"One Day at a Time, 2015" .....Unexpected fun trip with unhappy ending .....

Let me start this post with a bit of detail ….. otherwise the significance in the telling doesn't have any impact.  Back in the winter of 2013 when I was still working and Bruce had retired, my transmission died on my 2003 Acura (which flabbergasted me because it had less than 100K miles on it and I thought that would never happen so early in its life).  Rather than go into the frightening details of the day itself (imagine this death taking place on the interstate in almost rush hour traffic !), let me just say that rather than spend over $5,000 on a new one, we purchased reconditioned.  One of the stipulations of the warranty was that we had to bring it back in a year to have a “check up.”  This was accomplished in December,  and all was good.  Keep that thought .....

Julie and family were spending the holidays at home this year; in the past, they had traveled to Atlanta to be with Bill’s family.  When I found out, my generous daughter offered her dad and I some of her Southwest reward points so we would only have to purchase one ticket and voila! an unexpected trip was hatched.

Our other generous daughter (and son-in-law) offered to keep the Acura at their house during the duration of our visit so that we wouldn't have to pay the parking fees (bless them all looking at their folks on Social Security !) AND Mike offered to touch up the paint on the car (Mike and Shelly own Bumper to Bumper where painting vehicles is their forte).  Through the years it had suffered a few scratches here and there and the powerful sun had been peeling off the paint in places.  Shelly took us to the airport and we concocted a plan to have them drive our car to the airport parking garage and leave it for us on the day we were due back.

We had a super time at Julie and Bill’s.  My son-in-law is a fabulous cook and whips up some mighty fine dishes.  We supped on prime rib, homemade ravioli’s and homemade macaroni and cheese, to name a few.  Julie is his “first mate” in the kitchen and always, always has her lawyerly duties to keep her busy.  And what a treat it was for this Grandma and Grandpa to get to know their grandkids better.  We played games, took walks, went shopping, read books ….. just a super, super time.  Pandemonium reigned!  We ate too much, Jean drank too much (champagne & wine) and Bruce got to see the New Year in with the kids and grandkids minus Grandma!!

Bruce and I took each of our grandchildren to lunch – separately – with them choosing the place (with a little help from mom and dad).  It was a great opportunity for us to have one-on-one with them and get to know them individually.  We also took the shopping to Target to spend their Christmas money from us and we were there to celebrate the twins 7^th birthday, too.

Natalie, Amanda and Will

Pretty Tree!

The kids made a photo album for mom and dad.

Amanda chose My Father's Restaurant and had spaghetti.

Will chose The Yacht Club and had Chicken Fingers.

We forgot to get a picture of Natalie at the restaurant (Chipotle; burritou) so we took a picture of her after a strenuous soccer practice.

Will reading to us while "borrowing" someone's glasses!

Quiet time 

Some not so quiet time - playing with the Wubble that Aunt Shelly got them.  In the background you can see the huge house that they made with the left-over Christmas boxes!

The birthday girls

Singing Happy Birthday to You

Will (typical Will) acting out to the Chicken Man

Then the gremlins took over.  Our flight was delayed, and Mike and Shelly could not convince our car to make it to the airport parking lot for our arrival.  It died on them, just like it had on me, and they had to leave it in a parking lot in Albuquerque.  When Bruce and I arrived in Albuquerque, we had to rent a car, drive to granddaughter Rebecca’s to pick up Zoey, and then you would think we could go home, right?  Oh no!  We had to drive to the parking lot where the car had been left in order to pick up the Fob that allows us to get in our gated community in Los Lunas!  I think we finally got to bed around 2 a.m.!

The next day we had to return the rental car and Bruce had to take our car back to the transmission place where another reconditioned transmission was ordered.  Since they, too, were on a holiday shutdown and they had none in stock, we were now car-less as well as RV-less!!

Below is a photo that Rebecca snapped of our "baby" on Christmas.  I don't even think she knew we were gone!!

May 19, 2015

3^rd post