Catching Up

It is finally time for us to do something about this BLOG. Our kids say it is just "unacceptable." We are not, however, going to try fill in all the blanks. That would be a daunting task. But, we will begin anew with our recent trip to San Diego.

We decided we needed to "reconnect" with long-time friends. Thus, March 24, 2010 we jumped on a SW jet and headed to San Diego, CA.

We first spent a few days with one of Stan's former college roomates in the Encinitas area, Randy Johnson. We had a great time.

Randy and Carolyn were kind enough to show us around and just let us "hang" with them. They recently returned from Belo Horizonte, Brazil where Randy served as mission president. We enjoyed learning about their experiences there.

We also attended the temple together. That was especially nice.

From Encinitas we drove to Murrieta, CA where we met up with some long-time friends. Chuck and Sally Wing used to live in Hillsboro and Chuck was one of Stan's colleagues in teaching. We enjoyed seeing them again after a 10+ year absence.

After visiting with the Wings, we drove to see Dave and Delynn Heid. Delynn was one of Nancy's college roomates. What a treat it was to spend some time with them after 29 years.

From the Heids we travelled to Anaheim to "do" the adult version of Disneyland. It was very crowed but we enjoyed it very much. Lots has changed over the last 20+ years. Especially the $.

Splash Mountain got the best of Stan.

Toontown is on Nancy's "unique" list.

The new Grizzly River rafting attraction was a hit.

Nancy stepped out of her comfort zone on this one but, she lived!

Can't wait to see what trip comes next.

MIA'S BIRTHDAY 2009!!!

Happy Birthday Mia!!! We hope you have a wonderful day!
We Love You!

November, a continuation of July, August, September and October...

In November, Stan returned to Utah to see is parents.

Upon his return, we went for an early morning hike above Multnomah Falls in the Gorge. It was incredible!



About a week after his return, we learned that his aunt Julia had passed on. We traveled to Nyssa, OR for the service and met Stan's parents and sister there. He hadn't seen many of his cousins for 10+ years. In that way it was a wonderful experience.

Uncle Darwin and Darr

We also went back to Seattle. There is so much more to do.

Thanksgiving we spent with Nancy's Dad and some dear friends in Hillsboro. We have much to be thankful for.

Retirement? activities

Many of our friends keep asking what retirement is like. The only thing that Stan can say is, "It's different." Hopefully the pictures and dialogue below will give you an idea of what we have been doing.

Starting in July...the first thing we did was visit Tyler, Jessica and Makayla in Arizona to celebrate Makayla's first birthday. We were there two weeks and endured the heat. We had a great time. Check the earlier post.

We also spent about 2 weeks in Seattle, helping Al visit doctors, sort, take him to a class reunion (see earlier post) and make plans for a move to a retirment community.

In August, we went up to Seattle several times but spent two weeks in Utah, Idaho and then back to Seattle.

Our Utah experience included Education Week, (the first time)...

Spending time with Stan's Dad and Mom...

...and visiting family in southern Idaho, (Connie and family)...

...and in eastern Washington. (Near Coeur d'Alene) Den and Lisa were there visiting Daree and Adam and Katie and Eric.

Then back to Seattle

In September we spent about two weeks in Seattle. The weather was GREAT!

In October, we booked passage on a airline to visit Ryan, Stephanie and Mia in Pennsylvania. We had a terrific time visiting historical sites, picking apples, exploring the New Jersey coast and just "hanging out."

Then back to Seattle

...where we packed up some furniture and moved Al to a place in Vancouver. It really is a nice place but nothing can compare with the view on Mercer Island.

In summary, our Summer and Fall were busy but also very enjoyable. Being in a position of flexibility makes all this possible and how thankful we are for that. Retirement really is "interesting."