April, 2015

The Blooms returned from their annual trip to San Diego and came over Easter Sunday morning for an Easter egg hunt and lunch. The predicted rain held off until later in the day, thank you rain gods!

We celebrated Ryan and Beth’s birthdays from March at a local pizza parlor we had never been to before. Then it was time for Earth Day. In Rocklin, that means free day at the dumps. Rog and I rented a U-Haul trailer and spent the afternoon filling it up with the year’s accumulation of construction/remodel junk. Then we took the trailer over to the Blooms’ so they could add to it. The next day, after karate, Eric helped us out unloading it at the collection spot. All went quickly and smoothly. With the side yard cleared of junk, Rog was able to park the Sprinter there, off of the driveway.

Mid-month, we left for a 10 day trip to Alaska to attend my sister’s wedding. Hard to pack light when you pack for cold weather, so we had to check one bag. We also took the long way to Anchorage via LA so that the kids could conveniently get us to and from the airport. Alaska was gorgeous and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit. The wedding was purple and perfect. It was good to see my sister so happy. We had an exciting trip up the river to the glacier on an airboat, sampled bear meat and caribou, and enjoyed reconnecting with my niece and nephew. We took a side trip to Fairbanks hoping to get a glimpse of the Northern Lights, but no such luck. Rog’s wish was to see a live moose. Anchorage supposedly has 1500 living in their city, but it wasn’t until our very last day that we saw one. Peg and Cory picked us up from the airport between our Fairbanks leg and the leg to Seattle after midnight. We had a great dinner together, then back to their place for dessert. About 9:30 (dusk in Alaska) they drove us through the park one last time before dropping us off at the airport. SCORE! We saw a cow with her two calves and one very pregnant cow as well. From there it was a full day of connections until we got to SMF about 4:30 where Michelle was waiting for us. Nice to be home. Max had the job of watering our plants while we were gone. He did a great job, although I told him he shouldn’t have watered the weeds so well. 

Projects for the month included an arbor for our grapes and then shoji screen doors for the hall closet.

Crafts for the kids included tissue paper flowers, cinnamon bun bunnies and tissue paper butterflies. The kids had so much fun making the flowers, they made a bunch more and sold them from a booth in front of the house. I just never know what craft they will get excited about.

Unfortunately, I caught a flu bug on Easter Sunday that I thought I had gotten rid of before our trip to Alaska, only to have it hit me all over again during our trip to Alaska. Ugh.