California Dreaming

OK, no dream, we headed off to the Golden State from Oregon for some friend and family time, although we had to leave the Grandkids behind for a while. The ultimate destination was the San Francisco Bay area where Ellyn’s Sister, Laura, her husband, Jay, and Ellyn’s Father and his wife live. But our first stop was in the wine country East of Salinas at a house we rented for the weekend with a bunch of Ellyn’s friends, all of whom are celebrating their 65th birthdays this year. This was the fourth time since their mutual 50th birthdays that they have gotten together. We spent the time hanging out around the pool, eating, drinking wine, and reminiscing over the past umpteen years since they were all kids. We jokingly called it the “Medicare Summit”.

Our chef, Nina Grayson, did a great job keeping us in fine cuisine, although we wish she could have taken more time to enjoy the weekend, We tried to pitch in but she was “in the zone” and working some real magic in that kitchen, although it could have used some air conditioning. Actually, the whole house could have. It was a very hot weekend up there in the desert. Fortunately, the evenings cooled off a bit and the nights were comfortable enough for sleeping.

Driving the RV up there was an adventure, as much of the road was one lane and very windy. The last mile of it was dirt and the RV and the car showed it when we finally arrived. We had a bit of trouble with the generator, which has been giving us trouble off and on for a while. Well, it was on now because we needed it. We had to leave the engine running during the hot parts of the day so that the dash air conditioning, which has been working lately, could keep the RV cool for Jordy, who could not come into the house.

Geoff found some photographic subjects in the humming birds that gathered around one of the flowering trees on the property. He was patient and snapped some very nice pictures of one of them getting a drink.

But all good things must come to an end. The group had to head off in their own directions. We headed north and west to Pacifica, where we parked at the San Francisco RV Resort within walking distance of Ellyn’s sister’s house. Here we will spend the next week, visiting with friends and family, and then we will head back to Portland to spend a couple more months with our Grandkids and waiting on other life-cycle events in the family.

The Great Family Expansion of 2016

We have been perched in the Portland Oregon area now for nearly three weeks. We came here to help out with our son Brian and his family while they added a new member. With a due date of July 12th looming, we set up camp in L.L. “Stub” Stewart State Park west of the city on June 27th and started the first of many visits to their newest home in Beaverton. Our main job would be to look after Oliver, the soon-to-be older Brother, while Mom and Dad got on with the chore of ushering little Brother into the world.

Visiting with them was a new experience for us since, when we last saw Oliver on his second Birthday, he was not yet calling us “Grandma” and “Grandpa”. Now this was flowing right off his lips, along with just about everything else he hears. His vocabulary is remarkable for someone not even three yet, at least, as we remember our kids. Of course, this is exactly the time we have to be careful what we say around him, because he parrots just about everything.

So we got to do some sitting with him and got schooled on his routines, like the daycare drop-off and pick-up routines, his weekend routines, including nap times, gymnastics, and other play activities. At first it seemed it could be a daunting task for us, as he is an extremely active guy and can sometimes be hard to get under even a little control. But as time went on, it seemed he got used to us being around and things got a little easier for everyone. We took him out to lunch and had some fun play times in his back yard. We put his car seat into our car and got to ride around listening to him giggle over things the GPS would say. He made up his own joke when the GPS said to turn onto Walker Road. He said “Walker Road? You can’t walk on the road”. This still cracks me up.

Finally, on a Thursday night, after we had been at their house in the afternoon and then had come back to our RV, now parked in Wilsonville, a little closer to their house, we got first a call to be ready, as things may be proceeding, followed closely by a call to perhaps come over and spend the night, as they might have to head out at any moment. We had already prepared what we would need and did just that. About 2:00 AM, they left for the hospital and we were on our own.

The next morning we handled the day care drop-off and then had the rest of the day off until pick-up. Surprisingly, Oliver only asked about where his parents were a couple of times and seemed satisfied that they were at the doctor’s helping get his Brother out of Mommy. Early the next morning, Martin Davis was born. Brian came home on Saturday morning to give Oliver the news about Martin’s birth and to take Oliver to his gymnastics class, so as to disrupt his schedule as little as possible. Then, after gymnastics, we all went to the hospital to get our first look at the newest family member.

Oliver did really well with the fact that he could not snuggle with Mommy and he left with a promise that Mommy and Martin would be coming home soon. The next couple of days we slept at the house while Brian was at the hospital with Katherine and then he came home to help get Oliver off the school. The next time we visited in the hospital, Oliver had a little separation anxiety from Mommy and was quite upset all the way to the car with us. However, after Grandpa let him unlock the car with the remote, he seemed to forget his troubles and things went smoothly after that.

Finally, Katherine and Martin were able to come home and things were able to get back to some semblance of normal around their house, or at least as normal as can be with a two-year old and a new baby. We still went back to help out. We brought dinner a couple of times and had a few more play dates with Oliver. Oliver and Brian came to our RV Park on the next weekend to swim in the park pool. So, things were now clear for us to move on to our next great adventure. From here we head down to California for a couple of weeks for a reunion with some of Ellyn’s friends and to see her Sister, Father, and Step-Mother. We will miss the Portland excitement but we will be back at the beginning of August to spend another two months here through Oliver’s third Birthday and to wait until we head up to Washington State for even more life-cycle events in the Family.