Tuesday, May 29, 2012

More Catching Up

Sorry for the gap in posts!  It's not that we've been very busy; just not a lot of excitement in our life.  Not that this is a bad thing! 

We've been spending time at the cabin with frequent visits to Duluth to check in on Paige's mom.  She continues to make progress and is mostly using a cane now.  Yesterday she took her car out for a drive without any problems so this will allow her more freedom now.  She's going to drive up to the cabin for visits now.

Mid-May we also spent a few days in Minneapolis.  We packed a lot into that trip:  dinner with Brett's family, celebration of Pam's birthday at Ty and Jen's with the opportunity to see Leah again (how she's grown!), visit to our church where we got to visit with our minister who is moving to a different church in early June, lunch with David prior to going to Valentina's dance recital.  Wow!  We sure appreciate staying at Pam's so we can do all these things!

When we got to Duluth in May, there was a deficit of rain.  Things sure have changed!  It's been raining for a week or so now and there is no more deficit!  Usually we have about 12 feet of beach from the grass to the water at the cabin.  Not so now!  The water is right up to the grass.  We also have what we call the "Riewe Reservoir" - a huge puddly, mucky area in the middle of the yard whick we need to walk around. 

Last week we rented a log splitter on Tuesday (the last dry day we've had coincidentally!) so that we could clean up all the logs laying around.  We ended up with a big pile of wood that needed to be piled.  With the kids all coming up Memorial Day weekend, we were banking on some people-power to do that work.
We had a great time with everyone in spite of the dreary, rainy weather.  We played games, watched movies, rode the golf cart, and ate a lot!  So good to see those granddaughters!
Today we're in Duluth getting a bunch of errands done.  The weather forecast indicates that the rain will be leaving and some sun will peak out now.  Hopefully the yard will dry out and we can get some of our projects done.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Back from Disney!

Paige’s mother, Joyce, was released from her rehab center on Sunday, April 22.  It was her first tine since early January to be home.  We helped out around the house in Duluth until mid-week before moving to her sister Pam’s place in the Twin Cities, while Pam took our place in Duluth for a few days – we waved to each other across the median as we met along the interstate. 

Our last posting was entered early that weekend, just before Paige took her 4 granddaughters to a live performance of “Mama Mia”. They had a great bonding time. 

Sunday the 29th we spent most of the day at the University of Minnesota, site of the state-wide History Competition.  Valentina and 2 teammates put together an exhibit that won their Middle school-level, and the regional-level competition and were now competing at the state level.  They were very happy to have made it to Sunday’s opening rounds, and were happier yet to be finished.  Their parents and grandparents are proud of them all.

What has really kept us busy since then was our taking our youngest granddaughter, Olivia, to Disney World for a week. For those readers who are not aware of it, we have taken each of the granddaughters there at about 4 to 5 years old. The weather was hot and humid but Olivia had a great time – thank goodness for the swimming pool! Just look at these smiles:



 
We have been back in Duluth now for a couple of days. Mom is doing well on her recovery and can manage being at home alone now. We intend to stay close in May and June. Once our mail comes, maybe tomorrow, we will be headed north to the family cabin.