Bittersweet Farewell

Well we knew this time was coming , in all of our plans and preparations we knew the day would come when we would face our family and friends and say good bye and be off on our next adventure together as a couple .We knew that the day would come when we would be alone together as it was so many years ago when we began our first adventure as a young married couple.

In 30 years we have experienced many of life's greatest pleasures, and that would be the lives of our cherished children and their new families. As much as we would want our whole family to be with us all the time we knew life does not work that way , and eventually each member would decide to leave us and start their own family, thus the family tree grows branches.

After raising our kids we needed to take a look at our lives and say to ourselves "whats next kiddo", want to try something different , how about a warmer climate with no snow and cold ? remember when we talked about moving to some place warm.

The decision was made a few years ago to go for it , and now here we are pulling up some of those tree roots and transplanting them in Arizona. Some ask " how can you leave your family" and our answer is that we are not leaving our family, our family will be with us at all times. We look at this change as not a separation of family but an extension of it .

When two people come together as a couple they dream dreams and share ideas knowing that some of the dreams will have to be on hold till you raise your family and fulfill your responsibilities to your children, but in time you can return to your thoughts and dreams, and if they are still strong , you build on it.

Leaving our friends is very hard ,but we know that in time we will be meeting new ones and by that our world gets bigger.

As hard as it will be to drive away from our family and friends the thought of this new adventure is so exciting and scary at the same time. And as always our home ,no matter where it is ,will always be a home for the family.

Many of you have said " now we have a place to visit in the winter" and so we are going to hold you to it .

See you in Arizona, love to all

our new home

We hit the ground running when we got to Arizona on Tuesday. we landed at 8:00 am and by 10:30 we were looking at the first apartment. over the first three days we looked at eight properties. Each one had good features. Too bad we couldn't put all the best together
for the perfect one. we struggled to figure out which one had the most benefits that worked for us plus size and price. we agreed that the one at Crystal Springs in Avondale- a two bedroom , two bath 1196 square foot apartment-had the most to offer. It is on the first floor and faces east south east. it has a nice size patio/balcony. we have a few pictures of the model,the pool and the buildings.It is nice to have this part done so that we know we have a place to come to.

Once we get settled in down here we will start looking a home to purchase

Going down memory lane

We decided to make one more trip to the north

shore and Grand Marais. We figure it may be

a long time until we get there again. so we

loaded up the van with an air mattress just

in case we couldn’t find a motel to stay in.

Good thing we did because the only thing open

was a room for $300.00 and that they said

was with a $90.00 discount. The campground

was very full too. We got one of the last

overflow spots. It was way back where they

used to have the garbage dumpsters and the

bears would frequent. Luckily they have moved

them and we saw no signs of any bear. It

reminded us of the first trip up there as

a married couple. I was expecting Ryan and

we slept in the back of our station wagon,

also in the over flow but back then that was

not far from the swimming pool. My how things

change. We have stayed in a lot of different

campsites over the years. We recalled some

of the interesting people we meet, several

families we saw annually and we watched

their kids grow up. Over the years, as is typical ,everything changes- not always for

the better in our minds. The atmosphere went

from the homey small harbors town to

the yuppie culture. We have a ton of

family memories there with the kids.

Very sweet memories of Grandma Caley,

boy are we glad we did all the things with her that we did. It is fun to see

the impact on our kids with those adventures. We now see Ryan and Erinn

& Angie and Scott taking their families on camping trips and such. And Jenni

is enjoying camping trips as well.

I believe any time spent with your

family is so important and I am so

happy to have had all those times

and memories. I hope to create a lot more in the future as well as

being as a big a part in my grandchildren’s

life’s as our kid’s grandparents have

been. We of course had

to have Sven & Ole’s pizza one more time. Overpriced but where else can you get

"shicken und vild rice" pizza.

We walked around to see all the old familar places before we left.
When we left Grand Marais we decided

to take Hwy 1 to Ely. Dale has always

commented when we went past that road

that one day he would like to take it

to Ely. So we thought no better time

then now. It was a very pretty road.

We stopped at the Steak house for

lunch then on the Chisholm to spend

the night. It was nice to be in a

almost normal living area. The camper

has worked out fine but I ready for

more room. All in all we had a very

nice relaxing time.

Swimming lessons for Hannah

Well the past two weeks have been fun for me. Since I have been staying

in the camper and pretty much not having a lot to do , I volunteered to take

Hannah to swimming lessons up at the city pool for 10 days at a half hour

per session. It felt funny being about the only guy hanging at the pool each

morning but I soon adjusted. It was fun watching all the kids in different age

groups taking to the water. I myself have never been comfortable in the water

if it was to deep and got over my head , for I never had swimming lessons and

never learned to swim and be confident being in deep water . Hannah went from

“not sure about doing that” to” I can do that “,It was fun seeing her learn to float

on her back and then gaining confidence to jumping off the diving board.
Hannah and Brook came back in the afternoon a few times to enjoy open

swimming and put what she learned to practice. I sure have enjoyed my time

with the girls this summer , my whole life I had to work and with that I missed

out on what the kids were doing, I was not there for the school concerts during

the day time hours, and any summer activities. The time I have had not working

full time has allowed me to receive a gift that I would not normally have gotten.
It was way cool getting to do the grandpa thing for in my younger days I was kept

busy with life’s demands and responsibilities to enjoy some of life’s simpler times

with the family and those days went fast. Now you know why children don’t

recognize their parents when they become grandparents ,for now they can slow

down and have a do-over with their grandkids, it only looks like their spoiling them.

Baptism at Lake Johanna

Sunday afternoon we were invited to join Angie and Scott at Lake Johanna as they expressed their faith in the act of baptism. Watching them commit their lives to the Lord is such a happy time for us as parents.We had a wonderful day. Over 300 people took the step of faith. Here are a few photos of the event. Congratulations Scott and Angie!

"High Five "

Angie shared the lake water with mom and dad

Scotts mom and dad (sherri and Al )