Reminiscing about My Dad…

Today is Memorial Day.  A day we remember and honor our fallen heroes, and the ultimate sacrifice they made for our country.

Today is also day of reflection for me. My thoughts are on my Dad and his huge, loving,caring heart. We lost him five years ago next month and today was his birthday. So apropos for a patriot, a warrior, a family man, and loving husband to have a birthday on Memorial Day.

My thoughts don’t dwell on the sadness of losing my Dad as often as they used to nowadays. My thoughts most often turn to the memories with family. The good times we had coming together for this celebration or that birthday party. My Dad’s uncanny ability to embarrass his grand kids at the dinner table. And his nonsensical way of seeing life as it was and knowing exactly what he needed to do next.

 

Thinking about the play list of songs that were his favorites.  American Pie, On the Road Again, Fat Bottom Girls, and Rocky Mountain High, just to name a few.  Thinking about how my Dad would have embraced all the new technology surrounding us everyday.  He didn’t like us to say that computer data was stored “in the cloud”.   He felt that was just a big misnomer.  He would always tell us, “You guys do realize that the data is stored in some farm field in Kansas!  Not “in the cloud”.”

Thinking about what an amazing Grandfather he was. Six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren carry on his legacy.  They are an amazing bunch, and he was so proud of all of them.  Helping out at the drop of a hat, and always there to remind us, “it’s natural to be nervous”, in any stressful life situation.

The Grand-Daughters

The Grandsons

The Great-Grandson

The Great-Granddaughter

 

My reminiscing today would not be complete with out telling you about the love of my parents.  The strength and soul of our family.  They were married for 53 amazing years, and adored one another.  Watching my Dad dote on my Mom and kiss her in front of all the grand kids – a fond, fond memory.  The kids would shout out, “Grandpa – ewwww”, and he would just smile and kiss her again.  We would ask my Dad, “What’s the secret to such a great, long-lasting marriage?”.  He would reply, “I just do whatever your Mother tells me to do.”

 

Oh those memories are just like a slideshow in my head.  A carousel of memories that circle back around more often on birthdays or holidays.  These are just a handful of the meaningful memories that I carry close to my heart each and everyday.  Wishing each and everyone of you a day filled with family and love creating new memories.

Happy Birthday Zachary!!!

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Someone special I know is turning 25 today.  This is my #4, the baby of the family.  I have always considered 25 a milestone, because hey let’s face it you’re a quarter of a century old. Zach’s a super, special young man and I just wanted to give him a birthday shout out on my blog today.

So yes if you’re doing the math Zach was born in 1991.  He’s the youngest of four, and he has one older brother, and two older sisters.  Let’s take a little walk down memory lane and look at what was happening in the world in 1991.

President of the USA- George H.W. Bush

Population of the USA– 252,127,402

Newsworthy Events-

The birth of Zachary G. Juedes, in Corona, CA.  A record-setting 10 lbs. 10 oz!

The US and its Allies were at war with Iraq,

Boris Yeltsin was inaugurated as the first freely elected President of the Russian Republic.

Kentucky Fried Chicken officially changed its name to KFC.

 

Popular quotes from 1991-

“The few, the proud, the Marines”
– United States Marines ad

“The quicker picker-upper”
-Bounty paper towels

“Hasta La Vista Baby”
– Arnold Schwarzenegger, in ‘The Terminator 2: Judgement Day’

 

Sports events worth noting in 1991-

Superbowl XXV Champions – New York Giants, cost of a Superbowl ad: $800,000

World Series Champs – Minnesota Twins

NBA Champions – Chicago Bulls

 

WWW is born-
Tim Berners-Lee came up with the idea of making ‘links’ on his own computer, then others, creating “The Information Mine” (TIM) later renamed the “World Wide Web.” . He renounced patent rights because it “would have thwarted the whole thing. It never would have taken off.”

 

#1 Hits from 1991 included-

Bryan Adams – Everything I Do) I Do It For You 

Paula Abdul – Rush Rush

Marky Mark & the Funky Bunch – Good Vibrations

Michael Bolton – When a Man Loves a Woman

Michael Jackson – Black or White

 

Most Popular Christmas gifts, toys and presents:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys and action figures, Rollerblade Barbie, Super Soaker water gun, K’Nex, Myst

 

Best Film Oscar Winner:
Dances with Wolves

The Big Movies: (according to boxofficemojo)
1. Terminator 2: Judgement Day
2. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
3. Beauty and the Beast
4. Silence of the Lambs
5. City Slickers
6. Hook
7. The Addams family
8. Sleeping With The Enemy
9. Father of the Bride
10. The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear

 

1991 Most Popular TV shows:
1. 60 Minutes (CBS)
2. Roseanne (ABC)
3. Murphy Brown (CBS)
4. Cheers (NBC)
5. Home Improvement (ABC)
6. Designing Women (CBS)
7. Full House (ABC)
8. Murder, She Wrote (CBS)
9. Major Dad (CBS)
10. Coach (ABC)

So there you have it a few tidbits and trivia from 25 years ago.  I know for myself 25 years ago I was working full-time, raising 4 kids, and life was oh so busy.  How about you? What were you doing in 1991?  Was life full of fun and craziness like mine?  Hoping you enjoy this little walk down memory lane.  Oh, and Happy Birthday Zach!

 

Sources: pop-culture.us and infoplease.com

Our 2016 Travel Planning


Yes it is March, actually the middle of March, and I am finally getting around to sharing our travel/vacation excitement.   For the first time since Travel Man and I got married we have actually made our 2016 travel plans along with reservations for the entire year! Yay!  Our longest trip will be our travel to Arizona, which we are actually in the middle of right now.  We’re taking in a full week of baseball’s Spring Training games.   We are so excited for this trip.  It’s going to be fun taking in all of the sights and sounds of baseball. 

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Last month we took a trip to one of the regional parks close to home and really enjoyed our weekend.   The campground we stayed at was quite peaceful and the birds  chattered away in the trees the entire weekend.  Life doesn’t get any better than that.  The weather was spectacular.  Sunny, temps in the low 70’s, and a bit of a breeze.  Perfect weather for a bowl of chili for lunch.  Yes we did that.  We haven’t been on a weekend jaunt since the end of November last year.    The holidays have come and gone, the New Year’s resolutions are lingering around, and we’re ready to settle into a travel rhythm for the year.

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Our short trip last month did remind us of a few things that are needed to have an enjoyable weekend jaunt.   It  is important for us to go through our Master Camping Checklist to be sure we don’t forget anything.  Like charcoal for the grill, or Travel Man’s favorite camping chair that he likes to sit on outside.  Even though we don’t always have to venture far from home to have a weekend away, we still need to take the time for our list.  Funny thing about that is I love lists.  But when we were packing up for this particular adventure, I got a little lolly-gaggy, and didn’t go through a final check of “The List”.

As I sit here writing today I’m reminded of just how blessed and lucky I am.  Lucky to have a husband who will do whatever it takes to have a relaxing weekend.  Lucky to be able to take time out for ourselves when we get a chance.  Lucky to have so many amazing places to travel to within just a few hours of our house.

We’re looking forward to our trips out on the open road this year, and as the year progresses I plan to share our travel tales with all of you.  Happy Trails everyone!

A Shift in the Travel Man Matrix

photoTravel Man’s been working close to home quite a bit recently, and it’s been quite the shift in our daily household routine.  He has been driving back and forth to work each day for a few months now.  That may seem elementary to some of you, but for my Travel Man it’s a whole new way of working.  This means commuting on the Southern California maze of freeways, navigating around town, and dealing with the exhausting traffic.  Plus this is not his “usual”  or his favorite mode of transportation to work.  The “usual” mode meaning a drive to the airport, and jetting off to his work destination.  In case you haven’t read about my Travel Man before, he’s what I lovingly refer to as a Road Warrior.  He travels quite extensively for his job, and prior to the past few months is normally “on the road” Monday through Friday each week.  You can read more about our crazy lifestyle here.

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This is the first time in a long, long time where he has been home at some point each night and gotten to sleep in his own bed.  What I find interesting about this scenario is that there are a few things I need to make sure I’m watching out for that I would have previously not worried about too much during his “usual”  work week.  

Here’s a list or my top 5 things I’m paying more attention to and observing around the house:

#1 Laundry– The main thing I need to remember is check the laundry.  On most trips Travel Man gets home and I empty his suitcase into the washer.  Not the case right now, I have to remember to pay attention to how full the hamper is (or the space immediately in front of the hamper) Ha!!  This has been a big,  huge change for the household organization.  Not in a bad way, mind you, just a change.

#2 Menu Planning- The menu planning needs to be in place each week to keep me sane.  A lot of times when Travel Man is “on the road” I might just have a simple toasted cheese for dinner or a chicken patty sandwich. But knowing that he is coming home for dinner at some point every night I have been much more diligent with my menu and meal planning.  This is a good thing for the entire family.  Eating out less, and eating home cooked meals more.

#3 After work routine– When Travel Man is “on the road”, I don’t usually see first hand how tired  he is after work.  He needs his quiet time, and his reboot time, that’s what he does.  I don’t usually see this side of his work life, until now.  He has carved out a little desk space for himself in our garage/ his workshop, and so far he’s able to escape the noise of the household when he needs to the most.

#4 Hobby  Time – Notice that doesn’t say “Hubby” time, although I do enjoy my hubby time.  It says hobby time.  You see as a “Road Warrior” there is so much of your work week spent traveling, hoteling, and eating out that it does not usually leave a lot of time for hobbies once you are back home.  But now with Travel Man not having to jet away somewhere each week I am finally seeing my husband have a little time of his own to discover and enjoy some hobbies.  His favorites are wood working, tinkering with our trailer-getting it ready for the next trip, and selling “stuff” on Craigslist.

#5 TV Time–  This is kind of unusual but here it is.  There are certain TV shows that I record on our DVR each week.  With Travel Man gone so much (previously) I would watch “my shows” while he was out-of-town.    This may seem trivial to some, but it is definitely a shift in our home life.  Now we watch more TV together, and I record less of “my shows.  Or we are able to just listen to music, and read together instead of watching any TV at all.

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Travel Man’s crazy schedule has calmed down so much over the past few months if he starts to fly all over the country again we’ll probably both go nuts missing one another.   I’m not entirely certain we’ll be able to successfully manage shifting the matrix back to the airport life.  We are always so grateful and blessed to have our time together at home.  Of course we’ll do what ever is necessary for Travel Man’s work world, but the Road Warrior  lifestyle would be on a different path once again.

 

 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

 

 

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