brother

We spent our days playing with Jonah while being ga-ga grandparents to Isaac.

Pat LOVES being Grampa

And, hopefully, providing support and relief for Sara and Drew as they learned all about being parents of two under the age of two.   

Always the charmer

I'm tired of all these pictures already!

Drew had a couple of business trips; so we helped Sara out while he was gone and I managed to sneak away to Oregon for a long weekend to surprise my Mom for Mother’s Day and catchup with as many friends as possible.

Oregon-still the most beautiful state I've seen

Spectacular

Shortly after I returned, Pat and I took a quick driving trip back to Tempe to attend to some things there and pick up more summer clothes (we had originally planned to spend the month of June at home in Tempe)

Denver to Tempe:

Northern Colorado Rockies

Colorado River Canyon in northeast Arizona

Tempe to Denver:

Salt River Canyon northeast of Phoenix

Southern Rockies in southwest Colorado

Black Canyon of the Gunnison

 Instead, Sara returned to work after six weeks so Pat and I provided day care for the two boys for the month of June.

Brothers