Category Archives: Travel

Olympic Sized Hodgepodge

Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, The Gateway of Dreams statue. Greg had a conference in Atlanta and Katie and Andrew flew down from Jacksonville, North Carolina to join us for a couple days. This was in October of 2012.

Another summertime Wednesday Hodgepodge is up and running. Thank you, Joyce!

1. The Olympics kick off this coming weekend. Will you be watching? If you could watch just one event in person, which one would you choose? 

I will watch some of the Olympics depending on the timing of favorite events.

Gymnastics is always a favorite.

Greg was a torch bearer for his company in the 1984 Olympics that took place in Los Angeles. As a family we were able to watch rowing events at Lake Casitas close to our home. We lived in Ventura, California during the 84 Summer Olympics.

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2. Have you ever been to Paris? Is this a city you’d like to visit? What’s your favorite ‘French thing’? 

I am not pulled with the desire to travel to Paris. French food is probably my favorite ‘French thing’.

3. Macaron, creme brulee, chocolate soufle, mille feuille, or an eclair…your favorite French patisserie from the ones listed? 

Our son has mastered the art of making macarons. We’ve enjoyed many flavors of his melt in your mouth treat. Above are some of the macarons he made for Addy’s Birthday Tea Party and below are the ones he made for our family gathering to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. Our actual 50th is on December 6th of this year but we chose to enjoy summer weather for our big celebration.

4. July 24th is National Cousins Day…do you have many cousins? Are you close to them? Will you see any of your cousins on July 24th? 

I have cousins that I love and enjoy visiting with when we can. Lately it’s mostly at funerals that I might see them.

Our kids get together with many of their cousins at least twice a year. Their cousins from California came up for a visit so all our kids gathered in Leavenworth, Washington on July 16th for a quick visit.

Josh, Laura and Katie had several days of enjoying their cousins in the Seattle area last week. Josh and Laura made a quick trip to California over the weekend to spend time with more of their cousins and some aunts and uncles!

Cousins with an aunt and uncle thrown in! Huntington Beach, California this past weekend.

5.  Last time you went somewhere that felt like ‘everyone and his cousin‘ was there? 

Lately this will only happen when we travel. The last large crowd event we were in the midst of was in Liverpool at the Anfield stadium for a football/soccer match in September of 2023. Everyone and his cousin was there!

Even though it’s been several years since we visited London, that city is a sea of humanity that you cannot separate yourself from easily.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

One more cousin shot from Huntington Beach. My brother and his family were visiting from Dallas which was a very good reason for many family members to come together. Josh and Laura flew down from Washington to join in the fun.

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

In other news, things have cooled a wee bit and later this week they are promising the 80’s instead of 90’s!

See you soon Hodgepodgers!

Goodbye Walla Walla~ Hello Country Roads

Tuesday July 2nd was pack up and drive home day. No formal breakfast at the airbnb but one last swim was in order!

It was an amazing trip and time together.

Goodbye Walla Walla.

We decided on a different route home north on highway 12 to 127 and then onto 195 to Spokane and then on 395 all the way home.

Our Colville kids took a different route home and stopped at Palouse Falls.

After the Palouse this was the scene in the rear view window for these tired out Grands.

Coming and going it was a wonderful family time being together and seeing sites we’ve never seen before.

Back to the present. It is hot, real hot. On Sunday we got up to 105 and today will be another blistering day before we start a gradual cool down. We are laying low and only outside in the early hours. Hope you are keeping cool in your neck of the woods.

Mountain View Cemetery

While we were waiting for family to arrive at our airbnb in Walla Walla we took a drive around the city and came across this cemetery. We drove slowly and quietly through it and here are the photos I took. This was on Saturday the 29th of June.

In memory of the departed firemen of Walla Walla.

These are the ones that caught my eye. We didn’t get out of the car because of the heat.

Speaking of heat, we are under a heat advisory. We’ve had some dry thunderstorms with lightning which doesn’t bode well for fires. Our manufactured home came with a fan system to draw out the warm air. Most of our mornings start out nice and cool and we are able to open windows, turn on the fans and cool the house down to about 68 degrees. That means the house keeps cool until later in the afternoon and our cooling system doesn’t have to run all day long. On Thursday morning the outside air was above the 72 degrees we keep our cooling temp at so we couldn’t do our usual cool down routine.

In other news, this is the current book we are reading for a class we are taking at our church.

It is an excellent book. I’ll share this paragraph at the end of Chapter 2;

“A Life Worth Living

The central work of God’s kingdom is change. God accomplishes this work as the Holy Spirit empowers people to bring his Word to others. We bring more than solutions, strategies, principles, and commands. We bring the greatest story ever told, the story of the Redeemer. Our goal is to help one another live with a “God’s story” mentality. Our mission is to teach, admonish, and encourage one another to rest in his sovereignty, rather than establishing our own; to rely on his grace rather than performing on our own; and to submit to his glory rather than seeking our own. This is the work of the kingdom of God: people in the hands of the Redeemer, daily functioning as his tools of lasting change.”

Monday in Walla Walla

Our last full day together in Walla Walla started off with cuddles on the couch with the Grands before breakfast. Our breakfast was served up by Josh and Laura, Joshua’s now famous Huevos Rancheros. Morning swim time before we all headed downtown for our meal out at the Indian restaurant. After our lunch we all bought treats at Bright’s, fudge, caramel apples, ice cream cones, lollipops and other delights. Back to our airbnb for a nap before we had more swim time and a delicious burger meal created and served up by Katie and Andrew. Some Frisbee time was thrown in there somewhere, too, and jigsaw puzzle time here and there. There was one more surprise before bedtime.

This photo was of our movie night on Sunday evening, not Monday but this is where all the morning cuddling happened, too.

Earlier in the weekend Katie and I got the frame of the puzzle done and others contributed here and there to completing it.

Walking to Main Street for our Indian Restaurant meal.

Someone almost fell asleep waiting for his lunch. Swimming really takes it out of you. After lunch we shopped for some souvenirs from Walla Walla before having our treats at Bright’s.

Time to leave Main street behind and head back to the house.

There was another kind of ‘pool time’, too.

Finishing the jigsaw puzzle.

The ‘littles’ weren’t the only ones who had a nap.

Before it was time for bed we had another surprise. Many months before our gathering we gave Josh and Laura an old movie reel of our church wedding shower from November of 1974. They were able to send it out to digitize it and we all watched it together by casting it on the TV. My brother-in-law recorded the movie. It was silent and poor in quality but rich in memories. Both my maternal and paternal grandmother were in it, my parents and Greg’s parents and many other friends and family who have since gone to heaven. Such a sweet finale to our family gathering to celebrate our 50th year.

One more post to come on our travels home on Tuesday and any bits and bobs I might have forgotten.

Happy Tuesday to you. Our temperatures are still soaring close to and above 100. Our hot water tank got replaced on Saturday with the help of our son. We are keeping things low key and doing inside or early morning projects around the house. Hope all is well in your corner.

The Weekend

I was going to finish up my posts about our days in Walla Walla celebrating with our family but I didn’t want to couple those good memories with what happened this past weekend. I’ll finish up my posts later.

From small town USA to major cities and the world we were shocked and stunned by the Assassination attempt on former President Trump on Saturday July 13th. You never know what a day will bring. I happened to turn the TV on just as it was happening and it took me a while to understand the scope of it all. Our Colville kids arrived just a few minutes later and we all stared in disbelief.

Uncontrolled hatred has spawned evil and it is an ugly thing to watch.

We are praying for our nation. We are praying for Trump and his family. We are praying for the family of the young man who was killed in the line of fire. We are praying for the present leaders of our country.

19 We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

Timely quote from this book we are reading, Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands, People in Need of Change-Helping People in Need of Change by Paul David Tripp;
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“From the rise and fall of governments to tomorrow’s weather to the exact location of every human being, the universe is under God’s control. He has the power and authority to do exactly what pleases him, anywhere he chooses to do it. God’s sovereignty is not only about power and position, but also a plan. Scripture clearly teaches that God has a plan for his world and the people in it. God is calling people to himself, forming them into his likeness, and preparing them for an eternity with him. This is his overreaching plan of the ages, revealed in history, present in current events and in the lives of everyone who has ever lived. At any moment in time, the right answer to the question, “What is God doing?” is , “Accomplishing his plan.”

We love our country and the freedoms we enjoy but…

Our trust is in the LORD and we wait on Him to see what our future holds.

Sunday in Walla Walla

On Sunday the 30th of June we had breakfast and lunch at the airbnb. Dan and Jamie provided these 2 meals for us all. For breakfast, Dan used Jamie’s sourdough bread to make French Toast to order and an egg on the side if we wanted.

After breakfast we had a glorious time at the pool as Greg baptized Dan. Greg gave a great background on what baptism is and Dan explained to all of us why he was taking this step of obedience.

After Dan’s baptism there was lots of splashing and fun in the pool before and after lunch!

For lunch we had a Charcuterie spread that was over the top.

More pool time after lunch.

Such delight!

For dinner on Sunday night we tried a Mexican Restaurant and it was okay. Some of us thought we should have gone back to the Greek restaurant. We were fed and we came back to our airbnb. Baba and Gramps offered to watch a movie with Addy and JJ while the married siblings went into downtown Walla Walla for some fun. We watched Greyfriar’s Bobby and it was a little slow for the Grands but we persevered to the end just as everyone came back home and it was time for bed for the littles.

Some photos from downtown Walla Walla…

Bright’s was a fun candy, ice cream, novelty store that they found and that we would all enjoy on Monday after our lunch downtown.

So thankful to God for these souls!

Dan and Jamie had just celebrated their 9th Anniversary on the 27th of June!

It was a good and glorious day from beginning to end!

Thanking God for his lovingkindness to all of us!

Older than You Think Hodgepodge

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Crater Lake way back in the 50’s.  Me, my sisters, younger brother and my mom. I’m in the middle.

HOT off the press are the Wednesday Hodgepodge questions. Thank you, Joyce!

1. Do you feel older or younger than your age? Elaborate. 

I feel younger than my age except when I look in the mirror closely.  I’m relatively healthy for someone my age. I’m not on any medications, can walk easily and most days have the energy to get things done. Hopefully my hips and knees will hold out for a long time.

2. What’s one thing you should toss right now, but just can’t? 

Some clothes that realistically I’ll never wear again. There are other things I should donate or sell, not toss.

3. Have you visited many of the 63 National Parks in the US of A? You’ll find a list here. Do you have a favorite? What National Park that you haven’t seen do you most want to see? 

I’ll work backwards on these questions. I would like to visit the Utah National Parks and Glacier. Glacier is the closest to us and more in my comfort temperature range.

I have been to the Grand Canyon, Kings Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Great Smoky Mountains, Crater Lake, Badlands, Mount Rainier, North Cascades, Olympic, and Redwood.

The Bible Camp I went to in my teens was in Kings Canyon.

4. How often do you get take out? What’s your favorite? 

We enjoy take-out from Thai to Go. It’s authentic and good. The owners will sometimes take a month off to go back to Thailand to visit family. They will also take a long time off in the winter and around holidays so we always have to double check to see if they are open.

When we are desperate we get take out from our local Chinese Restaurant.

We might get take out once every couple weeks.

5. Do you have many (or any) subscriptions? Not necessarily magazines, but thinking more along the lines of boxes or products that companies offer, and you can sign up to receive on a regular basis. Could be weekly, monthly, quarterly, even daily. Tell us about them. 

At this time we do not have any regular subscriptions. Greg was gifted a razor, etc., from Jeremy’s Razors and he still gets new blades every few months in the mailbox that were part of his gift.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

A couple photos from the National Parks me/we have visited over the years…

Can you guess which one this is? 🙂

yellowstone day one 174

Or this one…

This photo is from 1988. *Hint* The mountain behind us is a volcano and is in Washington State.

Hope you Hodgepodgers are enjoying the heat of summer but staying cool.

 

Gathered Together

We made plans months ago for an early celebration with our family of ten in Walla Walla for Greg and my 50th wedding anniversary. Our actual anniversary is on December 6th but getting the ten of us together that time of year can be difficult. We decided on Walla Walla which was a place none of us had been to before. Laura researched the areas Airbnb options and we looked at a couple possibilities and decided on the Italian Villa. We locked in our dates that were good for each family unit and started making plans. On Saturday the 29th of June our four vehicles had driven equal distances from the northeast of Washington and the Western Puget Sound area of Washington to arrive here.

When Greg and I arrived at four we were in for a special surprise from our kids.

Who are those young kids!?

Dan’s macarons arranged in the numerals to celebrate our 50 years!

Laura retrieved photos from each of our kids’ weddings to add to ours for this special memorial photo collage. This is the message included in the photo collage…

They also had t-shirts made for us. All these things were a fun surprise and great beginning for our time together.

Thank you to all our kids for how you love and honor us!!

We all had our own bedrooms and each couple had their own bathroom. Not too shabby. Plenty of room for all of us to spread out.

We got settled and then got ready for dinner out at Yama’s Greek Eats in downtown Walla Walla. This would end up being our family favorite out of three restaurants we ate at. If you find yourself in Walla Walla eat here!

Our first day of celebration came to a close with excitement about pool time on Sunday and another special event. More to come, soon.

Our gifts have found their special place in our home.

We are currently in a heat wave and staying cool inside as much as possible. Hope all is well in your corner.

Along the Way…

Our little family of 10 planned a special getaway to Walla Walla for Saturday the 29th of June until Tuesday the 2nd of July. Greg and I left a day early to make a stop at Palouse Falls and spend the night in Richland, Washington.

We found our way to the parking lot at the viewpoint to see the falls.

 

From Palouse Falls we headed a little west to the town of Richland which is part of the Tri-Cities for a night at a Marriott property. We had enough points to have our night for free. When we checked in the friendly employee upgraded us to a suite with a view of the water (The Columbia River) for which we were grateful. We dropped off our luggage and ventured to the restaurant we chose for our dinner. We were back to our room for an early night and woke up on Saturday to a lovely sunrise.

We would have several hours to wile away on this day until we met up with Katie and Andrew for a wine tasting at Seven Hills Winery at 1:30. The Walla Walla area and the Columbia Valley area in this part of our state is renowned for wine production. Our check in time for our Airbnb wasn’t until 4pm.

Cheers!

There is much more to share. Thank you for stopping by.

Pausing…

I’m pausing until next week in sharing our amazing family time in Walla Walla the last two days of June and first two days of July.

We had a fun time at our 4th of July late afternoon and early evening festivities after tackling our acreage that seemed to get way out of control while we were gone. Mowing and weeding and watering were at the top of the list. We are enjoying sunshine and warmth here in Colville. Yesterday the temps were in the upper 80’s and today we have a forecast of 93. We are on a trend that will take us above 100 in a few days! Yikes. I see lots of watering in the evening and early hours the next several days.

Stay cool y’all!