MERRY CHRISTMAS 2018
Grannie
Alfie
Zenyatta
Zenyatta
Deer garden
Uh ...
Mark says I have to write about 2018 now. Okay, Dang, thought I was done. Here goes.
Mark says I have to write about 2018 now. Okay, Dang, thought I was done. Here goes.
I guess 2018 proves retirement suits us. This year found us confident I am back to normal provided Mark does the heavy lifting and I get a chance to relax in between the tasks. (Gee, honey, I think you need to pick up the dog do today and could you just run the vacuum around the house one more time? Oh, and the dishes …?) Ok. On with it. In January, our kids decided we needed to remodel our Gearhart beach house, the third time since Mark’s family first bought it in 1959. Last time was in early 90s and they thought the orange desert theme was getting old (Say, whaat?). We spent most of the spring ripping out carpets, repainting, and remodeling the kitchen and downstairs bath. It is now a pretty white and light teal, gray carpets and new floors. We all love it. The whole family has spent much more time there since it was completed. Seems like company fits in more easily too. Just saying -- there’s room to visit!
Late spring saw us spreading (with major help) 160 yards of mulch and bark to enhance our yard. It became much lusher. The deer sure seemed to appreciate it too. That 8 foot fence we were so cocky about and bragged how it kept them out was not up to the task this year. Bye bye roses - and other fun flowers - and garden munchies. We also had an early influx of bunnies which were quickly replaced by a pack of foxes who made our front yard their dining room. They left remnants of mountain beaver, bunnies, chickens, raccoons, crows – just about anything edible. Arrogant enough to sit on our front porch as we drove in. The dogs went crazy whenever the deer or fox were here. Led to some sleep disruption on our part. We let the dogs out one morning to chase off the foxes, only to see a massive buck instead, charging across the driveway to escape the dogs. Mark thought, “Fun, I’ll get to see him jump the gate!” Wrong, it smashed full speed into the gate, then staggered slowly into the woods while the dogs – and Mark – watched. Not sure who was more stunned! Totally destroyed the gate mechanism and bent the wrought iron gate. Live and learn. Note to self: Look before letting dogs out front!
In February, Jake invited Mark to an elite triathlon camp in Tucson AZ. The first day included a 45 mile bike ride, 2 miles in the pool, and a 6 mile run. It degenerated from there with Mark later being assigned a cute young thing as a keeper, uh, Guide. He was almost too tired for the massage on the third day. His mind says it was a good bonding time with Jake, his body says “Oh ____t!” if invited to do it again.
In April we went to Kona with Jake and Liesl’s family. Rented a huge house with a pool, three bedrooms and a converted garage that could sleep 10. The g-kids went in there and only came out for food, pool or beach time. Had to almost torch it when we left. We all had lots of fun snorkeling (few fish – dead coral), swimming in the pool, swimming in the ocean, eating Hawaii shave ice, and visiting the bubbling volcano. A week after we left, Kilauea really blew. Guess there is a reason it was bubbling so well!
In July, Jake and Rylee surprised us with a wedding, celebrating their vows standing on top of a copper bar at Dillinger’s restaurant in Olympia. Think glitter cannons, lots of glitter cannons. The bar says “never again!” Good, they won’t do it again. The real exchange of vows in their minds was in a British Columbia forest with the three kids present. Beautiful times and lots of joy for us.
After their wedding and after the beach remodel got finished, we decided it was time to take a bit more relax time for ourselves. First, we set off for Yellowstone in our little T@B. RV’d through eastern Washington, Yellowstone, Idaho and Oregon before returning home. Then it was a flight to Toronto for a few days before catching a train West across Canada to Jasper. That was an interesting interlude. Toronto was awesome. Amazing new buildings built since I was last there 20 years ago. Great waterfront and town. The train itself and the journey was not so awesome, but the people on the train were fun. Diverse bunch of train fanatics and retired people who were checking off this bucket list item. Flat prairies, lots of water and lots more freight trains. Lots and lots of time to rest, read and chat with new friends. We found out the single (!!) track that runs all the way across Canada is owned by the freight lines. Guess who gets precedence? We spent many an hour sitting on sidings watching freights roll by, and by, and by, and by, and by. (And by) It didn’t help that two trains derailed, one West of us, and freight traffic backed up for 24 hours. We got into Jasper 14 hours late. Fortunately our lovely hostess at the Austrian B&B waited up all night for us to arrive. We all slept in until about 11 the next morning. Jasper is a fun little town in an ideal setting. However, the climate has warmed enough that the pine beetles have not been killed by cold for 7-8 years. Consequently, the forests in the Rockies surrounding town are all rust red and dead. Everyone keeps their “go-bags” packed and in their car. There’s only 3 roads into or out of the valley. When (not if) the area starts to burn, it will be hard to get out and impossible to stop the fire. It used to be that BC (and Alaska) forests didn’t burn much. Times have changed. We left Jasper for a trip through the magnificent Rockies on the way to Vancouver. Luckily, the train was again 14+ hours late so we got to do it in the daytime! Flew home from Vancouver the same day we arrived. Nice to be home and the dogs deigned to recognize us.
Home for about 2 weeks when some friends told us about a neat trip they had planned for a few weeks later in late November early December. “Go look at the Paul Gauguin cruises,” they said. Being bored the next day, I looked up the website. Wow, a small luxurious, all-inclusive ship (even airfare and gratuitites!) looked beautiful. I’ve never wanted to take a cruise, but … I tucked it into my mind to consider sometime in the future when “BING,” up popped a 75% off flash sale. OOOOkay, “Bing” it is! I pushed “Buy” and told Mark later we were spending 14 days in French Polynesia – Meerrry Christmas, Dear! Before we left, I worked hard to get ready for Christmas: All presents purchased and wrapped, check, cruise clothes purchased, check, dogsitter, check, more clothes purchased, check, ATM machines drained, check. We took off Nov 26 and visited 5 Society Islands (Tahiti, Huahine, Bora Bora, Taha’a and Moorea) and two of the Tuamotu atolls (Rangiroa and Fakarava). We snorkeled every day, used up our sunscreen, ate far too well and I rediscovered my love of Kahlua. Both the coral and the fish were excellent. Finally! Been looking for good fish for years. Our friends were generous with us considering we crashed their cruise. We enjoyed many a fine dinner with them. Magicians, and singers, and dancers, oh my! It took the promise of a return trip to get Mark home. It was a successful cruise/ vacation! Upon arrival home this week, we went and got a Christmas tree and I stocked up on Kahlua. Guess that’s our tale for the year. On to the kids and g-kids.
As stated above, Jake and Rylee got married - almost 2 years to the date they noticed each other at a friend’s party. We really love Rylee; she is a warm open person and, best of all, she loves our son and grandkids. Mason, Kale and Paige are in love with her (Jake too!)! Mason (11) is playing select soccer and enjoying singing in the school choir. Kale (9) still has his fantastic sense of humor and mischievous grin while Paige (almost 5) is becoming a beautiful little person in spite of being a princess. Their picture on this blog just had to be funny, not serious! They have added Phoebe, a miniature bull terrier to the family to make Kula the golden retriever happy when they are gone. Jake and Rylee are enjoying lots of little trips around the country and one longer one to Paris. Jake is still performing at high levels for triathlons and successfully climbing the age group ladders.
Ian and Candace are still living in Puyallup while Ian travels in pursuit of his law career. He continues to take the hardest cases dealing with abuse. Truly hard to imagine what he sees. Candace is more in to art and now in charge of the art programs at the local elementary school. Like Mason, Aidan (also 11) plays select soccer. Some of my worst days are when their teams play each other. Donovan (10) has taken up acting and also has a strong sense of mischief. Love it! Finally, Nya (almost 8) also plays select soccer on an older team and enjoys school. She is really good at both! Another princess in the family. They have managed their annual Disney Cruise and added in a trip to Disney World this year.
Liesl and Nate have had a busy year. Liesl still commutes from Puyallup 2x weekly to her practice here in Olympia. Nate is extremely busy in his job at Amazon. He has twice gone to Bangalore India and once to Hong Kong/Schenzhen for the company. On his second India trip, Liesl got to meet him in London. Grandparents shared the babysitting duties to make that possible! Cooper (9) is thriving at school and loves Minecraft and music. He’s getting pretty good on the piano. Gracie (6) has a true spirit of adventure and escapes into her mental worlds regularly, dancing all the time. She also has been taking riding lessons, loves to “rule the pool” and is getting quite good at both! Cowgirl and princess in one. She reminds me of me at that age. Sorry Liesl!
Finally, the dogs play on as always. Zenyatta is still smiling at us and scaring new friends with the grimace. At 8 years old, she is doing well. Our once-neurotic rescue dog Alfie, at 3, has become quite sweet and is no longer escaping to kill neighbors’ chickens. Of course, there are fox to chase here, and deer. He admits to needing a love from us once in a while and has learned to smile from Zenyatta and learned to retrieve toys for us from Jake’s golden retriever Kula. He even sleeps on Mark’s feet nightly to Zenyatta’s disgust.
I guess that is it for the year.
Merry Christmas to all! We hope you all have had a successful fun year and will continue to do so in 2019
Kathie and Mark
No comments:
Post a Comment