I’m sorry I missed posting last week. After a full month on the road, I was just worn out!
When I wrote last, we were still in Portland. We finished out our time there with a visit to the beautiful Grotto. It’s a Catholic church next to a forested cliff area. They have created an outdoor chapel under the redwoods and it is absolutely beautiful. We set El and Adia up with a big haul of groceries. They made us a yummy dinner and we played a board game. Then we bid them farewell–hopefully to see them again in a few months.
Our drive from Oregon to Utah was uneventful (hooray!). We spent a few more days with family–we worked on a renovation project at Nathan’s sister’s place, took Margaret on a walk around Silver Lake and lunch at the Silver Fork Lodge, and spent more time with Max. Since he had a few serious spills, things were a bit rough while we were there this time. We tried to introduce a little joy into his difficult days with a visit from his violin and also joining in the care center’s Chocolate Party one evening. He loved the mint chocolate chip ice cream! I also snuck in one more dinner with my sister Jana. Again, we hope to see all those dear ones in a few months.
We continued our move eastward. Five years ago, I couldn’t imagine driving across the country. Then COVID hit, and we have criss-crossed the U.S. multiple times over, visiting family, seeing national parks, and doing all kinds of touring. We even have a pretty good routine for driving from Utah to St. Louis (there’s a really good Mexican restaurant in Cheyenne, a solid motel that we stop at in York, Nebraska, and Kansas City always serves up a delicious lunch!). We arrived at Alex’s place, excited to meet our newest family member, baby Arthur. He’s a sweetheart!
On September 1st, we got to celebrate our daughter-in-law’s birthday. It’s fun to spoil Hanna a bit, since she works so hard to take care of her brood of boys. I spent the day in the kitchen, whipping up french toast and peach cobbler and cooking up a curry storm with Alex. It’s been a long time since I spent so much time cooking and it was exhausting and delightful. The weather in Missouri has tempered a bit and there have been some lovely cool mornings to counter the warm afternoons.
We have spent the last week in full grandparent mode. Unfortunately, Nathan and I ( and Alex) all came down with a cold a few days after we arrived, so we have had to keep our distance from mama and baby. But we’ve been playing with the older two boys inside (legos, trains, puzzles, and books) and outside (swings, slide, and stomp rockets). It’s been a real blessing to be settled in for a few weeks and to recover from a whirlwind August. We love our traveling life, but we have to pace ourselves! Even though hanging out with Teddy and Peter is a challenge sometimes, it’s a joy. We feel very grateful that we can spend so much time with our grandchildren.
We wish you a wonderful week and hope that you are starting to feel a bit of autumn where you are. Much love!
Utah!
I missed doing a post last week because we were en route to Utah from St. Louis. We really enjoyed our last week with Alex, Hanna, and the boys. We had a great time playing outside with the kids, going to the library and the St. Louis Science Center.
This week we have been in Centerville staying with Margaret (who is such a kind and accommodating host) and having a good mix of family time, outdoor fun, and working on sorting through Nathan’s dad’s office/studio. Our daughter, Lauren, flew in from West Virginia yesterday to ski with her dad. We are enjoying the beautiful, snowy mountains and the relaxed visits with family and friends. We will be here for three more weeks, so if you want to meet up, send me a message!
Missouri
We have had a great week here in Missouri. I’ll give you a short update, but I would also like to make a request. We have shared recommendations for podcasts, books, musicm and the like in the past. Now, we would love to hear from you! What have you been reading? What music or podcasts are you liking lately? Have you seen a good movie? Please comment on this post or reply to my email. We love hearing from our friends and family! Now for what we’ve been up to…
Back to MO
Just a quick post this week. We hunkered down in Ohio/West Virginia and took refuge from the cold. We did lots of cozy things with the grandkids. We took a trip to the library to play and choose a big pile of books. Huck is a little reader now, so it’s fun to find stories that he can read. We spent A LOT of time reading those books–at the library, on the couch, and in a blanket fort. We also did crafts and built lots of Lego. We went with the kids to the children’s museum for a special STEAM class and then hours of play and building after that. We also took the older two out for a special lunch date. It was a great week! We are now back in St. Louis and excited to spend time with the other grandkids! Have a good week!