This week our grandson, Jaymes, came to visit from Colorado. We took him to the Air and Space Museum and to the Biosphere 2 which was extremely interesting.
I tasted my first “slushy” from Eegees. I wish they had them in Florida – it is very thick and made of fresh fruit. I love them!!
On Monday, Tuesday and Thursday afternoon and evenings we are with the grandkids. Monday nights the parents are finishing classes required before adoption and on Tue and Thursday Richard and Chris are pouring cement and creating a nice patio for the kids to play on. I’m playing with the kids, getting them fed and ready for swim lessons. Then it’s home and into the hot tub.
Below posted are two of the four bowls I made in glass fusion classes.
We already decided that we have had such a good time we want to stay 3 months next year rather than the 2 months we planned for this year. Many of the people stay from November through March. We’ve found out that most things close down or slow down at the end of March. So next year we have already booked our site for January, February and March. The instructors are all volunteers and they come from all over the US so when they head back to their Northern states it’s the end of class.
We have enjoyed the ballroom dancing and look forward to next year when we can start at the beginning.
Richard has already been asked to teach a class at the wood shop next year. He is working on his 2nd inlaid segmented bowl. I’m really excited about this one because I chose the pattern and it has inlaid turquoise stone in it.
I have completed 4 fused glass bowls. Two of them are blue, totally different and two of them look like piano keyboards. Next year I plan to work more on jewelry – after all how many bowls can I use? Then when I make the glass jewelry, I need to also go to the silver smithing classes so that I can put the silver wire around them. We have also taken pickle ball classes and it’s hard for me to remember to hit it underhanded – I keep using my tennis hit overhand. These people are really good and crazy. They play tournaments and it doesn’t matter how cold it is – they are out there. I am a “fair weather player”.
I’m actually writing this the end of March and the weather was up to 90 degrees today. However the first 3 weeks I was freezing. I’ve lived too many years in tropical islands. I called my sister from Guam who is also freezing in San Diego. She advised me to go down and buy electric blankets. We did and all is well – “sung as a bug in a rug” at night.
As much as we enjoy the journey, it is always great to reach our destination. In this case, the fact that we will have two months near our kids and grandkids makes it especially exciting. We will be staying at the Voyager RV Park for two months – March and April.
First impressions:
- We weren’t ready for the cold weather
- We were thrilled when we found the activities that are available at the Voyager. It looks like we will be going to “summer camp” again except this one is for adults. There are 5 full pages of ongoing activities. Here are a few that sound most interesting to us; ceramics, glass fusion, lapidary, scrapbooking, silver craft, stained glass, wood carving, woodshop, ballroom dance, line dance, square dance, pickelball, bocce, swimming, and a 24 hour gym.
- We can’t do it all so have settled this year on ballroom dancing together twice a week, and Richard is taking classes for making “segmented bowls with turquoise inlay” – his first one had 169 pieces of wood in it. I have previously made several stained glass projects so am now learning glass fusion. I’m taking classes both at the park and at a store downtown where they teach classes.
- We are spending as much time as possible with the kids and grandkids.
How delightful it is to reconnect with family and friends. We were in Chandler, Phoenix, Sun Lakes and Scottsdale. Visited with my cousin Pauline that I hadn’t seen since HS days. It was so great reminiscing – she is a reflexologist and LMT and as you can see by the photo, she graciously gave me a foot massage that made me feel so great! Later I visited her sister Cherie and again a delight to catch up on what we had been doing for last 50 years. Then it was on to our DoDDS friends. We had breakfast with the Ulrichs (DoDDS friends from Hainerberg in Germany) and then spent the evening with Candy Smith (DoDDS friend from Germany and Okinawa). It was a nice cool evening with a great breeze and as with most of our DoDDS friends we could chat for hours and seemed as though we had not been separated for the past 10 years. Next stop California. Photos later when we get to the city – we are so far in the country the internet is too slow for photos.
Cactus really does have a sharp needle on it!
We’ve just pulled in all the slides, put away all the outdoor furniture and packed it all up so we will be ready to pull out at 7:00 in the morning. A couple of friends have called because I wasn’t posting anything. Everything we’ve been doing is with the grandkids and we aren’t putting their photos on line so not much to show you. We had a fun trip down to Tubac near the border – it’s a small artist colony. I was really good – didn’t spend much but had lots of fun looking. Yesterday we took the kids to the zoo so their mom and dad could go hiking up in the mountains. It’s the most beautiful time of year here with lots of flowers in the desert.
Our next stop is Phoenix where we will visit two cousins that I used to be real close to and haven’t seen for 50 years. After that will visit a DoDDS friend from Okinawa and another set of DoDDS friends from Germany and a former student from Germany.
We are absolutely loving this life – just talked with a couple in their RV near ours and they retired from the Navy a year ago, purchased their RV and have only been home 2 weeks this year for medical appointments. They’ve been on the road the full year.
We are making one last trip over to say goodbye to the grandkids tonight – that part is really hard – we’ve gotten really attached!! (Well, we will miss the kids also but the little ones are so special!)
Crystal and Richard each had a birthday this week so we celebrated by going to Jacque’s favorite place for fondue — The Melting Pot . If one has to get older this is a great way to do it – with family and chocolate!
The weather is so beautiful – in the 70’s with bright blue sky. Yesterday (after ignoring the signs to “beware of mountain lions, rattle snakes and scorpions”), we went with the kids and hiked Sabino Canyon – 4 miles UP. Having the motor home has been a perfect solution for us. To get to live near each of the kids for a month is such fun without getting in anyone’s way. Richard and I also hiked in the Cactus Forest in Saguaro National Park. We quickly learned that you need to start your hike early and take lots of drinking water.
Last week we attended a 3-day pastor and leader’s conference at the kids’ church. It was very uplifting. We get to take care of the kids at least one day a week while both parents are working. We go to church with them and eat meals in the evenings with them. It’s so fun to be such a close part of their lives and meet their friends. Life is great!
Having a wonderful time in Tucson. The weather is perfect and the kids and grand-kids a delight. We get to go to church, the gym and to dinner with them. Get to see them every day – will be really hard to move on after having so much time with them. It is so great to be staying in the same place for 30 days. Weather is perfect – the park has all kinds of activities – Bocce, Tennis, swimming, cards, etc. Some of these people come to the same park every year. This morning a “rig” near us pulled out and there were about 20 people that came to hug them and tell them goodbye.
Sandy, the lamp we bought at the antique shop is just perfect! At night it looks so great with the Tiffany shade glowing.
