Letter from home - January 4, 2015

Dear ones, The New Year is off to a good start! I have had me some grandchildren time and took a trip, even if only a short one, all in four days time!   

The grandchildren have been on Christmas break. Wednesday, Traci brought Gabrielle and Isabella to Creston and took Jack back home with her. The children stayed until Saturday. Bella stayed with Audri and Nana and PaPa’s and Gabrielle went to Aunt Erica’s.

The children all did very well. Bella and Audri slept all night the first night on the couch. The second night, Gabrielle and Maddie joined us and all four girls slept in the ‘corner room’. They started out all four in the bed but soon, two were on the floor. We didn’t hear a peep out of them this night either so our little ones are growing up!

They requested pancakes both mornings and I think Bella ate three each time (they weren’t large but still!). Otherwise, they ate good (altho each has a varied diet) and didn’t snack much. And they were busy the whole time!

Friday, we sewed. Gabrielle declares she prefers hand sewing but did work some on the machine. Audri declared that she will wait a few years to use the foot pedal on the sewing machine so she was satisfied to turn the needle by hand. Maddie uses the machine and practiced sewing a few buttons and bells. Mainly, new beds and spreads were made for the new Barbie hospital but there were a few other things too, a little bear, for one. The girls came up with all the ideas and my role was just to help them figure out how to make it happen. Don’t you think they did a great job?  And they left all the Barbies dressed and presentable and the house and hospital neat and orderly!  Yay!   

This is a bear -- and amazing in that the children had no pattern or example to work from!

 

This really isn't a sample of their sewing skills but of their creative planning and organizational skills.  A Barbie hospital!  How creative is that! 

Bella went to Audri’s Friday evening to spend the night. I think none of us except Bella knew that she would stay. I was prepared for a call about 9:30 saying Bella was ready to come back but the call never came and she stayed the night! Gabby and Maddie went back to the country.

Lanny had been wanting a major snow storm and a storm was expected to come in Saturday, predicted to clobber southeast Iowa and to miss Creston. Since the storm wouldn’t come to Lanny, I took Lanny to the storm! We had a reservation at Le Claire on the Mississippi River. We had visions of watching a raging blizzard out our hotel window. I had visions of getting snowed in for two or three days, walking on the river bank in the snow while more snow fell heavily around us. I had visions of us having to eat only free breakfast items (three times a day) in the hotel breakfast area because we wouldn't be able to get out to the grocery store or restaurant.

Errrtttt! Brakes on!  Whoa Nancy! Didn’t happen.

It snowed about an 1-½ in the night, while we were sleeping! So much for the best laid plans (hopes and dreams!). The laugh was on us.

We did get to see Eagles tho. Eagles over winter around open water. The Mississippi is not frozen now. We had heard that the Eagle watching will be good through January around Davenport which is why we came to Le Claire. We were rewarded with numerous eagle sightings. I counted seven eagles in the tree, looking through the binoculars. It is not a great photo but as we were across the river from these birds, I feel lucky that my camera had the zoom power to get a photo, at all!

The second photo is taken from Iowa looking into Illinois. It was taken this morning, after the snow. It really was a winter wonderland and made me to cold to look! 

Sunday morning about 8 am I see on the news that there is still a chance of snow for LeClaire, Iowa.  I am determined to try and hold off our departure and try to get Himself to stay for a second night on the river. Because! Because there is a chance for more snow on Monday too! Snow in the Sunday early morning hours, more snow coming today and big snow expected Monday!  

We weighed our options and counted our toes, played paper, rock and scissors --  and then Himself thought we should make a break for home. We ate our free hot breakfast, loaded up and headed west. And this is where the irony sets in.

For the first leg of our trip home, we drove on slick, snow packed roads thru heavy snow flurries and city traffic. From Le Clair to Iowa City and beyond.  We are on I-80 as we figure the interstate will be cleared better than smaller state roads. Himself is driving. It is a long hour, hour and a half, plowing through the snow, clearing our windshield and watching 18-wheelers buzz by. 

He isn’t so happy about it but he cannot complain.
I had said “stay”.
We “went”.

We are home safe and sound.