Goodbye to the Wood's

 

 

We knew it was coming - today the Woods had to leave to go back to Minnesota.  Here's one last "coffee time" under the awning at Marv & Judy's.  We have had many good times here - happy hours, suppers, and cards.

 This was Gary & Nancy's home for the last two months.  It's a nice little trailer - maybe a little too small for two months but it still worked well.  They had an awesome view of the mountains from their trailer site.

 Hooking up - Gary needed lots of advice.

 And off down the street they went.  Looking forward to more good memories next winter.

 These are "coconut oil" legs.  Nancy has convinced Marv that he needs to rub coconut oil on his legs down here in this dry climate.  Marv says his legs are now as smooth as a "baby's butt."

 These coconut legs aren't as brown as the previous ones but she says hers are as smooth as a "baby's butt' too and besides she has much prettier toenails than Marvin does.

Now, was this information worth waiting for?  I think it was.  I'm working on paying bills this afternoon and trying to figure out what some of these companies are trying to do to me.  As soon as I finish this last call, I'm going to have a sandwich and then go check my clothes to see if they're dry.  It's a little warm here today - 87 degrees but I'm nice and cool here in my air-conditioned house. Tomorrow I need to work on my last newsletter but my office (the mancave) tends to stay rather cool so I will be fine.

Have a wonderful evening - Amy, stay calm.  The snow will melt soon and just remember that 69 degrees that is coming this weekend.

Love to all,
Gramma and MOM

Did you all know that pink symbolizes friendship and joy?  Isn't that a lovely thought?  Tell someone this week that you appreciate the joy and friendship they bring to you.  Everyone likes to hear it.

The end of Amy & Chase's visit

Before I go on with any of our "recent" happenings, I must finish Chase and Amy's visit which was the beginning of February.  How I wish they could have been with us more than just a few days - we LOVED having them and look forward to having all three of them next year - so yes, Kurt, we are planning on you being here next winter!!!!

 

I had asked Chase to let me know what he would like to do here in Tucson and the second big thing he wanted to do was go to the Bisbee Copper Mine which is an underground mine about 90 miles south of Tucson.  We left bright and early with our picnic fixings and headed out.  This is one of my favorite attractions to take the grandkids too.

 

 Guess what this little car was used for?  The guide told us that the "keeper of the crap car" was one of the favored jobs in the mine.  Don't remember why any more - certainly wouldn't be my choice of jobs!

 All decked out with our slickers and hard hats with our lights over our shoulders.  You take a little train "into the mountain" as Chase said.  He informed us it wasn't exactly an underground tour but an into the mountain tour.

 This is a bicycle that the foremen would use to get around the mine.

 After our tour, we had a nice picnic lunch in a local park and then headed back north to Tombstone - the little town too tough to die.  It was the most deserted I had ever seen it.  There was very little going on so we just walked through some of the stores and then headed to the local "Boot Hill".  Chase thought the graveyard was really interesting with all of it's old grave placards.  I didn't go in since I've seen it several times before so I didn't get any pictures.  Sorry!!

 Chase said to Grampa,  "Come on, Grampa, let me show you how that game (Shuffleboard)  is played."  So after getting a hat to keep the sun off their heads, they headed to the courts.  Judy DeRuyter was kind enough to play with them since I was busy working on the park newsletter.

 This was the score when I left - Chase, you and Grampa seem to be loosing to the gals here!!!  Not sure what the final score was.

 Before leaving to go back up to Mesa, Uncle Rich and Aunt Henrietta had us over for a hot dog picnic lunch.  Here the gals are roasting hotdogs - it was a bit warm but no complaints once that hot dog was put in a bun.  YUM

 Thanks for a fun, yummy lunch.

After lunch, we headed off to Mesa arriving at dinner time.  Had a bite to eat at Chik-fil-et and then to the motel for bed.  Had to be up early to get them to the airport.  Dad and I went back to the motel, had breakfast and crawled back in bed for a nap.  Then we just relaxed, watched some movies, did a little shopping and went to Texas Roadhouse for our anniversary.
The next afternoon Dad took me to the airport for my trip to Lynden.

It was soooooooooooooooooooo fun having the two of you here.  Thanks for coming!!!!

Love to all of you,
Gramma and MOM

International Wildlife Museum

Before Amy and Chase came to visit, I asked Chase to look up on the internet things he would like to visit in Tucson.  He chose the Wildlife Museum and the Bisbee Mine.  So after church on Sunday, we headed to the Wildlife museum which starts with mounted bugs, butterflies and birds and then goes on to all kinds of stuffed animals.  We had taken him there when he was three and first came to visit; he loved it then and he loved it again now.  It's a fun place for children because there are things for them to touch as well as look at.

 Chase had read that there were turtles in a little creek that ran under this bridge so he was trying to find them.  We never did see any.

 These beautiful brass doors were the entrance.

 There are several dioramas of animals.  This was one that Chase liked.  The one below is in honor of the bison of South Dakota.

 Oh no, Chase, don't put your head in that alligator's mouth.  Don't worry - Chase's Gramma wrestled him free.  Didn't know I was an alligator wrestler, did you?

 See Chase between the legs of the giraffe.  I have pictures of him when he was three in the same position at home.  Can't wait to pull them out when we get back home.

 When we were there before with Chase, he loved this bear and would snuggle up to it.  I remember when other kids would come up to it, Chase would just glare at them as if to say, "Get away - this is my bear."  Luckily he was much more willing to share this time.

 

This is one massive "deer", right Chase?

We had a fun, fun afternoon!!! and the good times weren't over because from the museum we went to Will and Linda DeBoer's for a wonderful dinner.  Chase was so impressed with the purple cactus in front of Linda's house.  What a fun, fun evening with some of the nicest people anywhere!!!!

When I was looking at my pictures of Chase and Amy's visit, I found a video of the sky diving so will insert it here.

Have a wonderful week. 
Love to all of you,
Gramma and MOM

Amy and Chase's visit

I know, I know I haven't done my blog in a while but we've had company ever since I got back from Washington.  Gary & Nancy arrived on February 1st and we've been "hanging out" with them and Marv and Judy.  So, I'll continue with our visit with favorite #2 daughter today.

 On our way to Tucson, we stopped at Eloy to watch the sky diving.  The skydivers go up in planes about every 15-20 minutes.  When you first see them, they're just black dots in the sky.

 They keep getting a little clearer.......

 and they land just on the other side of the fence from where you sit.  You can hear the flapping of the parachutes and can even hear them talking.

 This is a wind tunnel where those who are going to sky dive can "practice". 

 Chase just laid down on the bench so he wouldn't have to crank his head around to watch the sky.

 Eloy is one of our favorite places to take guests and people generally love it.  It's a fun, interesting place to go and what's really good - It's FREE!!!!!

The sky on the way home was gorgeous - a wonderful way to start their visit!!!

It's quite warm here in Tucson today - not complaining because our trailer is nice and cool even without the air on.  By 5:00 when we start our Valentine's Day dinner, it will be cool again.  We're having dinner with The Wood's and DeRuyter's - steaks on the grill.

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you.
Love from Gramma and MOM

PS;  Dad won his shuffleboard game today!!!  YooHoo

Back to Washington

Slight interruption but thought I'd post once more from COLD Washington.  Now I realize that those of you in the midwest would think that the temperatures which are in the 20-30 (above) range here in Washington aren't bad at all; HOWEVER coming from temps in the mid-70's since we arrived in Arizona make it seem VERY cold here in Lynden.  Plus the wind has really been blowing and I am VERY cold.  Here's a picture of how cold it is in DeAnn's house this afternoon - she's all wrapped up in her blanket while she's playing her Kindle but then I guess she does have a sore throat.

 Sam is taking swimming lessons as part of his 4th grade PE class.  He had requested that his mom come to watch him and I had the pleasure of going along.  In case you don't recognize Sam, the fish, he's the one in the red shirt!!!

Since I had three videos of Holly on my blog; we felt that Sam and Katie deserved equal time.  Here are videos of my favorite 10 and 5-year olds.

 

 

That's it for today - tomorrow I fly back to Arizona.  It's always a little bittersweet - I like to go back to be with dad but I also hate leaving the Hiemstra family. 

Have a great week - stay warm and I'll be back to Chase and Amy very soon.
Love to all, Gramma and MOM

Chase and Amy in Arizona

Amy and Chase came into Phoenix on the 24th of January after a good flight.  They even came in a bit early and dad and I were there ready to meet them.  (There have been some instances where we were late - due to car trouble so now I made sure that we were there early.)

 Chase was so impressed with the BIG cactus and had to have his picture taken, even before we had dinner.  We took them to a Mexican restaurant that dad and I had found last year.  It has good food and everything is so colorful.  All of the furniture and signs are hand-carved and painted.  Good way to start a visit!!!!!

 One of the carved and painted chairs - they were all different.

Tomorrow we'll show you some pictures of sky-diving.  Do you think Amy and Chase tried it out - you'll have to wait and see.

Love to all,
Gramma and MOM

Phantom of the Opera

Before I get into our wonderful visit from Amy and Chase, I want to send some videos of Holly in her spring musical.  Just beware:  these are PROUD gramma videos.  The musical was beyond my expectations - I'm going tonight for the third time and I still am amazed at the voices of these high school students.  It was difficult getting pictures because the auditorium is so dark and my camera is a "plain jane" camera.  Here goes:

This is our ballerina with her mom and pops after the first evening's performance.

 

 

Holly was five different characters in the play - above she is three different dancers plus she was a nurse and a ballrina in a white tutu.

 

Thank you, Holly!!!

 

Love to all,    Gramma and MOM