Getting Ready for More Travels

Hello again everybody! We leave home on June 17th, so are re-learning how to "Post" after our silence since the end of November 2007! Before we leave, we're now writing an update of what we've been up to from Christmas until now. We're also learning a different and faster way to add photos (thanks to Melanie).

Melanie, David and Indigo, and the two dogs and cat all came to Myrtle Beach by road to spend Christmas and a few days after with us. Indigo had already experienced her first 8 days of Hannukah at home with her mommy and daddy, but like mommy and daddy, she was excited to find some little gifts in a stocking when she woke on Christmas morning, and we all opened our “stocking gifts” on granny and granddad’s bed—ours wrapped in Christmas paper and theirs in Hannukah paper. This differentiation of wrapping paper has become customary since Melanie converted to Judaism when she married David, but still wanted to share our Christmas traditions with us.

Although it was quite cold and gray, the weather over Christmas was good enough for us to take the dogs for walks on the beach, and one day we met up at the beach close to where Clare and Josh live, and all of us walked together: Bob and I, Melanie, David, Indigo, and the dogs Caleb and Egan, Clare, her dog Meathead, Josh, his son Jacob, and Josh’s nephew, Chris, who kindly took the family photo which appears at top right of this blog. Another picture of Granny with daughters and granddaughter was also taken that day and is shown here. It was a lovely Christmas time for us all.
After Christmas, Bob continued his consulting contract, that had been renewed in November after our return home from South Africa. This time, fortunately, because Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield had allowed him to have a computer at home dedicated solely for his work with them, he didn’t have to travel to work in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, every week as had been the case in the past. He generally worked two weeks at home, and every third Sunday evening he flew to Harrisburg to work in Camp Hill Monday through Thursday lunchtime, and fly home Thursday afternoon. Those weeks he’d then work at home on Friday. Now that contract has just finished—hence our being able to spend the upcoming nearly 7 weeks “on vacation”.

At the end of February, Melanie had shoulder surgery, and this obviously caused her to be unable to drive for a couple of weeks, or do many household chores, or even change Indigo’s diapers; so Granny happily took herself to M&D’s home to help out for 3 weeks, so that David could continue going to work, and even go away on a business trip, and Granny could spend lots of time and have fun with Indigo. A Granny feeling her age flew home after those 3 weeks! A few days later both Bob and I drove back to M&D’s for a pre-planned weekend get together at M&D’s home with our Pittsburgh friends, Chris & Linda Umble, who had been with us for 2 weeks of our travels in South Africa last year. We hadn’t seen C&L since, and we planned the weekend so that C&L could view a DVD we’d had made of our SA trip, as well as see Indigo for the first time, and do some Washington DC sightseeing. We went by metro into Washington on the Sunday, and as it was the end of March, this coincided with the renowned cherry blossom time and we had a great walk around the Tidal Basin amongst all the cherry trees. It was also a special kite flying day on The Mall around the Washington Monument, which M&D had previously told us about, and so Bob had his big kite with him that he’d bought years ago in California, and got it up amidst all the others to the full length of his line, about 1000 feet. Great fun, and altogether a wonderful weekend.
We went to M&D’s again last month: Indigo turned two on May 15th, and on the 18th M&D had a big daytime party for all their friends and their children to be able to celebrate Indigo’s birthday with them (and Indigo, although she didn’t have any idea what it was about, even though she could tell us that she was 2!) 60 people, including 32 children aged from around 9 down to a couple of months, were supposed to meet at one of M&D’s neighborhood lake beaches for the party, but the weather did not cooperate, and rather than have rain spoil the event, it was decided early morning to change the venue to M&D’s home. We all got to work to prepare the house and back yard for everyone, and despite some rain, and cool weather, the party was a great success.

Now here we are, all set for our next adventure, and Clare and Josh will be keeping an eye on our house, and Josh will be doing the yard work for us. It was good to have them and Jacob (and Meathead) with us for Father’s Day yesterday. Mentioning Meathead, we have sad news that M&D’s beloved black lab, Caleb, had to be put to sleep on June 1st. He was 13 yrs. old, and late last year had been diagnosed with rectal cancer. He remained quite well, enjoyed his food and walks, and was apparently pain-free until the end of May, but then the tumor had grown so much he was in obvious distress, and so the time came to say Goodbye. We’re all going to miss him, but we’re so glad he was able to enjoy our beach one last time during the Christmas visit. He always loved running along the sand.

We’ll sign on again soon, but don’t expect us to be as diligent as Bob was at writing nearly every day when we were traveling in South Africa! Don’t be shy to post “Comments”. Receiving them lets us know people are reading our blog.