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A Few Answers

A Few Answers

by | Jul 21, 2024 | Blog

Hello, all! It’s been a quiet summer week. We have done some planning for travels in August and spent time with the grandkiddos jumping on the trampoline, playing legos, and riding bikes. We also visited the excellet Campus Martius museum here in Marietta and learned even more about the history of this place. It was fascinating. They literally built the museum around one of the original buildings of the settlement. It’s pretty cool! There was also a day of music around town on Saturday, so we enjoyed that for a little bit.

I didn’t get any questions from you lot this week, so I had to improvise. My sister sent me a fun deck of cards for my birthday with little “get to know you” questions, so I’ll answer some of those.

What have you watched recently that you can’t stop recommending?
Jill:

That’s a tough one, as we haven’t watched many things lately that have bowled me over. However, Taskmaster is always entertaining and we have watched a bit of that in the last couple of months. It’s a British competition show where five comedians compete in ridiculous challenges to earn points. It’s very fun.

Nathan:

We watched some good comedy on YouTube on DryBar Comedy. The comedians are Dustin Nickerson and Zoltan Kaszas.

What smell brings back some good memories for you?
Jill:

Brewing coffee. It reminds me of snuggling down into my covers on cold mornings while my mom was out in the kitchen getting my dad off to work. Cozy.

Nathan:

Chocolate or cheese.

What’s your favorite animal and why do you like them?
Jill:

Giraffes, because they are just so crazily tall and I love their spots.

Nathan:

Piggies, because they taste so good.

What’s the best surprise you’ve ever planned for someone else?
Jill:

I’m not sure if it is memorable for him, but I planned a surprise party for Nathan’s birthday one year. I got him out of the house by getting one of his friends to play chamber music with him. Then I sent him to a neighbor’s house on a phony errand so that they could call and let us know that he was on his way. It worked a little too well, because Nathan was there visiting for much longer than we anticipated, while all of us partiers were waiting to surprise him in our garage…in December…in the cold. But we did surprise him!

Nathan:

I arranged for Lauren and Huck to fly in from Ohio for Jill’s birthday and she had no idea that they were coming. It was great.

That’s it for this week! We’ll catch up with you next week from Missouri!

Closing This Chapter

Closing This Chapter

by | Apr 6, 2025 |

So, here we are. It’s been 90 weeks since we drove out of our driveway in Sandy, bound for new experiences and a unique chapter of our life by moving to Europe. We started another chapter when we returned to the U.S. last summer. A LOT has happened since then, and we have been blessed to spend tons of time with family and friends across the country. The last ten months have been such a precious season to reconnect, to celebrate, and to mourn with those we love. Now, it’s time to close that chapter and open another — time for another adventure!

Mountains and More

Mountains and More

by | Mar 23, 2025 |

Another fun week in Utah with family and friends doing some of our favorite things!

Utah!

Utah!

by | Mar 16, 2025 |

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!

An Update

An Update

by | Jul 14, 2024 | Blog

One year ago, we locked our house and drove away. We’ve been living a semi-nomadic existence ever since. It’s been quite the adventure!

It’s been a few weeks since I wrote a proper post, so I thought I would give you an update on some of our adventures since returning to the U.S. Next week, I’ll be answering questions, so send me your burning queries.

Time in Ohio and West Virginia

We are staying in an AirBnB in historic Harmar Village, across the Muskingum River from Marietta, Ohio. We are totally loving spending time with Lauren, Bo, Huck, Piper, and Hugh at their place in West Virginia. It’s about a 25-minute drive across the Ohio River and through the green hills to get to them. We took Huck on an outing to see “Inside Out 2” a couple of weeks ago. It was his first visit to a movie theater, so that was a lot of fun. He loved munching on popcorn and candy. He also loved the movie. We took Piper on an outing this week to a playground and to Chik-fil-A for lunch. She loved having Grandma and Grandpa to herself. She alerted us to all the American Flags that she saw during our drive and loved her kiddie meal of chicken nuggets and fries. It’s a lot of fun for us to be close by so that we can help out with babysitting, etc. Since we were gone for so long, we really missed that.

A Trip to Utah

We were planning to visit Utah this summer, but when Nathan’s dad broke his arm a few weeks ago, we decided to add an extra trip to see him. He’s had a rough go of it. At 92 and with some memory issues, his healing journey had been difficult at times. He is in a care center and, although it is a comfort that he has round-the-clock care, it isn’t fun for him or the family that it has come to that. However, it was good to see him again. It’s so hard to get a good grip on what’s really going on from so far away.

We also enjoyed very much spending time with our other family members and getting caught up. We loved spending time with Nathan’s siblings (we missed seeing Shelley, but hopefully we will be able to connect soon). I also got to do some happy dancing with my sister when she came to pick us up from the airport. We even had the luck to be able to go to our niece Emery’s concert. She plays saxophone in the Little Big Band (she’s 10) and they played at the Gallivan Center. It was so good!

We also had some pressing business to take care of while we were visiting. We spent one full day seeking out used cars and test driving them. Then we ended up buying a brand new Kia Sportage instead. Whenever we have had a car in the last 6 months, Nathan has had to be my chauffeur, so it felt good to get my driver license renewed so I can finally be a bit more independent and also help him do some of the driving. We also managed to squeeze in a meal at our favorite Mexican restaurant (Del Barrio in Midvale). After a four-day whirlwind, it was time to drive eastward.

A Weekend in Missouri

We wanted to head back to Ohio to resume our visit with the Bausermans, but not without a stop in High Ridge, Missouri to visit Alex, Hanna, Teddy, and Peter. It was a delight to hug more grandkids! We spent a long weekend playing lego, eating yummy food, and reading lots of stories. We got to take everybody to the very fun National Transportation Museum to see crazy old cars, climb up into train engines and tank cars, and ride the miniature train around the property. We also shot off some fireworks, even though Teddy did not love how loud they were. Hanna will deliver our newest grandson in just a few weeks and she is handling it like a champ. We are excited to meet him and to return to visit in a couple of weeks.

Some extras

I got to help out our niece, Sarah, one day by making a batch of icing and starting on the decorations for a fabulous Hogwarts birthday cake for her son, Rye. They finished off the decorating and it turned out so cute!

It’s been a delight to go swimming with Huck and Piper a couple of times and see them grow in their confidence in the water. Huck is getting braver all the time!

Nathan was able to take Max’s violin to the care center and play some music for him. Max seemed happier that day and it was good to see him smile and enjoy the familiar tunes.

We stopped in Kansas City (again) for lunch at our favorite BBQ place, Q39, on July 4th. It was fantastic, as usual, and it felt very patriotic 😀. We are going west again in August and we’ll be back in the Kansas City area for a few days this time.

All the grandkids (except Hugh) are loving their bikes. Piper and Peter are both using Strider bikes. Teddy and Huck are both great at riding their regular little pedal bikes. It’s so fun!

For next week’s post, please comment below (or just send me a dm) with any questions you have for us! Talk to you soon!

Closing This Chapter

Closing This Chapter

by | Apr 6, 2025 |

So, here we are. It’s been 90 weeks since we drove out of our driveway in Sandy, bound for new experiences and a unique chapter of our life by moving to Europe. We started another chapter when we returned to the U.S. last summer. A LOT has happened since then, and we have been blessed to spend tons of time with family and friends across the country. The last ten months have been such a precious season to reconnect, to celebrate, and to mourn with those we love. Now, it’s time to close that chapter and open another — time for another adventure!

Mountains and More

Mountains and More

by | Mar 23, 2025 |

Another fun week in Utah with family and friends doing some of our favorite things!

Utah!

Utah!

by | Mar 16, 2025 |

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!

Ups and Downs…but Mostly Ups

Ups and Downs…but Mostly Ups

by | Jul 7, 2024 | Blog

We are driving back to Marietta today after our week visiting Utah and Missouri. I will fill you in on all the details next week. In the meantime, enjoy some photos of our adorable grandsons, Teddy and Peter. Have a great week!

Teddy and Alex at the National Transportation Museum
Peter the reader
A Little Bit of Everything

A Little Bit of Everything

by | Jun 30, 2024 | Blog

This will be a quick post as we are traveling this week.

Back in Ohio and West Virginia we spent some fun times with the family. We played with the kids and did some minor projects at Lauren’s place. Nathan is in what seems to be a never-ending battle with the wasps. It’s been great to soak up grandkid time in simple, sweet ways. We also enjoyed a delicious dinner with our niece Sarah and her family and we got to meet their newest addition, Poppy.

We hopped on a plane yesterday and flew to Utah to spend a few days with family and to take care of some pressing business. It was kind of wild to fly over the Wasatch Front. We are just two weeks shy of one year since we drove out of the Salt Lake valley, bound for Missouri, Weet Virginia, and Germany.

Nathan’s dad has been moved to a care center, so we are visiting him every day. We also wanted to see our dear family and a few friends. Living a “nomadic” life has some unexpected challenges. A couple of challenges that we are addressing this week are renewing a driver’s license and titling a car. It sure is simpler to do that in a place where you own property.

We wish you all a very fun and safe Independence Day and we will catch you again next week!

Closing This Chapter

Closing This Chapter

by | Apr 6, 2025 |

So, here we are. It’s been 90 weeks since we drove out of our driveway in Sandy, bound for new experiences and a unique chapter of our life by moving to Europe. We started another chapter when we returned to the U.S. last summer. A LOT has happened since then, and we have been blessed to spend tons of time with family and friends across the country. The last ten months have been such a precious season to reconnect, to celebrate, and to mourn with those we love. Now, it’s time to close that chapter and open another — time for another adventure!

Mountains and More

Mountains and More

by | Mar 23, 2025 |

Another fun week in Utah with family and friends doing some of our favorite things!

Utah!

Utah!

by | Mar 16, 2025 |

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!

Having Fun!

Having Fun!

by | Jun 24, 2024 | Blog

It’s good to be back in the U.S.! We are staying in the beautiful town of Marietta, Ohio, about a 30-minute drive from our daughter’s home in Waverly, West Virginia. We are loving our new grandson, Hugh! He is a sweetheart and we are already over the moon for him.

We have been really soaking in the time with Lauren, Bo, and the kids, so not a lot of earth-shattering news here. We have enjoyed the yummy food at Chez Lauren (she’s such a good cook) as well as trying to find some good food here in town. The weather here has been hot, hot, hot, but we’ve still found opportunities to hang out at the pool, jump on the trampoline with the kids, and take walks by the mighty Muskingum and Ohio rivers. We also took this prime opportunity to visit our dentist, Dr. Bo. It was also nice to go to church and to know what was being said!

We are in an AirBnB in Harmar Village in Marietta. This town was the first to be settled in the Ohio Territory in 1788. We knew years ago that Lauren and her family would be moving here after Bo’s dental schooling. When we visited the town for the first time, we learned that a branch of Nathan’s family (his maternal grandmother’s side, the Putnams) had a prominent role in founding this area. So, it’s been fun to learn more about the history and how we are linked to it. There is even an excellent book about this area by David McCullough called The Pioneers. I recommend it.

We have some business to take care of in the next couple of weeks, so that’s going to take some work. We will also be returning to Utah soon for a whirlwind tour to visit Nathan’s dad, Max. Max is getting on in years and he broke his arm about a month ago. We want to see him, help with a few things with the family, and take care of some of our chores, too. Of course, we will bring you all along on those adventures as we go. Have a great week!

Closing This Chapter

Closing This Chapter

by | Apr 6, 2025 |

So, here we are. It’s been 90 weeks since we drove out of our driveway in Sandy, bound for new experiences and a unique chapter of our life by moving to Europe. We started another chapter when we returned to the U.S. last summer. A LOT has happened since then, and we have been blessed to spend tons of time with family and friends across the country. The last ten months have been such a precious season to reconnect, to celebrate, and to mourn with those we love. Now, it’s time to close that chapter and open another — time for another adventure!

Mountains and More

Mountains and More

by | Mar 23, 2025 |

Another fun week in Utah with family and friends doing some of our favorite things!

Utah!

Utah!

by | Mar 16, 2025 |

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!

Until Next Time

Until Next Time

by | Jun 15, 2024 | Blog

We have just about 24 hours left here in Mainz and we have spent this week saying goodbye to this chapter of our life. We made a list of a few things that we didn’t want to miss and all the food we wanted to eat before leaving and we checked everything off our list this week.

We went to two performances. We returned to the Alte Oper in Frankfurt for a mindblowing piano performance by Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili. She played Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and Liszt. Some of the pieces were so smoking fast that it seemed like she wasn’t even touching the keyboard. In other moments, she seemed like she wanted to take all the time in the world in order to emphasize a phrase. Truly excellent. We also returned across the Rhein to Wiesbaden for the Verdi opera Falstaff. It was pretty good, but not world-class like the opera we saw in Leipzig. The production was set in the twentieth century, so they had an old car on stage at one point and the costumes were more 1940s or 50s. But the costumes for the last act got weird, with the men in these strange, modern-looking screen-printed sweatsuits. The staging felt a bit boring for a comedy. However, the singing and orchestra were really good.

We haved really loved living near this amazing, historical river, so we took one more adventure into the valley. We took the train to the town of Boppard and did a little hike into the hills above the Rhein. We spent a nice afternoon walking through the woods and wildflowers and seeing the pretty towns, castles, and vineyards one more time. Back in Mainz, we strolled around the old Citadel. Some of it is still in ruins and some of the defensive walls and tunnels have been reconstructed. We also couldn’t leave Mainz without a visit to the Gutenberg museum. We just scratched the surface there in two hours. They have two of Gutenberg’s original bibles there in the vault as well as printing presses, books, paper, tools, and many other print-related items through the centuries. I could have spent the entire day. They also have workshops where you can go print your own items, which would have been fun to participate in…next time! We also grabbed tacos with our friends from the apartment building. We had a great Italian meal (Sardinian, actually), great Viatnamese and sushi, burgers, and our last dürüm döner.

We have come to the end of our European adventure (for now). We have spent over nine months here and it has been quite the experience. We have figured out some significant things about how we want to shape our life going forward and what is most important to us. Travel always helps to remind us to be more empathetic and that the overwhelming majority of people in the world want the same things: love, security, and a chance to make a good life for their family. We are also reminded to “travel light” in the world and try to make less of an impact physically while hopefully making an positive impact on people. There are some things that Germans and Europeans do really well, like public transportation, bikes, and recycling. But there are things we have missed about the United States and we look forward to diving back into our own culture in a couple of days. Last, but certainly not least, we are so excited to start to visit our family again and get all the grandkid snuggles! Although this is the end of this trip to Europe, this is not the end of our travel adventures!

Closing This Chapter

Closing This Chapter

by | Apr 6, 2025 |

So, here we are. It’s been 90 weeks since we drove out of our driveway in Sandy, bound for new experiences and a unique chapter of our life by moving to Europe. We started another chapter when we returned to the U.S. last summer. A LOT has happened since then, and we have been blessed to spend tons of time with family and friends across the country. The last ten months have been such a precious season to reconnect, to celebrate, and to mourn with those we love. Now, it’s time to close that chapter and open another — time for another adventure!

Mountains and More

Mountains and More

by | Mar 23, 2025 |

Another fun week in Utah with family and friends doing some of our favorite things!

Utah!

Utah!

by | Mar 16, 2025 |

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!