Friday, August 6, 2010

A Visit to Grandma and Grandpa

This week we trekked up to Port Townsend to visit Grandma, Grandpa, and Auntie Rochelle. The kids were so excited. We don't get up to PT enough! We packed them into the truck, threw the scooters in the back, and began our journey. Port Townsend is a place of adventure. Of staying at a hotel. Of riding scooters on streets that are built in squares – they have discovered that they can follow Grandma’s street in either direction counting the blocks as they go, turn right, go a few blocks, turn right, count the blocks again, turn right, and voila! Grandma’s house. What a concept for a couple of country bumpkins!

We arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's at lunchtime. We haven’t seen Arnie’s parents in a while, so we chatted. Grandma made us hot dogs on sandwich rolls and we ate Aunt Rochelle’s chocolate chip cookies. Even though she wasn’t there yet. We love Aunt Rochelle’s cookies. We love anything Aunt Rochelle bakes us. She is good. After lunch, we wandered around in the back yard, looking at what needed to be done.

Arnie brought his chain saw because a couple of trees and branches have come down in Grandma and Grandpa’s back yard. He and his dad started in on those and planned to take a third down as well. I was hoping that Grandma had a task for me to work on too. Their backyard is like an English style garden. The plants are native and grow beautifully without too much upkeep. Grandma gets a little frustrated, though, because she hasn’t been able to get out to do too much with the plants, so a couple have taken over. One of the plants that reigns in the yard right now is ivy. It has covered a lot of objects and other plants. As Grandma and Katie and I explore the yard, Grandma pointed to an ivy covered spot and said, “This used to be a pathway beside the deck. Maybe we can uncover the path.”


We worked at for a couple of hours. Sandy and I worked at the pathway diligently. The kids each came to help for a while, but the ability to scooter far and wide won out in the end. But we uncovered that path, freed a couple of other plants, and filled many huge bags. Arnie and Bruce got the fallen trees out of the way and brought down a third that had died. Whew!Everyone worked up an appetite, so when Aunt Rochelle got through with work,
we headed out for a hearty dinner at The Bayview. Not only did we have a great view, but we had great conversation with Auntie Rochelle. She is fun and creative. Her latest adventure was making cake balls with cake left after she cut it into a shape. She didn't want to throw out the extra cake, so she made them into small chocolate dipped pieces. They sound and look like truffles. Yum. I hope we get to try some soon.
We laughed and chatted and watched a tern fish. We laughed at how big Katie's burger was. It covered her face! She ate most of it. I had a delicious salmon salad with ranch dressing. A very nice dinner.
Our next big Lewis family escapade will be huge. Amazing. Wonderful. September 2010 be Bruce and Sandy's FIFTIETH anniversary. Hurray for love. They are steadfast, aren't they?








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