Celebrating Three

Buc-ee's

We were home from Belize a total of two days before we packed up the car and headed north to our son and daughter-in-law's house. Our granddaughter was turning three, and we wanted to be there as we have for all of her birthdays so far. The fall color on the drive was still pretty nice, so that always makes the drive more enjoyable. 

We also had our first opportunity to stop at a Buc-ee's. We have heard a lot about them but never had the time to stop at one. They pride themselves on their bathrooms, and I have to say they have justification for their bragging rights! The ladies room was huge with individual stalls each boasting a red/green light overhead so that you could tell which ones were occupied. The restroom was spotless to boot. We went ahead and grabbed sandwiches to go, and they were large and delicious.

3rd birthday

We had a really fun time with the kids, with lots of visits to the neighborhood park. It is an easy walk from their house, with a nice lake, trails and playground. Our grandgirl loves to swing, so we got a bunch of pushes in. I cannot believe she is already three and well on her way to being potty trained. She is a delight, still a grandma's girl (which I love), and I am so grateful that we had the opportunity to spend this time with her. (And her parents too, of course.)

Happy 4th!

Mount Holly fireworks

We began celebrating the 4th of July on June 29th, which is when our community of Mount Holly put on their fireworks display. They alternate dates with the surrounding communities so that they don't compete with each other. It is kind of nice because you can go see fireworks every night for several days if you want. Though we went by ourselves, we ended up sitting with other people from our community, which was fun.

Our son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter drove down for a visit on June 30th. Luckily many people in our neighborhood have baby items they are willing to lend out. It's been over 30 years since we have had a high chair in the house! 

It was the first time the baby had gone on a long car ride, and she did great. She also did well sleeping in her pack-n-play, which they hadn't tried before. Another first was a visit to our community swimming pool. She was not too sure that she liked that, but seemed to enjoy the wading pool we put in our screened porch the next day.

The kids were able to go out twice while they were here, while we watched the baby. They do not have any family living near them, so adult time is pretty scarce for them. Needless to say, we were happy to have the baby all to ourselves.

We will go up to visit them in September, and I am hoping that our little gal will remember us. I know that around 8 or 9 months they start to be afraid of strangers. Hopefully with enough FaceTime she will still recognize us.

 

Working for the Weekend

our backyard

Last week was a busy one as we were preparing for the party we held Friday night. Jim and his business partner decided to have a dinner party at our house for all their staff, including families. I tried to talk Jim into hiring a caterer, but he wanted to grill. And we all know the rest of the meal doesn't just appear by itself. We spent some time coming up with a menu, and then I spent a lot more time cleaning the house and then washing down all the outdoor furniture. The weather forecast was good, so I was hoping we could entertain everyone outside.

Jim took Friday off to help, so we first made the grocery store run where it took us two carts to get everything out to the car. Back at home I made the two desserts I was preparing while Jim began icing down the drinks. The day passed quickly but we were actually ready an hour before the arrival of the first guests at 4:30. Unheard of for us! I think we had about 35 people here, and it seemed as if everyone had a good time. The weather was perfect and we were able to enjoy the backyard at its finest.

Saturday Jim took a long motorcycle ride to unwind, and I finished tidying up from the party before plopping down with a good book. Yesterday we spent a couple of hours at the Missouri Botanical Garden, and made it home before the downpour occurred. Add to all of this that I had great conversations with both of the kids, and it was indeed a perfect summer weekend!

Motherhood: It's Not Just a Job, It's an Adventure

In just a few days I will be embarking on a 1,900 mile trip with Katie as I help her take the car out to Los Angeles. Somehow, I think it will be more Driving Miss Katie than anything, but that is okay as I like to drive. I'm sure the trip will make for good blogging material. I was not yet blogging when I had my many adventures with Andy, so I think I'll recap them here.

The summer after his freshman year at Purdue he secured an internship with a company working on a bridge project in New Town, North Dakota. His major, construction engineering management, required internships each summer, and the school helped to set them up. The companies that the kids worked for were supposed to help with housing - as in helping them find housing and a stipend to help with the rent. There was no way I was going to let my 19 year old drive 1,200 miles by himself so I decided to make the drive with him. We also traded in his used car, which had over 125,000 miles on it, for a "newer" used car with far fewer miles on it. After being assured all was in good working order with the car and that the tires were fine (2 were new), we headed off on our journey.

About 45 miles south of Fargo one of the fine tires blew out. After 40 years of driving, this is the first time I have ever had a flat. So we are on an Interstate where the legal speed limit is 80 pulled over on the shoulder to change the tire. Everything that Andy was taking for an entire summer was piled on top of the well where the spare was stored. Many people honked and waved as they flew by us on the highway, but no one stopped to help. After fighting with the jack for a bit, the bad tire was removed, the donut put on, and the car reloaded. Now we were traveling 45 miles per hour (maximum speed for the donut) on a roadway filled with people going a minimum of 80. I'm sure I was viewed as the stupid old lady driver. That was the longest 45 miles of my life.

Luckily Fargo has a mall with a Sears store, so we were able to replace the tires (two since they are high performance tires and they don't recommend changing out only one), and a couple of hours later we were back on our way. As we pulled into New Town (population 1,500), we looked around in dismay. I promptly renamed it No Town. The main road was dismal - a few motels, a couple of local restaurants, a laundromat, a gas station. That was about it. There were no fast food restaurants, no bowling alley, no movie theater - heck I didn't even see a grocery store. What in the world was my son supposed to do for three months? At that point I doubted that he would even be able to get cable or, more importantly, the Internet.

We drove directly to the job trailer so that Andy could let them know he was in town and to seek assistance with the housing. Well, we got no help there. They told us to check with the motels we had passed on the way in. We quickly learned that the entire area was an Indian reservation, including the job site which was construction of Four Bears Bridge over Lake Sakakawea. We stayed at the casino hotel and spent the next day looking for a place for Andy to stay. There was nothing! One of the motels said they could rent to him by the week for part of the summer, but not during tourist season. Tourist season, I'm thinking? Why in the world would any tourists stay in No Town? Well, as it ends up there is a big fishing tournament in July that apparently attracts a "crowd". Andy began work the next day and I attempted to locate a room or something for him. I called Jim and said that if Andy came home from work that day and hated it, we were coming home and screw the internship in No Town.

He loved his first day, and was very excited to be working on a mile long bridge. So the next morning I dropped him off at work and headed 70 miles northeast to Minot, North Dakota. Now here was a town! Shopping mall, movie theaters, restaurants, grocery stores...you name it. I hooked up with a realtor (originally from Poplar Bluff, MO, believe it or not) and she showed me a fully furnished efficiency apartment available for the summer. The regular tenant was a college professor who was going away for the summer. Perfect! It was too bad that Andy would have that kind of drive every day, but other than that it worked out great. So we got him settled in and I flew back home.

In August I flew back to Minot and we loaded Andy's stuff back into the car and headed for home. We had another car problem on the way back. When we stopped at a hotel for the night, I left Andy in the car under the front portico while I checked in. I guess it was taking a while, because he followed me in. Unfortunately he locked the doors when he got out, and I had left the keys in the ignition because he was still in the car. We could not get a locksmith to come out that late at night, so we went to bed in the clothes we had been in all day. At least the car was in a location for the front desk to keep an eye on it all night. I had visions of someone stealing it since the keys were there.

The next morning the locksmith came and we were able to get a change of clothes and our toothbrushes so we could tidy up before heading out again. We made it home without further incidence, but that was just internship number one.

Hola!

Jim, Katie and I just returned from a week in Mexico, specifically an all-inclusive resort near Playa del Carmen. This is an early graduation celebration for Katie, who is now done with college in less than three years. Though she doesn't receive her diploma until the spring, she is technically done with her classes. She does not like it when I write about her, so I have tried not to do it very often. But just this once I am going to say how proud we are of her for setting her goals and meeting them. She even received all A's in college and will graduate summa cum laude.

So before she heads back to Los Angeles and a new career, we wanted to take a family vacation with her. We chose Mexico because she and Jim are both interested in the Mayan ruins, and then I located an adults only resort so we didn't have to deal with any kids. The Ocean Maya Royale is a smaller resort, which we like, yet it has four restaurants including Japanese and Italian dining. It also has two swimming pools. Its main detraction is the fact that the beach got taken out by the last hurricane, so swimming in the ocean is not as great as it has been at the other resorts we have been to in the past. But we knew that going in, so no biggie.

Katie and Jim decided to try their hand at scuba diving, so they took a beginner class that starts in the pool before heading out into the ocean. They both enjoyed it, but Jim had some problems with his ears so he ended it there. Katie went on to become PADI certified, so she went out on an additional dive. More power to her. I have phobias about diving, so I stuck to snorkeling. It was the best snorkeling I have ever done! It seemed as though I was swimming in an aquarium. Awesome!

Down the beach about a 20 minute walk or so was a lagoon that we went to see. It reminded me of the movie "Blue Lagoon", and I was wondering where Brooke Shields was. It also made me think of a woman from my writing class a few years ago, as she was writing about estuaries. A river meets the ocean at this lagoon, so I visited my first estuary.

One of the other things we did was visit the Mayan ruins which are located about 2 1/2 hours away from our resort. At the suggestion of the concierge, we hired a taxi and driver for the day as it was less expensive than the three of us taking the bus tour to Chichen Itza. Plus we would be able to go at our own pace instead of the pace of a tour. What a great decision! The Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza are one of the World Heritage sites, and they are truly amazing. The only down side was all the vendors inside the site who were hawking their wares. What a distraction and annoyance, and they didn't want to take no for an answer.

We were ready for lunch after seeing these ruins, so our driver took us to a little restaurant on the way to Tulum that serves traditional Mayan dishes. Oh, was it ever good! Then he took us to the Tulum ruins so that we could visit that site. It is not as large as Chichen Itza, but it is perched on a cliff overlooking the the Caribbean, so it was wonderful in its own right. I wish that we would have had a bit more time there, but the bottom line is that we got to see both ruins in one day, which would not have happened on the bus tour.

One thing that is kind of weird in Mexico is that you are not allowed to flush any toilet paper down the toilets. They have little trash cans by all the toilets instead. I know that we are very spoiled in America, but this is one thing that would be a deal breaker for me if I was looking for a sunny, sandy retirement area. Especially once I came across something in Mexico that did not agree with my stomach. Ick!

Besides that, we had a really nice time and I am so glad we took the opportunity to make this last trip together. Having Andy and Megan on the east coast and working full time, I know how little we get to see the kids once they move away and get settled in their jobs. So I'm grateful we got to spend this time with Katie before she too flies the coop and the sun sets on this chapter of our lives.