Week in Review 5/29/16




Busy, busy week trying to get all of my work done before leaving on Thursday to go to San Diego.  I worked 12 hours a day trying to get everything done so that I would be prepared to teach the day after we returned.

I did take a little bit of time to go visit - and say a final good-by - to my brother-in-law, Craig.  It was very bittersweet.  Since being put on Hospice 3 weeks ago he has been doing pretty good but Sunday and Monday he took a turn for the worse.  He stopped eating and only would take very small sips of water.  It was evident that he wouldn't be on this earth much longer.  He responded with a head nod and small audible noises but not much else.  I spent a very enjoyable evening visiting with his daughters Mickel and Kristiann and his with wife Jody while sitting next to his bed.  The family seems to be at peace with his imminent death.  They realized that he had put up a valiant fight for many years and that his body was just worn out.  They also felt peace at the knowledge that he soon would be free from the limitations diabetes had put on his body and that he would soon be surrounded by loved ones who had passed before him.  Included in that great reunion would be his mother who passed away many years ago as well as his father, Kim and Jody's father, Ross, and of course BJ.  What a joyous reunion!  It was a great visit and I was glad that I had taken the time to visit.

Thursday morning I awoke at 3:00 am to make the final preparations for our trip.  I knew that Kim should be on his way home from work so that we could leave by 5:00.  Around 4 I called him to see where he was and he informed me that he was at his mother's house because Craig had just passed away.  Wow!  Conflicting emotions!  I was glad that Kim was able to be with the family if even for just a short while and I was sad that we had to rush to catch our plane, but yet I was very excited for our upcoming trip and to see Tasha and Zane.  I kind of felt that I was abandoning the Woodland family, but yet knew there were plenty of other family members that would see to their needs.


Kalel had a miserable time suffering from motion sickness in the car on the way to the airport.  But once he was able to walk around the airport and get some breakfast he recovered quickly and was a great traveling companion.  He enjoyed looking out the window of the plane as we were taking off and once we were in the air he exclaimed, "Look!  I can even see Russia from up here!"  Kim and I were surprised that we could see that far!

It is always so great to see Tasha! I miss her so much, but am very happy that she and Zane are doing so well in San Diego.  As soon as we got settled into her apartment it was nap time for Kim and I.  Kim had been up all night and I had been up since 3:00.  Zane kept Kalel entertained.  He is always a terrific kid magnet.


One of the things Kalel and I were looking forward to on this trip was swimming in the pool at Tasha's apartment complex.  We were very sadly disappointed when we found that the water was FREEZING!  In fact the weather was cool the entire time we were there.  Apparently we were there in the middle of May Gray.  We only saw the sun for a total of about 2 hours the entire six days that we were there!  Every time I looked at the weather app on my phone it said, "62° - Drizzle".  It was crazy!  Too cold to enjoy the beach, no swimming.  But we did enjoy the hot tub!

Kalel and Kim did get brave enough to try the swimming pool for just a little while, but the rest of us were just content to stay warm!


Since the weather was so cool we spent most of our vacation in the apartment doing what we like to do best - play games!  Tasha and Zane had been doing an awful difficult jigsaw puzzle prior to our arrival and we spent many hours the first day helping them.




Kalel finally declared that the puzzle was BORING so we carefully slid it onto a board and moved it so that we could play games on the table.  We discovered that one of our new favorite games is Harry Potter Clue.  This game is based on the original game Clue with twists and turns that go along with the Harry Potter saga.  Kalel is a great Clue player, so we had some fierce competitions.



The one part of the game was that we (especially Kalel) had a hard time keeping our suspect cards from the view of the other players.  Tasha - ever creative - came up with a perfect solution.  We cut up a box and used the cardboard, fancy duct tape, and binder clips to form our own personal, private, clue portfolios.  We spent a good portion of one afternoon creating, it was quite enjoyable and even Kim got into fun by drawing a great picture of Fawkes the Phoenix on the front of his and the Harry Potter book on the back.




Tasha and Zane have a couple of huge beanbag chairs whitch turned out to be great places to snuggle and cuddle.  Kalel is a kid who LOVES to snuggle and the beanbag was perfect!
Unfortunately Zane was sick during a couple of days of our visit.  Tasha and I decided to let him sleep and we took Kim and Kalel to our new favorite restaurant, Ruby's, for burgers and shakes - and deep fried green beans.  They were a hit!
 Zane and Tasha have been looking at houses for several months and on Saturday they invited us to go touring houses with them.  They took us to one house not far from their apartment.  The real estate agent met us at the front door and then just let us walk around ourselves.  I thought it was cute, small but average for California size houses.  The neighborhood looked nice with a middle school right across the street that was a school for the performing arts.  After we looked around we gathered together in the back yard, which was beautifully landscaped.  Tasha asked me what I thought and I told her that I liked it.  She then said, "I'm glad because we close on Wednesday!"  That little con artist!  Apparently they had signed all the paperwork and everything was all processed - and they had kept it a secret from us for over a month!!!!!  Boy am I ever glad that I told her that I like it!  It was really fun because while we were there the next door neighbor stopped by to welcome them to the neighborhood.
The backyard

Homeowners with their agent, Rebecca

They are not going to move in for about 4 months because they are going to do a remodel prior to occupancy.  Thanks to Zane's knowledge and connections they are going to increase the size from 1280 sq feet to about 1800.  They are going to enlarge the kitchen/family room area and add a master bedroom and master bath.  It will then have 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a den and a family room as well as a small garage.  HOW EXCITING!

Later that afternoon I finished grading some papers while everyone else walked to a park and played some basketball and beanbag horseshoes. After awhile I couldn't stand missing out on the fun so I joined them. After a particularly close game  Kim picked up a microphone (a football) and proceeded to play the part of a sportscaster interviewing the players.  He was a hoot!  We laughed and laughed!
Other fun things we did this week:

Tasha taught Kalel how to make pancakes from scratch

We ate at our favorite breakfast place - the Waffle Spot
Zane  ground chicken and made our own nuggets in various shapes and sizes.

We went to the Lego store for Kalel and Zane's entertainment

We played a hillarious game of Telestrations.  Kalel struggled a bit, but overall did well on his own!
What a wild and crazy week!  Absolutely wonderful to spend time with my California family!
THIS WEEK I AM GRATEFUL FOR:
A son-in-law that takes care of and makes my daughter happy.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

March 2021

Mom is Coming Home

Fun Day With Bubba