Our Stay is Coming to an End

We have been living with Zach & Xin’s family since mid-December, helping out with childcare of Reiya and Nolan and basic household chores. On June 3, we head back to Phoenix, a 5-day 2300 mile drive. Xin’s mom Hongping is flying out a week later to take another 6-month stint as au pair. It seems we are getting out of FL just as the weather has turned from very pleasant to hot and muggy; we’re not sad to miss the hurricane season.

Reiya has been a delight the whole time; she has the most winsome smile. If you look at her and make a face or say, “Boo.” her face lights up. This girl eats like she’s starving, is an escape artist if you leave the gate in her kiddy corral open, and loves to chew on books (she now has 6 teeth). If you’re doing something with your phone, then she tries to climb up you like you were a jungle gym and go after it. She is not walking just yet, but can furniture crawl pretty well.

Nolan is complicated; he can be a real sweetheart and turn around and be really annoying. He is often very loud and still has a hard time understanding that he needs to wait when others are talking. So it was pretty funny when he closed the door to our bedroom one evening because Rita and I were being “too loud” during a Zoom meeting. He’s a bit young to grasp the concept of irony. Lately, he has really been into making all sorts of Lego creations. Our morning routine consists of me making him breakfast (most often PB & J), getting him ready for pre-school, then taking him there. Rita puts Reiya in the stroller and takes her along on her long walk in the morning.

The last couple months Xin has been on a mission to strengthen his knowledge of Chinese. After supper, they go into his room and work on flashcards, familiar stories (Lego characters, Octonauts, Pokemon) all in Chinese. She must have bought 100 books of different collections. They speak almost exclusively in Chinese when they are together. He’ll be well equipped to speak with his Chinese grandmother.

We haven’t been to the beach very often, largely because it’s such an operation to get everything packed up into the car, then cleaning the sand off everything we bring home. Still they love it. Here I’m feeding Reiya segments of an orange. Rita is helping Nolan collect shells.

On 4/7 we flew to Dallas to see the eclipse and visit my sister Janet who was babysitting her granddaughter. We were nervous about our prospects of getting a clear view since it was cloudy there. Fortunately, there was a break in the clouds just about 3 minutes before totality that lasted long enough to see the whole thing. Meghan & Ben’s family drove up to Ben’s parents’ place in VT and got a great view. I didn’t take my good camera, so this shot with an iPhone was the best I could get. Here is my sister Janet texting during totality; it’s amazing how dark it gets for the four minutes the sun’s disk is completely covered. We flew back to FL that evening and didn’t get back home til after midnight. Yuck! Rita and I ordered T-shirts to commemorate the two total eclipses we have been able to view.

Here are shots I took with my Canon when we went to a big eclipse party with friends in Missouri in 2017. For the first two I had a solar filter on a telephoto lens before totality; during totality I was able to safely take pictures without the filter. People say that a partial eclipse is spectacular, but it’s nothing like a total eclipse.

Below are a few miscellaneous shots. A couple of weeks ago, we went to the Naples Zoo. We were fortunate to be there at the time they let kids feed giraffes. Zach is holding Reiya and Nolan out on the lanai. The last shot is of Zach towing the kids in the new bike trailer he bought.

We will miss everyone here, naturally, but it will be nice to be back home in our own place and with Leah & Joel’s family, Ag and our good friends.

8 months and standing

The last couple months have seen remarkable changes in Reiya’s development. When she first began crawling a couple of months ago, she was having a hard time getting around. But a month later we had to make sure than the gate to her enclosure was closed; otherwise she would make a jailbreak. Then, a couple of weeks ago, she learned to pull herself up to a standing position; now she is not content unless she is standing, and going after everything that she should not have.

Her upper two incisors have erupted, so her naps have been shorter and she has not been sleeping well at night. Thankfully, she naps pretty well in her stroller or in the front-facing carrier. She gnaws on everything, especially board books and rice husks (they look like little surfboards). She has graduated to the high chair.

A couple of weeks ago, Nolan’s pre-school had Spring break, so we had both kids on our hands for 3 VERY long days. Nolan emerges from his room at 6:30 and says, “OK, Grandpa, let’s play.”
We went to a regional water park on Thursday and a splash pad on Friday. That was great fun. Nolan took these “daring” 6″ jumps from the pool step into 1.5 ft of water – what a hoot!

Nolan is getting better about saying “Please” and “Thank-you” and his meltdowns are less severe and shorter in duration. But he still talks incessantly, his voice is very loud, and he doesn’t seem to grasp the concept that he has to wait his turn to talk. We’re working on him. He can be a real character.

My friends from high school (class of ’68) Vinceena and Dave came down from their winter condo in Stuart (about 3 hrs NE on the Atlantic coast) to visit last week, We met them at the Naples Botanical Garden and had a beautiful day to walk through it. Reiya was excellent throughout, so that made the day even more enjoyable (Nolan was at pre-school). The orchids were especially pretty. It was nice catching up, though somewhat saddening to learn of the passing of some of our classmates.

My right knee (1 year) feels and flexes like what I imagine a normal knee should do; it’s hard for me to remember what that’s like as it’s been a couple years since it was right. My left (5 months) is still a bit stiff and slightly swollen, but I can walk up to 3 miles or go for a 6-8 mile bike ride and not have to ice afterwards. So, that’s encouraging. We’ve been too busy around here to play much pickle ball and there’s no terrain around here for hikes. That will be the true test of how well I can function.

Yesterday, Zach took the afternoon off and the two of us went to see Dune-part 2. We’re both big fans of the novel by Frank Herbert, so we were really interested in how successful Denis Villeneuve would be bringing it to the screen. We thought the cinematography was excellent (loved the arena and sandworm riding scenes) but were puzzled by the ending. We got into an interesting discussion with Leah & Joel about why Paul Atreides was portrayed leading a galactic jihad and Chani turning away from him, dismayed by his actions, when we didn’t remember the novel ending that way. I went back to the end of the novel in which Jessica reassures Chani, that despite Paul’s political marriage to the emperor’s daughter, Chani would be the love of his life. Apparently, Villeneuve did some foreshadowing of Dune Messiah in this movie. We’re real SF nerds, no?

Chinese New Year – in Naples

Just as we Westerners get excited about decorating the house for Christmas, Xin has been very enthused about getting ready for Chinese New Year – the 15-day celebration starts today. Zach & Xin went shopping to buy a bunch of food to prepare for a dinner party tomorrow as well as posters to put up on the doors, red socks, and the like.

Today’s big event was making dumplings – a Chinese New Year’s tradition. It was a very labor-intensive project. Everyone chipped in under Xin’s expert supervision.

Nolan is starting to calm down. He’s getting less demanding and starting to use “Please” and “Thank-you”. He can still think of 20 reasons for why we should allow him to do what he wants instead of doing what we ask, but when he doesn’t get his way he’s not as frustrated as he had been before. This kid is like the Energizer Bunny – he runs around, talking up a storm, getting into mischief and never seems to run down.

He’s a hoot when he eats breakfast, loading the piece of egg onto the fork, then putting it in his mouth. The reason he’s looking off to the side is that we let him watch Octonauts on Netflix while eating breakfast. He’s mesmerized by the show.

Nolan is very good with his younger sister. Here, he is trying to feed her. Note the dragon on his shirt and the red socks they ‘re both wearing.

Reiya – 6 months

Today, our granddaughter Reiya is 6 months old. Unlike her brother Nolan, who has always been slight, at 18.5 lbs (88th %-ile), Reiya is no lightweight. She is a very good-tempered baby; she smiles and giggle a lot, especially if you are making faces at her. But when she’s hungry, she lets you know it. It’s funny to watch her reach for the bottle when you bring it near. Unfortunately for Zach & Xin, she’s teething, so she is not sleeping well at night – neither are they! In the pix below you can see the two bottom incisors have emerged and she’s almost able to hold her own bottle. The first baby book we got 40+ years ago said that for the first 5 months, changing a diaper on a baby was like putting one on a sand bag with arms and legs. But at 6 months, it was like putting one on a washing machine agitator. Never were truer words written.

Nolan is very good with his sister, but we wonder if he’s having some trouble adjusting to not being the center of the universe. Lately, he’s been getting up in the middle of the night, coming into our room and asking Grandma to get him a snack before going back to bed. But he only stays there if Rita sleeps with him the rest of the night, which leaves her somewhat sleep-deprived as well. Aaaarrgh!

It’s hard to believe that we’ve been here 5 weeks already. The routine has been for me to get Nolan breakfast and take him to daycare, while Rita takes Reiya for a long walk in the stroller. It’s mostly peaceful around here until Nolan returns from daycare. Then it’s crazy-busy until he goes to bed with either Zach or Xin staying with him in his room until he finally goes to sleep. One different thing about our multi-generational family is that Nolan speaks Mandarin with his mom and English with us. It’s very neat that, at 4, he is bilingual.

My left knee (now 14 weeks from the partial replacement) is getting stronger and more flexible. I still have issues getting off the floor, but I’m looking less like a giraffe getting off the ground. We played pickle ball this weekend. While I’m not as mobile as I’d like, my knee doesn’t ache after I’m done. I can walk 2 miles easily and have been biking 4-5 miles a couple of times a week.

Christmas with Family

First of all, Happy New Year to readers of this blog!

As I said in my previous post, our entire family had not been together since 2018. So, we were excited that Meghan & Ben and Leah & Joel’s families were able to fly here to celebrate Christmas. A wonderful benefit of Zach working for Arthrex is that the girls’ families were able to share a 3-room suite at the company hotel for an astonishingly low rate. Every day they were able to play pickle ball on the nearby courts. Zach, Rita and I were able to join them on a few occasions. We had dinners at Zach & Xin’s house. These were hectic, raucous affairs as it was a challenge both cooking for 14 people and finding space for everyone to be seated to eat. I was afraid that Nolan would be somewhat territorial with 5 invading cousins, but he played with them (especially Ophelia) very nicely.

Leah made tie-dyed shirts for all 15 of us. We managed to get a couple shots of the family in which everyone had their eyes open. Xin had to work on Christmas Day so we had our big celebration on the Eve.

From L–>R in family units you see Briar, Meghan, Ben & Shep, then Rita and me, then Zach, Nolan, Xin & Reiya, then Leah, Ophelia, Wyatt, Joel and Cal.

On Christmas Day, after Xin got home from work, we opened stockings, then presents, then had another feast. We marveled at how it took us all day to prepare a meal that seemed to be consumed in under 10 minutes.

gathering aorund dessert

Zach pours homemade coquitos.

The next two days, the kids’ families went to local beaches, while Xin worked and Zach tried to catch up on sleep. Reiya is drinking a bottle every 2-3 hours, so they are sleep deprived. She’s also teething, so she’s been pretty cranky.

At night we all played pickle ball. On Thursday, Zach stayed home to watch Reiya while the rest of us went to Bird Rookery Swamp, about 11 miles from here. We saw egrets and cormorants and had a brief glimpse of an alligator on our 2.5 mile R/T hike.

Alas, on Friday, the girls’ families had to fly home. It was a memorable visit and we hope it won’t be another 5 years before we can repeat.

Back to Florida

Zach and Xin had a new baby girl, Reiya on 7/23. Xin’s mother, Hongping, came out from China to stay with them until early this month to help out with childcare. We agreed to take a turn when Hongping had to return when her visa expired. Rita reluctantly agreed to drive to Naples, FL – she would have preferred to fly, but then we would have had to transport our vehicle. What made the trip less onerous was that we took 6 days to make the trip, rather than try to kill ourselves getting there.

We left on Sunday 12/10 with our Forester loaded to the gills for our 6 month stay in FL. After stopping in Las Cruces, NM the next day we took a short detour to see White Sands National Monument, we drove SE to Big Bend National Park. We stayed at a cute lodge in Terlingua.. We got a bum steer from Google maps which had us drive 15 miles on an unimproved road through the park (average speed 20 mph). We were grateful that the Forester had pretty high ground clearance.

white sand is actually very fine grain gypsum

After we left the park we took US 90 to San Antonio where we had some time to enjoy the Riverwalk.

On day 4 we made it to New Orleans and had a nice stay at the Omni Royal Orleans right in the French Quarter. Rita had never been to the Big Easy before, so it was fun to walk around on Bourbon Street where we had a great supper at Mambo’s. The next morning we had beignets at Cafe Beignet on Decatur St. Then we had our easiest drive (6 hrs) to Panama City Beach on the FL panhandle.

We stayed at the Driftwood Lodge which was a minimalist place right on the beach. It would have been a pleasant stay except for the gale force winds we experienced that afternoon.

On Friday, we had a 10-hr drive to Naples; we could have made better time, but we stopped every couple hours to let me stretch my legs. Anyway, it was great to see the kids and grandkids. We decided to use their 5-ft Norfolk Island pine as the tree; hanging ornaments on the slender branches was a bit of challenge, but we did it.

Nolan (4)

Meghan & Ben’s family is flying in from MD on Friday; Leah & Joel’s family arrives on Saturday. They will stay at the posh Arthrex hotel (Zach’s company) about 15 minutess from here. Zach got them a smokin’ rate on a suite with a large common area. This Christmas will be the first time we’ve all been together in 5 years.

2024 – The Year of the Knee

I’ve had issues with my knees for a while but until this year, Synvisc (hyaluronic acid) injections have allowed me to put off getting new ones. I twisted my right knee badly on a killer hike on a trail on Oahu last November, so I got a partial replacement (medial side) in early March. Then, in mid October, I had the same procedure done for the left knee. Nine months later, my right knee feels almost normal. Nine weeks later, I’m still doing rehab exercises and icing the left, but I’m now up to 2 miles walking on level surfaces. 

Below are x-rays showing what a partial replacement looks like. The one at right shows the incision after 2 weeks. The last one is a view at 9 weeks. My left knee is still a bit stiff and swollen, but I hope to be hiking, biking and playing some pickle ball pretty soon.

My surgeon, Dr. Braiden Heaps, Dignity Health Group, Mercy Gilbert was terrific! In addition to his surgical competence, he’s a great listener as well as superb at explaining what to expect. I would recommend him without reservation to anyone considering this procedure.

Our Summer Adventure – part 3

We had a week to recover from our trip to TX before Rita, her sister Agnes and I flew out to Grand Rapids, MI on 9/8. Teresa picked us up and took us to their place in Kalamazoo. We stayed there a couple of days to prepare for our trip up to a beachfront house on Lake Michigan (near Mears). Ag got a custom frosting topper for the birthday cake she made for James. We drove up to the beach house on Sat 9/10. The house was spacious and very well-equipped and on the edge of a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan. That Saturday the lake wasn’t freezing as you can see from the shot below where Rita (L) is up to her chest in the water.

Saturday was also the group and couple picture day.

One of the nice things about this gathering is that, after going out to dinner Saturday evening, the rest of the week a different couple prepared dinner. All of the dinners were terrific; no one went hungry. Shown above was our main dish – a spinach-sausage pie, supplemented by sauteed green beans & mushrooms and salad.

The beach and the nearby road were conducive to taking relaxing walks down past the lighthouse, but there was also plenty of time to read or watch Virgin River (Netflix) in the evening.

Views of the sunsets from the deck were great and most nights we could sit out by the fire pit. On Thursday, we went for a dune ride in a 12-passenger jeep-like vehicle. The driver/guide, a retired math teacher, was a hoot!

The downside to this idyllic gathering was the outbreak of covid-19. First Ag demonstrated symptoms on Sunday and tested (+) on Monday. Then Martin & James became symptomatic & tested (+) Wednesday; Mark became sick on Thursday. Teresa & Marvin returned home, but the rest of us stuck it out til we left on Saturday. Somehow, Mel, Rita and I managed to avoid getting sick, although by Wednesday we were all wearing masks. Mark & Ag stayed at Mark & Diane’s house while Diane lived in the Ma’s apartment. Rita and I were able to stay at Martin & James’ place on the farm til we flew back to Phoenix on Monday; we really appreciated being given this option. The selfie below was taken on their side porch.

Our Summer Adventure – part 2 (the wedding)

We had a couple of days after our return from VT to pack & prepare for our drive to Austin to see my sister Janet and then go to Justin (nephew) & Lizelle’s wedding in Dallas. Meghan & Ben and Leah & Joel got grandmas to watch their kids, but Zach & Xin were bringing Nolan along. So we put the car seat & pack-n-play in the Forester and headed out on 8/23. We made it to a dumpy hotel in Van Horn TX (550 miles) on the first day. We were cruising along nicely on day 2 when we heard this horrible racket under the hood and pulled over, opened the hood and realized something was drastically wrong with the engine. We were on US190, a more scenic route than I-10 just about 10 miles west of the little town of Eldorado, TX. Fortunately, a Good Samaritan, a local veterinarian, pulled over and waited for us to make arrangements with Subaru Roadside Assistance to have our car towed the 200 miles to Austin, then we transferred most of our stuff to his pickup and he drove us to Eldorado where we had lunch together. Afterwards, his assistant drove us 30 miles north to San Angelo where there was a small airport and a rental car agency. We rented a small Ford Ecosport and got to Austin a few hours later than planned.

On Thursday 8/25 the Austin Subaru service rep told us that the engine had spun a rod bearing (catastrophic failure); He recommended having it transported to Phoenix, thinking it would be more likely that we could get a new short block there. So, we traded our little rental for a Buick Enclave (a boat) and Friday drove to the DFW airport, picked up Zach, Xin and Nolan and took them to the hotel where we were all staying. The other kids got in a bit later. We went to a Mexican restaurant for the rehearsal dinner. While the party was nice, the place was so loud that our family went out to the balcony for a while just to give our ears a break. The shots below are from that event.

Saturday morning we all piled into the Buick and drove to the Dallas Botanical Garden where which was really beautiful – a very nice way to spend the morning. The AT&T building near our hotel had a spectacular LCD display in the lobby. On Saturday, the theme was aquatic; on one wall was a screen that had to be 40′ long with jellyfish floating upwards. On the pillars were wrap-around under-sea scenes. The group self portrait was taken in a very large mirrored spheroid outside the lobby.

The wedding was held in the beautiful Cathedral Guadalupe in downtown Dallas. I got to do the 2nd reading. Marshall and Amelia (the children of Janet’s older son, Chris) were ring bearer and flower girl; they were very cute as they walked solemnly down the aisle. Afterwards, we went to a posh club for the reception, where, after a very nice meal, a great MoTown-style band provided the entertainment. Nolan had the best time – he loved all the attention he was getting.

On Sunday we took Zach, Xin & Nolan back to the airport and then drove back to Austin. The next day we spent quite a while firming up details about getting our car back to Phoenix and trading in the Buick for a Chevy Malibu to drive back to Phoenix. We left Austin on Tuesday and made it as far as Las Cruces, NM where we ate at the same restaurant/gift shop as we had when we drove back home from Florida a year earlier. We got back home on Wed, returned the rental and then relaxed.

Then began the long wait for our car to get repaired. The transport company delivered it to the Subaru Superstore of Chandler (where we bought it) on 9/6. The techs there tore the engine apart and found that it had, indeed, spun a rod bearing and that the short block needed to be replaced. Ironically, the closest place where they could find one was back in TX. After they got the new parts they had to wait for a gasket set to arrive. Then, there was an issue with replacing a high pressure fuel line (which was back-ordered). Once they got that they found that the oil pressure sensor was giving faulty readings so that had to be replaced. The final result is that we only got our car back today (10/8). The folks at the dealership and at Subaru of America have been very nice; we have been reimbursed for all of our out-of-pocket expenses ($2200) and we are awaiting a call from the Customer Advocacy guy about how Subaru will compensate us for our inconvenience.

Our Summer Adventure – part 1

On August 9, Rita and I flew to DCA where Martin & James picked us up and took us to Meghan & Ben’s home in Rockville. We hadn’t been there in a year and hadn’t seen them and Briar & Shep since they came out here for Christmas. We walked them to summer camp and played with them at the pool for a few days, took them to the movies, etc. The first order of business was for James to give Rita her semi-annual haircut, then we all went out to a Mexican restaurant. The other shot is of Briar and Shep having fun.

I worked on their deck project, cutting the 14′ lengths of cumaru into smaller pieces to prepare for installation when Ben got done with work each evening. I helped him affix the planks to the joists using hidden deck fasteners called ipe clips; a tedious process, but worth it in the long run as there are no screws or nails in the face of the planks. Below are shots of what we managed to get done before we drove up to VT to stay at Ben’s parents place for a week.

Ben’s parents have a beautiful place in Dorset, VT, near Manchester. The scenery was spectacular and the weather was wonderful – 30° cooler than it was in Phoenix at the time. The last shot is a view from the deck.

We went hiking and played in the pond with the grandkids. The pond was pretty cold so this was as far as Rita could venture in.

On Friday 8/19, Ben’s parents (Dan & Corinne-at left in shot below) got back from visiting their daughter in London. The next day we went for a 2.5 mile hike in the nearby woods. Later that day, Meghan & Ben drove us to Albany, where we flew to Chicago, then on to Phoenix. Making our connection was a near thing as our ALB->ORD flight was delayed 90 min, eating up all of our layover. Rita and I did the 70-year-old OJ Simpson imitation dashing through the airport to catch our ORD->PHX flight. We made it home after midnight, but it worked out.

We had a really nice time, but there was more summer fun to come. Next stop: the wedding.