Nana

I liked this on pinterest because "Nana" is the name I chose to be called by my granddaughter Avery. It's interesting that in my experience mothers seem to prefer to choose their "grandmother names," but dads do not care so much.

In my immediate family, my mother chose to be called "Grannie" because she had fond memories of that particular grandmother. I wanted to be "Nana" because of the connection to my mother's mother, who was always "Nana" to me. Although the reason she was called "Nana" was more mundane, as my much older cousin George (her first grandchild)  mispronounced "Grandma" and so she became  "Nana."

Avery's other grandmother chose to be called "Mimi," so the grandmothers have gotten their choices. Not sure what the grandpas will turn out to be called, but Avery will figure it out.

Avery and Nana in Friday Harbor, WA

Picture from Trip

Jan and Chuck at Boulevard Park in Bellingham, WA, Aug. 4, 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I finally downloaded pictures from our three-week trip to Washington State. I just finished labeling all the pictures. Whew! Someday I will download the best ones to Facebook for friends and family. But for now, here is one of the few pictures taken of Chuck and me. It was taken at our favorite park in Bellingham to watch the sun set.

Grand (or LONG) Finale to Vacation

The first part of our return from Seattle went smoothly yesterday. Getting to Dallas went well but the shorter trip to Corpus Christi was finally changed from air travel to a road trip through thunderstorms.

Soon after arrival at DFW Saturday afternoon, clouds began forming. By the time we boarded our flight to Corpus Christi (which was1 1/2 hours later than scheduled), it was raining. We were the 15th plane in line for take-off when all flights were grounded, so we stayed in that queue for almost three hours:

There are federal laws prohibiting passengers from being stuck on planes on the tarmac for three hours or more. Evidently, the airline is fined a large sum of money for each passenger! And so we were taken back to the gate, where we stood in a long, slow line for hours to change our flight reservations.

As we stood there, we learned that all the flights to Corpus Christi were full until Monday morning! The alternative was to book spaces on a later flight to McAllen (in the Rio Grande Valley) and then rent a car there to drive to Corpus Christi.

Instead, Chuck and I, along with a friend from All Saints Episcopal Church (our home parish), decided to rent a car in Dallas and drive home, which is usually a 7-hour trip. Finally, at 9 pm, we drove out of the DFW Airport in the rain, driving south.

The trip took nine hours, with parts of the time seeming interminable with the heavy rainfall and strong winds. The worst part was the driving rain and rapid lightening flashes in the last two hours of the trip. Poor Chuck did most of the driving, though I drove for two hours so he could sleep. So glad he'd had a little rest before the torrential rains of south Texas, where he was even reduced to driving at 30 mph on the freeway.

It was a welcome relief to reach our house in Corpus Christi at 5:40 am this morning. After greeting our barking dogs, we went to bed and slept for about five hours. (No church today.)

The good news for today was that our checked luggage was at the airport when we returned the rental car. 

It is nice to be home.

Friday Harbor

Today our family will be arriving at a house in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. We will go from Bellingham, where Chuck and I are from and where his parents still live, to get on a ferry from Anacortes that will take us to Friday Harbor (red dot).

Our four children and their partners, plus one dog (Morgan) and one toddler (Avery), will join us at a house we are renting for one week. It will be nice to be all together!

But whole family togetherness will only last for three days as most of them are leaving on Wednesday because of work and/or limited time. DC and AA will stay on with Avery, as well as a few other friends joining us sometime.

It will be beautiful, even if it rains!

Grand Dog

In Seattle I will be seeing and playing with my grand-dog Morgan, AE and KA's beautiful cocker spaniel.  She likes to bark and jump, which adults can accept. I hope she won't scare little Avery. Avery likes dogs though. After she adjusts to all the changes, she will be used to Morgan. So many changes for toddler Avery!

Happy Plane!

This morning I will take a plane to Dallas and then another to Seattle! Daughter AE is generously picking me up at the airport, taking time off from work.

At about the same time my flight departs (or so I hope), Chuck and MJ will leave in her crammed little car for their drive to Salt Lake City. MJ is taking her things to move into the apartment she will live in for the first year of graduate school at the University of Utah.

I hope the plane seems this happy for 20 month old Avery for her first flight. I know her parents (son) DC and AA are worried about how she will be on the 4+ hours trip. They will be hoping their trip on Thursday will be an overall happy experience.

Chuck (formerly called CB) and MJ will fly into Seattle very early on Friday morning. The last of our children to arrive is BJ; he and his girl friend RM get to Seattle from Houston on Saturday!

And I will be smiling like that little airplane!

Backwards or Forwards?

That's a rhyme to play with small children, but it describes how I probably look like to you readers of my blog:

I have scarcely been blogging lately because of all my reading of mysteries, but am now planning to put forth future postings while we are gone on our vacation. It is funny/odd that while I am home, there are absences but while I am away, there will be daily posts. It all goes back to intentionality.

Now today is my husband's birthday. For the first time in our married life (of 40 years) I did not bake him a cake! Instead, he agreed that he would like hot fudge sauce over vanilla ice cream. Way back in 2009, I posted the recipe for hot fudge sauce. It is the best recipe I have ever found for chocolate sauce. We really enjoyed that tonight.

Today MJ came home from college, leaving friends and her beloved chemistry professor behind. She has the hefty task of going through her belongings to decide what she should take to Salt Lake City where she will be going to graduate school at the University of Utah. In two days she must choose and pack up her car.

On Monday she and her dad will leave on the long drive to Salt Lake City in MJ's small car (Jetta). They will leave the car at her new apartment in Salt Lake City and then on Friday will fly to Seattle where I already will be--visiting MJ's older sister AE and friends.

I am also leaving on Monday, but on planes to Dallas and then to Seattle. That is why I am blogging ahead of time for all the days that we'll be in Washington State. While Margaret cleans and sorts this weekend, I'll be blogging!