And It All Caught Up With Us...

It's been a really busy week or so. What with getting ready for the family get-together; cooking for the get-together; having the get-together; having the day after get-together at Cass's kayaking; driving to the ocean; swimming in the ocean for several hours; and never going to bed before 10 PM; everyone was just plain wore out!



We did make trip into Ocean Shores for groceries late this morning -- Kyra and I had crab and cheese sandwiches for lunch; Claire had fish and chips and Forry had a crab burger -- and to get a few sundries. BOTH girls were without toothbrushes! We visited a kite shop (found a couple of cute ones) and an art shop, but didn't have energy for much else.



The sun finally came out about three o'clock. I had told the girls we all needed at least a half hour's nap before we went back down to the beach. Of course, "neither one needed a nap!" Kyra slept for almost an hour and Claire -- after she finally fell asleep -- didn't wake up until almost
5 PM. By then we decided it was too late to go swimming. Kyra has gotten Claire set up on Facebook and I am letting her use my little mini-computer. Between Farmville, Frontierville and Petville, they stayed occupied most of the evening. Forry barbecued steaks and I added baked Yukon Gold potatoes and sweet corn -- yummy!

The Trip to the Ocean

Today we packed up Auntie Violet and the grand-daughters and headed for the Pacific Ocean. Ocean Mist RV Resort is just a little ways out of Ocean City. We had hoped to leave Elma by eleven and actually made it by eleven thirty! We'd have met our own time schedule except for having to fish the seat belts up through the living room couch so that the girls could be buckled up. This is the first time we have taken passengers with us and needed the seat belts. Poor Forry ended up having to take everything out of the storage area under the couch in order to get to them -- and then he had quite a time getting them threaded through the holes in the couch.





But finally we were on our way. It was actually a pretty short trip out along State Highway 12 to Aberdeen, then State Highway 109 around Grays Harbor and then up to Ocean City. This is an interesting KM Resort Park. Half of it is on the ocean side and the other half inland across the little stream. During your two week stay, you are allowed to spend the second week on the ocean side after having spent the first week on the inland side. But, because I told the Diane, the desk clerk, that the girls were only going to be here for one week, she let us park our first week on the ocean side.






The trail through the dunes to the ocean starts almost directly behind where we are parked, but it is a good 1/2 mile walk to get to the beach. Then it's another good quarter mile or so out across the sand -- especially when the tide is out like it was today. The girls decided it was too cold to go into the water, so they played in the sand for a while.

Then they decided to go wading, but not above their knees; then not above their waists; and then the next thing you know they were diving into the waves and riding them in! We spent a couple of hours on the beach and in the water, then came in and showered and got in the hot tub for a bit. Forry barbecued bratwursts for supper and both Kyra and Claire said they were "really good." Nothing like fresh air and salt water to bring an appetite! It's been a good day.

We Have Company!

Today what was left of the family gathering ended up at Cousin Cass's in Shelton where the little -- and big! -- kids went kayaking and played in the Sound. This is Grand-daughter Kyra, who is a little fish!

Then we got to bring TWO of the grand-daughters home with us to Auntie Violet! Our Daughter Dawn and her husband and our oldest granddaughter are going on a bike ride this week in Oregon's Willamette Valley. Grandson Micah didn't want to stay with us -- he wanted to stay with his Cousin Varick who has LEGOS! So we decided instead of just taking Grand-daughter Kyra, we would take Grand-daughter Claire as well, leaving the two boy cousins together at Daughter MM's while girl cousins came with us.

Kyra is a typical modern kid -- very comfortable with computers. She saved up her money all last year so that she could buy her OWN computer. Claire (on the right) decided what Kyra was doing with pet and farm games was most interesting. We may have to set her up with my mini-computer while she is here this week...

Tomorrow we will pack up and head to Ocean Shores where we will be staying the next two weeks.

Cousins!

Now two of us are working (were working?) in this picture (check out the aprons...!) and everyone else was "supervising" while we made onion pies.

L-R Cousin Ray, Daughter Dawn, Cousin Terry, Sister Rox, Daughter Mary Mae, Me, Cousin Kathy

A lovely day was had by all! And NO ONE went away hungry!

Cooking!

We spent today at Sister Roxy's house in Olympia. Forry sat out in their spacious yard and watched birds while Cousin Cathy, Roxy and I made salads and cooked. We are having a Haight family get-together at Roxy's tomorrow and we were busy getting ready! Roxy also has some pretty special company -- her two darling grand-daughters are visiting from California this week.

This is the front entrance of Roxy and Rich's home --

This little darling is my great-niece Ashlyn helping to frost the birthday cakes we were making for my grand-children Claire and Varick who are having birthdays this week. (Somebody had to eat the last of the frosting in the can...!)

And this is her older sister Piper putting the finishing touches on the big cake --

Didn't we all do good work? I'm sure Varick and Claire will be happy tomorrow when they see what their second cousins did for them --

Roxy finished up a berry dessert and potato salad; I made Auntie June's famous crab pasta salad; Roxy and I made deviled eggs and Cathy made an Italian pasta salad. So if nothing else, we have salads and desserts covered!

A Very Special Dinner!

It's so funny how one relates to different people. There are some people you meet or meet again after a period of time and after you exchange a few updates, you have to search for something else to say. And then there are others, you may not see them for months or even years, but you pick up conversation right where you left off and just keep going!


Tonight was with one of those people. Mary and I have been friends for many years -- she was running the health district up in the NE Tri-Counties when I was the hospital administrator in Ritzville. She was one of the people who worked with me to form the Washington Rural Health Association and to get our rural legislative agenda through the Washington Legislature.


It's been almost two years since we had seen Mary. (She had come for lunch and a visit when we were at the RV park in Newport the summer before last.) Mary has a couple of years yet before she retires, so she is still hard at work in Olympia. (She is the longest tenured Secretary of Health in the United States!) We could not be this close without trying to get together for a good visit.


The Ranch House BBQ is located between McCleary and Olympia. We met there this evening for some wonderful barbecued ribs and even better conversation! We talked steady for three hours and would probably still be there if Mary hadn't had to get an early start over to Colville in the morning!

A Trip to McCLeary

Today we took a quick trip into Mark Reed Hospital and Clinic in McCleary so that I could give them some of my blood for a prothrombin time and INR. It turned out to still be within therapeutic limits (2.2), so now I continue on the same regimen with the coumadin and don't need to have another blood test for four weeks.



It seemed funny to be at Mark Reed without my friend Jean Roberts being there. Jean was administrator of the McCleary Hospital back in the days when I was the hospital administrator at Ritzville. Jean retired a few years after I did. I asked if she ever stopped by, and they said she did occasionally, but that she and her husband were doing a great deal of traveling. So good to hear that! It was interesting that the lab tech had never met her, but said she had heard so many stories of how wonderful Jean was -- and she knew that there would not be a hospital there if it hadn't been for her! What a wonderful legacy.


We didn't do terribly much more today. We'll go for a walk as soon as the Mariners game is over. It was looking pretty good with a five run lead, but once again it looks like they have squandered their early lead...

Elma RV Park

Elma RV Park is like many of the RV parks who are part of the CampClub parks that offer 50% off their rates to members. It's nothing fancy, but it's clean and well maintained.

The park was quite full when we arrived -- I think there was only one other open site. When Forry had called for reservations, the lady in the office said there was a Little League tournament going on in Elma all this week. She said that as teams were eliminated the park would be emptying out. And that was exactly what happened this morning. I think at least six to eight rigs left before noon.

It was COLD this morning! It was overcast and chilly -- less than 55 degrees when we got up. That's a forty degree temperature drop from what we've been used to. I actually put on a pair of jeans and some socks this morning instead of my usual shorts and sandals. It cleared up after lunch and was very pleasant this afternoon.

Elma, Washington

Today Auntie Violet kicked up her heels and left the dust of Adams County behind! We had everything packed up, put away and stowed by 10:30 -- pretty good considering we had been at the ranch since the 7th of June.


We stopped just before Ellensburg for diesel -- it was $2.99 per gallon with a check, cash or debit card. Other than that we just kept going. Sometimes awfully slowly though. They were working on the guard rail and had signs out several miles ahead asking traffic to move to the right lane. Of course, no one did until the last minute and by then with everyone dodging in and out of lanes, traffic was down to a crawl. A couple of truckers tried to block the left lane, but people kept skirting around them anytime they could see a bit of room...


The next slow-down was by Nisqually -- there was an accident on the other side of the freeway, but all of the "looky-lous" on our side had to slow down and check it out. We ended up with stop and go traffic for about ten miles!


We pulled into the Elma RV Park just before they closed the office at 5:30. We have a nice spot near the entrance. The fellow across the road was nice enough to move his pickup out of the way so that Forry had a sweet and easy back-in. It was still sweltering hot when we got here, but it has cooled off nicely -- had to shut the windows already!

Sister Grace

On Friday we drove the Toad to Wenatchee to visit Forry's Sister Grace and her husband Les. They live in East Wenatchee in an area right next to a pear orchard. Grace is 82 years young.

I should have taken some pictures inside of their home. Gracie has an incredible collection of stuffed bears and dogs!

This afternoon after church we watched the Mariners win their second game in a row! Once it cooled off this evening, Forry drained the gray and black water tanks and started putting away stuff that we will leave here at the ranch in the storage unit. Since we've been parked here for more than a month, we've got a lot of putting away to be doing!