Moment Number Six...

Five things that made my heart happy this week...

I held all three of my grandbabies on my lap on Monday evening...it was heavenly.

Texting with Arrielle in the middle of the night, not sure if she thinks I may be the only one up, or if it's me she wants to talk to...but, I like it.

I caught the last few minutes of the Sex and the City movie, which made me sad...because it made me think of Christine, but...then I thought of how much we loved the show and the movies and my smile returned.

I saw Elliott on Friday, and the second he got in the car...I could tell, he needed my thoughts on something.  It was a good conversation, and I love that he reminds me of myself.

This showed up on my Facebook feed....and will soon be in a frame on my fireplace mantle.

Next post...part two of the Wyoming trip

Moment Number Five...Part One of the Wyoming Trip

Last month, my dad and I set out on our first road trip together.  We headed to Cody, Wyoming, so he could attend his 60th high school reunion.  We had planned, plotted and prearranged as much as we could, since deciding to really do this last February.  I took a lot of pictures and here are some I want to share...

This restaurant was actually one of my favorite stops.  When my Mom and Dad would go to Ellensburg, WA they would eat here.  I had a great breakfast, their scrambled eggs were amazing!

I had never driven through eastern Washington before, and was amazed at the difference on the other side of the Cascades.  After these hills, it was just flat!!  Acres and acres of hay fields.  We hustled through Spokane, and headed into Idaho.  The drive through Idaho was pretty short lived, but the speed limit is much higher.  

We whizzed through Idaho and entered Montana.  They don't call Montana "Big Sky Country" for nothing.  It is incredibly beautiful.  We made it to Missoula that first day.  

The second day of driving was pretty amazing, in the middle of Montana we headed south. This photo is of the  Beartooth Mountains in Wyoming, even under grey clouds the beauty is still evident..  Getting into Cody early enough to drive around a bit.  We explored the neighborhoods my dad had lived in as a kid.  He was not keen on how much Cody had changed, and I agree...it is quite different than I remembered. Still quite interesting though.  I would love to take Lee there.

This is the Buffalo Bill statue just outside of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.  I really love this picture...the texture of the terrain behind the statue is really neat.

The entrance to the museum is dotted with statues that pertain to the area.  This museum is impossible to see in one short visit.  There are 5 wings to it, natural history museum, Buffalo Bill museum, the high plains Indian museum, the Whitney western art museum and the Cody firearms museum.  I lost my dad a couple times...it is huge!  It is incredible and enlightening.

  

Old Trail Town...I was just as excited to visit this place as I was when I was a kid!  My mom knew the founder, and he would let Mike and I see places that were not open to the public. We always left quite impressed.  The amount of restored buildings had grown so much in the last thirty some odd years.  All of the buildings are painstakingly taken apart, moved and reassembled on the site.  They come from all over Wyoming.

Two seconds after taking this picture, I texted it to my brother!  Its a two headed calf.  It was our favorite oddity when we were kids, along with the two headed baby goat and the infamous stuffed jackalope!!!

Dad had a dinner with his reunion group on Friday night. It was fun to see how excited he was to meet up with old friends. Saturday they had a picnic planned,  it was held on the shores of the Buffalo Bill reservoir.  The wind was insane out there! Our family friend, Mike Burpee, rode his motorcycle down from Billings to met us out there.  

Dad had plans to meet up with a friend who was not able to make it to the reunion, so we dropped him off and Mike (Burpee) and I set out to check out the events on Sheridan Avenue...Cody's main street.  We stopped at the Prime Cut Saloon.  I took this picture before digging into this burger, because I just had a feeling it would be delicious and I wanted to remember it!

 

They had closed down Sheridan Avenue to vehicles for an all day event, with booths, a motorcycle show, a car show, a bake sale auction and ending in a boot scootin' boogie dance.  It was fun to explore.  I am not sure I could ever get used to people openly carrying their guns on their hips though..its a little intimidating, but, I guess that is the point.

 Last picture for today, this building in 1936 was actually the hospital and my dad was born on the upper level.  Neat piece of history!

Moment Number Four....this one is extra special!

I did not make it in time to see this little drop of perfection enter the world! No thanks to every red light and school zone that made it feel like I was crawling to Mason and Arrielle's house!  

On Friday, September 2nd at about 2:25pm, little Kellan Alexander Temple entered the world after a few hours of labor and just a couple pushes.  Weighing in at exactly 9 pounds and 21 inches long, what surprised us was his red hair!   His name was not decided until he was about an hour old, Kellan means bright head, and the red hair sealed the deal on that name!

 

This one was taken shortly after he was born, he does not even have a diaper on!  In true little boy fashion, he totally made his tar like first poop...before the diaper went on, and while snuggling on mommy!

Roslin simply adores Kellan, I am fairly sure she thinks mommy made this baby just for her!

The midwife is getting Kellan's weight and height.

A couple days old, those cheeks are totally kissable!!!

A happy momma and her babes!

I cannot resist his cute old man face! 

Moment Number 3....

I have a couple bucket lists, one of things to do before I leave this Earth, one of all the things I want to see in Alaska, and a huge one of things I want to see or do in Washington.  At the top of the list was, visit Mt. Rainier.  We set out on Fathers Day to do just that...

You can see Mt. Rainier from just about anywhere in the Seattle area...it is 14,410 feet high after all!  What you don't sense is how far away it is...it took over 3 hours to get there.  I had in mind a plan, to walk the Patriarch's Trail, which is a short hike that leads to some old growth trees.  After living in Humboldt, I love big old trees and I wanted to compare!  

Although, I did not plan on the trail being closed at the half way point, or the crowds of people...holy cow!   When you see something everyday, it's easy to forget that it is a major tourist destination and people from all over the world want to see it too.

In the end, it was a beautiful drive, the mountain is incredibly majestic and I got to share the day with Lee and Elliott.  I bought a year long National Park pass, in hopes of seeing the other parks on my Washington bucket list too.

Here are my favorite pictures from that day...

The entrance to the park, lots of people had the same idea for the day!

Mt. Rainier in all her beautiful glory...we could not have picked a better day!

Leaman and Elliott...they were very accommodating and succumbed to my picture taking! 

I need to look up the name of this spot.  We parked near here to eat our picnic lunch and then hike the trail.  So pretty...but, I am always amazed by the tourists that have to get in a little closer...

The Patriarch's Trail....I would almost swear I had walked this trail in Humboldt!

I love taking pictures of the canopy, with the sun shining through the tree tops .

Moment Number Two...

Sometimes not all your moments are good.  

Fair warning...there is whining ahead!

Arrielle made the following post on Facebook today....

I gotta admit, it hurt me to the core.  I shed a tear...ok, maybe more than one.  I get that they want to live this minimalist lifestyle.  What hurts is the restriction of my grandparenting...buying toys is frowned upon.  I try to sneak them in and say we will keep them at our house...is it my fault that they love it so much they want to take it home?  I guess that excuse cannot be used either.

I can only imagine my mom's face if I told her, what she could and could not do as a grandparent.  Geez, half the Legos she bought Mason are stuffed in our storage unit.  

I gave up on buying clothes, because I never see them in anything I have bought.  I have hardly bought a thing for the new baby boy due to arrive any day...only a car seat and two onesies.  

This is hard for me...when it comes to these girls, I wear my heart on my sleeve...they are my heart. My heart feels like it has been pinched.  I get that annual passes are a fantastic idea...but, on Christmas morning...to a little kid it feels like a downer.  I am about to turn 50, and I remember the toys given to me by my grandparents.  My Grandma Zarko always let me pick out a special Barbie...some I still have. My Grandma Adams, had a boyfriend named Jake that adored us and suited up Mike and I, in true western fashion, complete with hats and cap guns...we were quite enamoured with him!

Growing older has been very much an adjustment lately...and I am just kinda over it already!

Moment Number One...

I have it planned out on my calendar a way to time out 50 moments to share, over the next year.  It pretty much amounts to every 7 or 8 days.  That's a lot of topics and moments to share.  I have a few moments that have already happened to start me out.

In April, I set out to surprise my friend Susan.  Tax season was brutal for her this year...and every year really, so last fall I came up with a plan to drive down and surprise her on April 15th.  I worked it out with my other friend, Leanne to hide out with her the evening before.  It was a great trip, I got to spend special time with my two favorite friends and I pulled off a great surprise.  Here are a few memories to share....

I left at 6am...I love starting a drive just as the world is waking up!

And then...Portland traffic.  Ugh! The drive was actually pretty brutal, it rained heavily until I got to Cresent City.

I spent the first night with Leanne and her daughters...it was lovely! The next morning I set out for a stroll on Main Street in Ferndale. No visit to Ferndale is complete with out a couple pairs of new socks!

I met Leanne for some delicious coffee, aren't they pretty!!!

We also went out to Centerville, and caught this amazing view of Centerville Beach...breathtaking!

Here is my surprised Susan!!  I had let her office manager know I was coming, so it made it very easy to surprise her and get her to actually leave her desk by 5pm.  I am so glad I did it!!!

No date with Susan is complete without a hysterical trip to Target!

I adore Susan's parents, especially her dad's chickens.  We had a fun day that ended with a yodeling performance!!

And Ferndale Pizza eaten on the steps of an old church turned concert hall!

Sunday, we walked to the top of Ferndale Cemetary....very interesting.  Lots of history there!

I bought a small cooler to haul this load home! I still have two bars of cheese left...it's so delicious!

Susan and I walked the path all the way through the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge...it was very peaceful!

This sunset was the icing on the cake!  A beautiful end of the day on the last night of my trip.

I finally stopped along highway 199 on the way home and took a picture of Smith River.

It was a very nice trip, exhausting with all the things I crammed into just a couple of days.  I am so glad I did it. Now, I can't wait to do it again!

Feeling Reflective...

Holy Mother Of Pearl!!!!  According to my countdown app...only 42 more days until I turn 50!  How did this happen???  How did I go from a teenage girl who thought she was all that, to a woman about to turn 50?  

Fifty is stressful...first thing they want you to do is make you get a colonoscopy, swish your boobs and tell you how fat you are.  I even scheduled my physical for the morning of my birthday.  I can't wait to see how that goes...ugh.  Not that I have a feeling of doom, more the feeling of my life is likely more than half over...how can that be?   I have not done all the things I wanted to do in my life yet!

It makes me reflect on all I have done too...I have raised two wonderful young men, by the time my birthday gets here I will be Grammy to three grandbabies, I have been married almost 27 years to a man I still adore, I survived losing my mom and continue to have a special relationship with my dad.  

Writing that statement above just made me pause...I keep thinking about what I want to do...own a home, travel, see orca in their own environment.  When, instead I should be thinking about what I have done...home is wherever Lee is, I have camped steps away from bear poop, and I did not see orca on a recent whale watching trip, but I did see a humpback calf rise itself out of the water and breach!  

I want to take the year ahead and fill it with 50 special moments...starting with this one.  I am writing this entry from a pullout on the side of the road...on one of my favorite drives...it's the one I drive every Monday to pick up MJ and Ros.  It's a spot I think is beautiful no matter the weather. I am gonna share my moment with you...

Here we go...bring it on 50!!! I am not afraid!

Late January Road Trip...

We have only driven the new car to work, errands and a couple trips to see my dad and Elliott.  So, we decided to take advantage of me having a Saturday off and it being a rain free day, with a day trip up to Port Angeles and Port Townsend.

There is a Coast Guard air station in Port Angeles. It's on a spit, you have to drive through a pulp mill factory to get there. We checked out the Coast Guard Exchange there...and added another CG hoodie to our collection. 

This is a huge root ball from a tree that had washed ashore!  We found 4 rocks, the size of footballs that are very interesting, and managed to carry them and ourselves over the washed up trees and rocks back to the car...I forgot to take a picture of the rocks! Dang it!  They are now on our front step.  From here, you can see Vancouver Island, BC, Canada.

The view from this base is insane, the Strait of Juan de Fuca on one side and the Olympic mountain range on the other.

From Port Angeles, we headed to Port Townsend for lunch at a Mexican restaurant we love.  It's totally worth the hour long drive!!

Port Townsend takes care of their older buildings, and on many you can still see the old signs that were painted on them. It also has lots of beautiful Victorian homes.

Recognize this building???  Port Townsend is home to Fort Worden, where they filmed the movie Officer and a Gentleman.  This building and other locations close by, are in the film.  The grounds are beautiful, the older buildings seem well preserved and are still used by the community. Fort Worden was an active Army base from 1902 to 1953, after that the state bought it to use as a juvenile detention facility, and then it became a state park.

The Point Wilson Lighthouse, built in 1879, and used until 1975.  

A short walk east of the lighthouse brought us to this beach, that edges the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  

It was a nice day, good to get out and explore a little. I love that Lee puts up with my stopping to take a pictures here and there.  We have already tossed around the idea of driving the whole Olympic Peninsula and I want to see the view from Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park.  Maybe someday, we will venture over to the eastern side of this state...I don't think it can compare to the western side though.