July--Oregon visit part 1

After leaving Minnesota we traveled to Laramie to meet with the sellers (Jerry & Olive) of our house--it was fun to show the boys around, and they felt at home right away! From Laramie we went to Meridian and spent the night with Stephen's parents, then on to Corvallis to see my little boys! 

I was so excited and anxious to be with Lincoln and Trevor that I wasn't thinking about anything else until we were about 10 miles from the farm. Then it hit me: Mom wasn't there. Mom was always there when we came to visit...only now, she's not. Wow. Another first. 

The first few days at the farm I hardly looked up from the floor. Everything there Mom put there. The music on the piano. The quilts on the wall. The pictures on the shelf. The plants and decorations and books and notes and cushions and knick knacks...she was in everything, only she wasn't there anymore. 

Dad noticed my distress and said, taking me in a huge hug, "I know. It's hard without her here." 

And that's the bare naked truth.

***

One thing--the only thing, really--I wanted to do when we were in Corvallis was walk with my Grandpa. His 90th birthday was August 2nd, and to commemorate that he was walking 90 miles in the 10 days beforehand. I walked 13 miles with him the first day (with absolutely NO training on my part--boy was I feeling that big walk!!), but only 6.5 the next--my body said I couldn't keep up with Grandpa! Day three the kids and I walked to the Farmer's Market with him.

The kids enjoyed a famous Nancy cinnamon roll, and Trevor looooooved the local Gumbo band. He was really boogy-ing!

The kids had lots of great bonding time with Dad--I wish I had more pictures of him with them! I got really worried a couple of days before Lincoln and Trevor were going to leave with him--how would he handle Trevor (still) pooping in his underwear? What about making meals and tucking in at night? I told him all of my concerns and he reminded me that he helped raise 5 kids--he'd be just fine. And he was! They had a great time together.

On Sunday we visited my Mom's grave. I was glad to be there--and even gladder (I know that isn't a word) to see that she and Grandma were buried right next to each other. It made her passing even more real. More this-actually-happened. More permanent.

Arm wrestling

Cousins picking peaches--Mom would have loved this!