We're back

Well we made it back from our trip to Oroville safely. We had a nice time remembering all the good times we have had there with my grandmother who passed away 5 years ago, and my recently deceased step-grandfather. We were able to clear out a lot of the stuff that was in the house and get it ready for potential buyers to look at. We left some furniture and art on the walls for staging purposes. The house is now on the market. It was a little depressing getting it ready to sell, but it was good for us to be a part of the preparations for closure purposes. Its the end of an era, as we have been making trips up there for the last 30 years to visit the grandparents. Now we really don't have a reason to make trips up there. We connected with my cousin's family up there, and we talked about meeting somewhere half-way at some point in the future.

I was able to bring home my grandfather's car and it is a huge blessing! It is really nice! It is a '98 Buick Park Avenue with leather seats, sun roof, and all the accessories which are all computerized. It drives really smooth and it seats 6! That gives us room for an additional person when we go places with extended family saving us from taking two cars places. I also got to bring back a leaf blower, a serving platter with a matching butter server and salt and pepper shaker, and some crystal ware. Another blessing is that I was able to bring back the fairly new microwave and its black which matches my appliances as they are all black and stainless steel. I really needed the microwave because ours was really old, and hideous to look at. Someone asked me how it went with all the relatives and dividing up stuff and I have to say it went really well. No one argued over anything. The attitude was, "If you can use it, take it". I'm glad everyone was mature about that kind of thing. The focus was on the important stuff like remembering our loved ones, and all the experiences we shared with them.

The kids did really well in the car which was an answer to a prayer. We had very little fussing and didn't have to stop a whole lot. It was extra notable that Elijah did well on the trip because the portable DVD player didn't work. Doug had used it and lost the cords so I found out the night before our trip that we didn't have it all set which was disappointing but as I said Elijah did really well anyway so we didn't need it. We did break up the trip back in half by stopping at Harris Ranch overnight which was really nice. They have an olympic sized swimming pool and three spas. The kids really loved swimming. They also have a really good steak house (obviously since they are a cattle ranch). We really enjoyed ourselves, and had really good food which was a good way to end the trip.