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| Simple Pleasures |
I know it’s been a while since I filled you all in on our activities;
but it’s been a busy summer for us.
So
here it is – a brief summary of the last two and a half months.
July: Family Time
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| Jonah Patrick Blass (with his parents) |
We arrived back on Colorado on June 30th, almost a year to
the day from when we arrived last year.
At that time, we were anticipating the birth of our first
grandchild. This year, on the 4th
of July, we celebrated his first birthday – what a fun year we’ve had being
grandparents! It’s nice coming back to a
place you’re already familiar with because getting “the 5th” parked
and setup is easier and you already know where the grocery stores, gas
stations, and good restaurants are located.
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| Star Spangled Banner baby turns 1 |
Jonah had a great birthday celebration.
In addition to his Oregon grandparents, his Florida grandparents and his
aunt, uncle and cousin from Maryland, and his aunt and uncle from West Virginia
came to join the party.
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| This guy knows how to eat birthday cake |
He also
celebrated with four of his friends and their parents. All of the friends are “older women” so it
seems he’s already got that part of life figured out at age one!
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| Jonah with one of his "older" women |
The day was beautiful, the food was great,
and the red, white, and blue cupcakes were a big hit. Jonah had a great time.
We had some time to rest and relax before we took on the role of
full-time babysitters for Jonah during the last week of our stay in
Colorado. Man, can that little guy keep
two old grandparents busy! Pat and I
asked ourselves several times how we managed to work and take care of two
little kids (I guess being younger had a lot to do with it!).
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| "Not to worry Granma, I've got this handled" |
Jonah is a really happy little boy; we had a wonderful week with him before we
headed west to Oregon.
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| Jonah gets his first haircut |
During this time, we also got exciting news from our daughter, Emily. She became engaged to her boyfriend;
Trevor. She is, naturally, very excited
and we are happy to be adding another son to our family. No date has been set yet although she thinks
it will be within the coming year (watch for updates to come).
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| Trevor and Emily |
As planned we headed towards Oregon to spend the month of August. On the way, we stopped in Missoula, Montana
to visit Pat’s cousin, Anuhea, and her family.
They have a beautiful home that they built themselves with stunning views in all directions. It is absolutely breath-taking
and it was great to see her again and meet the rest of her family.
August: Home…..where the heart
is!
There really is no place like home!
After all the places we’ve been and all the things we’ve seen, we still
think Oregon is the best place in the country.
In addition to time in Eugene, we managed to spend some time in Central
Oregon attending a wedding and a few days on the Oregon Coast where we had both
great weather and great food.
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| Our RV park on Seavy Loop Road |
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| Deschutes River from Eagle Crest |
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| Oregon coast south of Lincoln City |
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| Wine Country near Salem |
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| Columbia River as we headed back to Colorado |
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When we
were in town, we had activities going on virtually every day; clearly, one
month a year in Oregon is not enough! We
connected with friends and family; had numerous doctor, dentist, vision,
hearing, auto, pickup, 5th wheel appointments; and spent time
helping my mother select a smaller apartment and begin the downsizing
process. It was a busy, wonderful time
and we enjoyed every minute of it. As
usual, the thought of leaving was hard; but it was easier since we were heading
back to Colorado for a couple of weeks (you know………the place with the adorable
grandson!).
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| He loves guacamole |
September: The best made plans…………
Late on Friday afternoon before Labor Day Weekend as we prepared to
leave Eugene and head for Colorado the next day (we’re watching Jonah for two
weeks while his daycare provider is on vacation), we got an e-mail that caused
us to seriously reconsider our long-term plans.
The renters of our townhouse in Tempe had broken the lease (which ran
through March 2015) and vacated the house.
We could lease the house again for another year (through October 2015)
or take possession of the house ourselves.
On the surface, this wasn’t the greatest news; however, once we got
over the shock, we realized that we were in a good place to make whichever
decision we wanted. We hadn’t made any
concrete plans after we left Colorado although we had discussed two different
itineraries that interested us; but we hadn’t made any reservations, etc.
So we left Eugene undecided and took a round-about trip back to
Colorado. Went to Spokane and headed due
north following the Columbia River to Trail, British Columbia. Drove right along the river and actually saw
a relatively fast moving, shallow part of the river unlike what we see in
Oregon.
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| Crossing the Columbia in northern Washington |
This area is really beautiful
and we plan to return some summer and spend more time exploring the southern
border area of British Columbia. From Trail,
we headed east across an amazingly high mountain pass and re-entered the USA in
the eastern panhandle of Idaho, then headed east to the Flatiron Lake area of
Montana (also a beautiful drive) and arrived back in Colorado just in time to
assume our grandparent babysitting duties.
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| Sunrise in Wyoming |
We’ve been here two weeks now and tomorrow is our last day with Sara,
Drew, and Jonah. During our time here,
Jonah got two teeth, learned to stand unassisted for extended periods of time,
and took several steps on his own. He
also spent hours and hours playing outside with his Grampa. Obviously,
they are kindred spirits! This is how Jonah and Grampa spend their days:
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| Go on wagon rides |
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| They bounce in the new Bouncy House |
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| Gampa pushes Jonah in his new swing |
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| They play together in the sandbox |
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| Spend time in the fort and on the slide |
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| Enjoy the new Water Table |
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| Try out the Hammock |
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| And play endless games of catch the ball |
During the trip here, we decided the time was right to move into our
Tempe townhouse. So, on Thursday, we
leave here and head to Tempe for a new stage of our lives. We plan to spend about a month doing some
needed renovations before we move in.
Then we’ll head back to Oregon (probably in late October/early November)
to figure out how to get all our furniture and household goods which currently
occupy two fully packed storage units to Arizona…….I'll keep you posted
