To Idaho and Back

Last week I flew to Idaho to visit my daughter Emily, her husband Anthony, and their four children. I felt like the groundhog coming out of his hole after a long long winter! And I did not see my shadow. A lot of people have asked me what it was like to get on a plane right now, so I’ll tell you.

My flight north was at 6:15 am and only had 38 people on it. I arrived two hours before and was pretty much the only person in the airport except for TSA agents. I breezed through security and found my terminal. When it came time to board, we were all waved forward in no order and we could sit with seats between us. Not so on the way back, a flight with an 11:40 am departure. The plane was completely full. I got an aisle seat next to two people who slept the whole way. Apparently Southwest no longer attempts to socially distance their passengers.

I tried not to touch surfaces like the tray table. People were good about leaving their masks on. No one took our temperature. The only time we were asked if we felt healthy was when we checked in online. Having had the 2 doses of vaccine, though (plus two weeks) I felt pretty safe.

And the visit was just wonderful. What a joy to be able to hug family again. Emily and Anthony picked me up at the airport and I had four fabulous days playing with the kiddos and visiting with the adults.

Little Luca was as adorable as his pictures and the girls and I enjoyed painting, making things from clay, paper beading, and playing games. I had brought Silas a book that he loved and asked for throughout the day, and he liked his Jungle Buddies. I cooked meals so they wouldn’t have to and baked bread. Such fun!

The weather was a bit off and on, with rain sometimes, a little hail one day, and then bright sunshine the rest of the time. Sunday was nice and we drove into Boise to visit the zoo. The older kids had a great time running around and little Luca was snug in his stroller, sleeping the whole time.

All too soon it was time to leave but I back brought with me a lot of great memories. We’ll see them again in August when we drive the motor home to Idaho on our way back to Arizona.

Bob and Auggie missed me but were happy to see me home again. And now we have the big move to do. Six months is a long time to be away from all my activities so they come with us, and that means a lot of work. Yesterday we had a guy come and wash the motor home so I stayed in and sewed up a couple pairs of cropped pants. And made pizza. Now the pants are done and I will be spending a lot of time each day lugging things over to the MH. Ugh. I really don’t enjoy this part, and it’s harder because we haven’t done it in eighteen months. But it will get done.

Traveling Time

I hope you all are doing well. It’s hard to believe the pandemic started one year ago this week and it became real to me when I started sewing masks for my grandchildren. I remember it being very upsetting to think that they would have to experience this. Now hopefully we are coming out the other side of it. And after making 178 masks, I’m ready to stop making them.

Bob and I have received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine and our bodies handled it well. In a couple of days we’ll be past the 2 weeks post-shot and can consider ourselves immune, or a least safe from a serious case.

Our daughter, Emily has had her baby! Little Luca was born Thursday afternoon at home, with his family around him. At 8 lbs, 13 ounces, he’s a good sized little fellow, and mother and baby are doing well.

I can’t wait to meet him, which I’ll be doing on Friday because I’m flying to Idaho to visit and help out for a few days. The timing here was crucial...my immunity had to be complete and we will be getting the motor home out of storage in a week and a half in preparation for our trip east, so there really was no wiggle room with our dates. I’m so excited! Bob really wanted to come but we decided it would be best if he and Auggie stayed back. Auggie is 15 years old now and we don’t think he’d handle the stress of a plane ride very well.

I’ve been knitting, sewing, and weaving like crazy the past several months. Here’s what I sent off to Luca:

A pin loom baby blanket

A tiny teddy bear, a crocheted doughnut rattle, booties, hat, mittens, a little mouse...

...and some Norwex baby items. Some things I forgot to photograph. Today I made him some pants. But they are a surprise so I can’t show you.

Bob made Luca a wooden baby rattle—it’s beautiful.

Bob has been busy making other things as well. Here he’s working on a bowl, and you can see the wishing well he built for our front yard. He made the bucket, too!

And here is the handle he made for one of my favorite spatulas. 

Once I get back from Idaho we’ll start loading up the motor home and closing down the house. It’s a big job. I don’t leave any food in Arizona, and most of our clothes will come as well. Even though we’ll be heading into summer we may hit some cold weather on our way back this fall. And I bring a lot of crafting things as well. Ah well...

We are looking forward to our trip across country. Stay tuned! I’ll be blogging more often as we get back on the road.