Winter Catching Up

Holy cow! It's been a while. I feel like that's usually how my posts start now. Well, then, a quick re-cap of the winter on this first day of March.

Christmas 2018 was full of family and good times. Christmas Eve was at our house followed by traditional Christmas Day dinner at Susan & John's. Poinsettias, crackers, snowballs, food and family. It was nice to have Rex home after being away at school in Long Beach. And it was nice to see Uncle Dave up from Santa Cruz.

The day after Christmas Amira and I hopped on about 3 planes to go and visit Christina & Sophie in Athens. It had been about 14 years since I'd visited. So, now Amira was nearly  15 years old and Christina's daughter was nearly 14. They had each other to hang with and do the teen thing. We were subjected to incredible Greek hospitality. I tried to warn Amira about the kissing and never ending parade of food. It's really hard to imagine if you haven't experienced it.

Below here are Christina, Sophie, Phillipos (7), Dimitri and a very jet-lagged Amira fresh off the plane in front of round one of food served.

Amira and Myrsini have "phone" in common. The international teen language.

Although Sophie had some major health issues this last year, we were able to climb the Acropolis for a photo opportunity. I was so glad to see her health on the mend.

Here's the entire Acropolis gang. Christina and Sophie and I each climbed with our kids. It's been a dream of ours to get the families together. Although this is only partial, it's a start. And while we are not basking in the summer glow of a Greek Island, we'll take it! What an amazing visit. These are the types of friends that no matter how many years pass, and the physical distance between us, we grow closer.

Below is Amira at the temple of Poseidon. We got to stay and bring in the New Year with our Greek family. What a trip!  Best decision I'd made all year.

Meanwhile, January saw Rex taking a trip with some of his SoCal friends out to Joshua tree. Here is a photo of him and Dylan and some other good friends.

Now, I'd had some wish list things to do in 2019: Kayaking, camping, beaching and getting a cockatiel. In December I had put myself on a wait list for a hand raised baby cockatiel and was told I should see my new feathered friend about June because the list was long and it wasn't really breeding season. 

Much to my surprise, I got a call the day after arriving home from my trip that the baby was here. My friend Grace and I drove down to the Bird Shop in Roseville to find my new feathered buddy. Grace is a cockatiel expert. So, meet Todd. He's awesome. He "helps" me work and he likes to sit on the couch and cuddle in the evenings. We've taught him to whistle "If you're happy and you know it" and also the theme from the Andy Griffith Show.

February came and I had a hankering to be by the ocean. So Michael and the girls and I spent Groundhog weekend in Mendocino. There was a ton of rain forecast. When I woke up Saturday morning I saw this amazing view from our room. The weather really cooperated with us that day. The only time it misted on us was while we were inside a restaurant or hotel. Our entire day of hiking the bluffs and visiting the sea was glorious.

A week after our quick jaunt to the coast was Michael's birthday. My plan was to cook up a turkey dinner (his favorite) while I worked all day. I was actually on a phone call when I felt a presence behind me in my office/laundry room. I turned and squealed a little bit as Rex was standing right behind me. What a fun surprise! He came home to surprise Michael. That's the best unexpected gift really. He stayed part of the week with us. Sadly, Michael had to leave on a trip the very next day. But his actual birthday was pretty special.

Rex got along really well with Todd. Those two are buddies now.

Mr. Whiskers helped Michael celebrate his special day too.

Upon Michael's return from his business trip, it was Amira's 15th birthday. He took her and her friend, Sarah, to a concert in Sacramento to see Panic at the Disco. Big fun.

And because we cannot seem to sit still here, following this, Valerie and I had planned a trip up to Oregon to talk to the livestock judging coach at Linn Benton Community College as well as the Environmental Studies and Music departments at OSU. Since Valerie had also been admitted to Humboldt State University we thought we would drive back over to the coast for a tour of that campus to check it out.

We drove along highway 299 through the burned out canyon courtesy of last summer's Carr Fire. Weather had brought down some incredible landslides that had the highway closed down to just one lane. The drive, however, was absolutely gorgeous winding through canyons, along rivers, through old west towns, varying elevations bringing us rain and some snow until we reached Aracata (home of HSU). We even saw a bald eagle soaring above the river on our drive.

Here's Valerie under a redwood at the HSU campus. She was really enjoying the tour.

Following the campus tour, we went over to Mad River beach. Yes, there was torrential rain the entire time and it was cold. Valerie said she actually preferred the HSU campus to OSU. She likes cold rainy weather. She liked that HSU was a smaller school and it's proximity to the beach. Also, this will be a lot less expensive than paying out of state tuition at OSU. Like that practicality!

As the weather was turning pretty nasty and getting over the mountain passes into Oregon and back was going to be treacherous, we canceled the Oregon portion of the planned trip. Also, she pretty much made up her mind that she was not going to school in Oregon. So, no point in driving up there. We came home and immediately started signing up for dorms at HSU for the fall.

I was able to snag some more photos of Rex from down South. The international students attending Long Beach State University, with whom he lives, had a trip to see the Hollywood sign and take a hike in the hills. Here's Rex enjoying the contrasting sunshine of SoCal while we are swimming up here in the north.

And that's pretty much our winter re-cap. Rex is still down South. I spend my days working in my home office/laundry room and pushing paperwork through to ensure Valerie is fully admitted to HSU. Amira is busy with high school life and friends. She has some Girl Scout adventures planned this weekend. Valerie, as usual, is signed up for way too many activities. Michael is off traveling internationally to support the family at home. 

As March unfolds I'm sure we'll have some more adventures to capture here at Tifftown. Rarely a quiet place.