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Archive for Renee Spindle

FaceTime with the Grandkids

Posted on June 30, 2015 by Renee Spindle

My grand-kiddies can be sooooo entertaining. They will be the generation that takes all of the new fangled technology for granted. They won’t be oohing and aahing over a new computer that’s about to be released, or some other gadget that just came on the market like the rest of us do. We didn’t have all the amazing gadgets that our grand-kids can get their hands on when we were kids. “The cloud” will morph into something completely different by the time they are young adults.

Quite frequently on any given weekday night, around Miss Madison’s bedtime I will receive a “FaceTime” call on my phone. This is the iPhone version of a video call. The call normally starts out with Madison making some sort of silly face into the phone.

This is a typical example of how our video call will start

Then she will finally say “Hi Grandma”. I’ll ask her what she had for dinner, or she’ll have something “important” to tell me about her dog, Daisy. We’ll chat for a few minutes, I mean seconds and then she usually gets distracted or she just hangs up on me with no warning. Madison is an expert at pressing that “red” button to hang up on me.

Evan on the other hand loves to have his Face Time calls all to himself. He really does not like to share this calling time with his baby sister. He loves to talk and say hi to anyone and everyone in our house. We always humor him and pass the phone around so he can talk to all of us. Sometimes he will have something to tell us, maybe a joke or something about his friends he needs to share. Then there are other times when he simply just wants to say “Hi”.

Here’s a few of my favorite Evan “selfies”. I usually find these on my phone or computer after he has gone home.

FaceTime is a great way for the grand-kiddies to stay connected to their Pop-Pop while he’s away on a business trip too. Plus it’s nice for Pop-Pop to chat with them when he can. It always helps him feel more connected to home while he has to be away.

If video chatting is new to your technology world use it often. It’s nice to be able to say hi to long distance relatives, or your husband who travels frequently for his job. In my opinion it’s a great way to stay and feel connected to your love ones.

What’s your favorite video chatting mode-Skype, Google Hangouts, or Facetime?

7 comments Posted in Family, Grandkiddies

Across the Country – We Took a Road Trip.

Posted on June 28, 2015 by Renee Spindle

Today is the second anniversary of the day my Dad passed away. For myself it’s important to acknowledge this day, and have some long-time remembrances of my Dad, and my parents together. As I started to write this post I was thinking a lot about my Dad and the fact that he wouldn’t want us to be sad and somber, but to remember the good times with him, the laughter and the love. Today I’m going to share a story about a road trip. This particular road trip happened in July of 2013 and it has taken me awhile to put my thoughts together to be able to share this story with all of you. As it happened my parents were visiting my grandparents in Illinois when my Dad became critically ill in June of 2013. My Dad passed away very unexpectedly, and it was just a fortunate circumstance that my siblings, myself, and Travel Man were there to be with my Mom and Dad during this most difficult time. Once all of the affairs with my Dad were decided and concluded it was time to get my Mom and her car back to California. Travel Man and I volunteered for this “Road Trip” as he had some vacation time, so we knew we could make this happen. This would definitely be a somber experience.

I’m sure my Mom was anxious and nervous on this entire trip. Everything that was “normal” for her had been turned inside out and upside down. It was a poignant trip, with lots of talk of our past family vacations, and my parents travels. Travel Man learned a lot more about the family history on this trip that he’s ever had the occasion to hear.

Our first day out we traveled through western Illinois to Des Moines, Iowa. Somewhere during this day we came up with the idea that we would enjoy movie nights at our destination hotel. The movies we selected had to be set in the state we were staying in that evening. The first night we were in Iowa so if course that called for a viewing of “The Music Man”. A timeless classic, and I’m sure we heard Travel Man saying, “Pick a little, talk a little” for the next few days. One of his favorite lines from that movie.

Our second night out we stayed in York, Nebraska and watched “About Schmidt” with Jack Nicholson. During the day we took a little detour and did some touring at the Great Platte River Road Archway Monument in Kearney, Nebraska. A great monument that tells the story of the role Nebraska and Fort Kearney played in the expansion of the West. It was great to take some time off the road, and just enjoy ourselves.

Next it was on to Colorado and I’m pretty sure we ditched the movie night theme for a wine night. Our destination for the day was Silt, CO. I remember this was such a poignant day. Travelling through the Rocky Mountains, and my Mom playing “Rocky Mountain High” by John Denver on the radio. That song has always been one of our family vacation favorites. I cried in the car the entire time the song was playing. So many memories washed over me that day. My Dad loved Colorado and all of its scenic glory. At our destination hotel that evening we had a beautiful view of the Colorado River from the balcony of our hotel room along with our glasses of wine.

Random tourists taking pictures of my Mom’s Honda.

The Eisenhower Tunnel

Rocky Mountain High

Colorado River in Silt, CO

The following day our drive took us through Grand Junction, Colorado along the I-70 to Cedar City, Utah. The most amazing scenery on this day was the Black Dragon Canyon near Green River, Colorado. My words cannot do justice to the beauty of the landscape here. Plus we saw the biggest thunder-cloud we had ever seen. We skirted around the rain for a bit, and then drove right through it. Wow! Looking back at our pictures and Facebook posts apparently we ditched our movie watching theme after the second night.

Thunder Cloud!

Big thunder cloud / Photo credit-JW

Once we got to Utah all three of us were ready to be back in California. My Mom needed her hugs from the grand-kids. They had not seen her since the end of May. The last day of our travels we blasted through Utah, a teeny, tiny corner of Arizona, Nevada and made it to our home destination in California. Travel Man did all of the driving for this trip. What a trooper! We are forever grateful for his travel experiences, they always help us get where we need to be. And yes we did have an Oscar Meyer Weinermobile sighting on this day, in Las Vegas. Always a funny site to see on the road.

This trip will be forever ingrained in my memory bank. Seeing my Mom’s sadness and listening to her reflect on such great family times with my Dad, and then being able to share some laughs and some tears with her was a necessary part of the grieving process. My parents were the most loving couple I have ever known, and yes I am partial because they are my parents. We were so grateful to help my Mom complete the trip she had started with my Dad on the 4th of June 2013. We traveled the route they would have taken home together.

My Mom wrote about her journey with my Dad on her blog joanontheroad.com. It’s a great story, and will bring a tear to your eye. A few lessons I have learned about family in the last couple of years; If you have a chance to visit your family don’t pass it up. If you have the time to take some pictures with your family members grab your camera and get it done. I realized while composing this story I am so thankful for the pictures we took. It allowed me to finally share this story, and put it on the family’s’ history pages for years and years to come.

This post linked to the GRAND Social

9 comments Posted in Family

A Mini-Vacation with a Few of Our Kids

Posted on June 23, 2015 by Renee Spindle

A few months ago Travel Man and I took a little vacation to Illinois with our two middle kiddos, one daughter-in-law to be, and our grandson. This was quite a mix of travelers, and it was grandson Evan’s first time flying in a long time. We were on our way to visit my Grandpa and my Mom. The smartest thing Travel Man planned for this trip was getting the kids their own hotel room. They got to play cards and board games at night (yes they did travel with Settlers of Catan, and Phase 10), and we go to enjoy the peace and quiet. Oh what an adventure we all had together.

My top ten list of fun and sometime humorous experiences went like this-

1. We took up two rows of seats on the airplane. This required the inevitable discussion of who would have a window seat and who would have an aisle seat.

2. Even though we were in the air flying we still heard this question, “Are we almost there yet?” which came from the grandson. On our flight to Illinois we had one stop with no plane change. So that question was unavoidable.

3. We are all from Southern California and we traveled to the chilly (I mean freezing) Midwest region. (We must have been nuts!) Who ordered the 30 degree weather, and light snow flurries at the end of March? It was a little blustery on a couple of days.

4. Evan got to make his first snow angel in the snow near Lake Michigan. He had so much fun. He also found it necessary to step in or dig in each and every pile of snow he encountered. Never mind the fact that the snow pile might be a little black with dirt or asphalt mixed in.

Freezing our buns off at Lake Michigan!!

5. My Mom took us on the “family tour” of all of the places she lived growing up, the house I grew up in, my grade school, and various other meaningful landmarks. The church in the background in the top picture here is the church where my grandparents met. It is also the church where my parents were introduced to one another at a wedding reception. A small world. After our excursion on this chilly afternoon Evan proclaimed, “Well that was certainly an interesting family education.” (Evanism 101)

6. Eating a Chicago style deep dish pizza at Giordano’s. This was probably the yummiest dinner on our trip. There’s nothing like a Chicago deep dish pie! Evan’s quite the pepperoni aficionado, and he told us the Chicago pizza was on his top five list!

7. The Sky Deck at the Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower). Evan and I did not take the jaunt out on the Sky Deck. We were too chicken to look straight down at the street! We did get to take in all of the great views of the city from the 103rd floor, and Evan got to see Soldier’s Field first hand.

Feet only. Looking straight down from the Sky Deck.

8. Seeing the bean in Millennium Park. This is a work of art that is nicknamed “The Bean.” The actual name of this piece of art is Cloud Gate. You can get some truly cool reflection pictures while standing under or near the giant “Bean”.

9. Hearing Evan exclaim, “Grandma I think my eyes are frozen”. On our chilly day in downtown Chicago. He was layered with a sweatshirt, beanie, scarf, and hood from his sweatshirts, and he just could not keep his little face warm. These are some of my favorite pictures of Evan invading the “Windy City”.

10. Getting to see five generations of my family around my Grandpa’s dining room table. That is a view that was priceless. We miss my Grandma dearly, and this was one of those moments when you count your blessings, and are thankful for all of the good things in your life.

Travelling with the kids was really a treat for us. Joking, laughing, getting out of the hotel on time, etc, etc. We were lucky to have our experienced “Travel Man” with us. He always, always makes sure the travel can go as smoothly as possible, and we always have a great time wherever the destination may be. We’re looking forward to more mini-vacations like this one soon. One of these days granddaughter Madison will get to go along for the adventures. For the time being we enjoy keeping the travel/road-trips as a special treat for Evan.

**Photo credits to Travel Man (aka Tom), my daughter Hilary, and daughter-in-law to be Erica. Thanks everyone for your contributions.

2 comments Posted in Vacation

It Was Time to Say Goodbye

Posted on June 16, 2015 by Renee Spindle

This may seem like a strange subject to some of you. I’m about to tell you the story of a lawn chair. I’ve been known to write stories about pieces of furniture in my house. My favorite post is my first post for this blog, That Old Dining Room Table. Now back to my lawn chair story. This lawn chair is special. It’s a love seat, a two-seater. Have you ever see a chair like this one? Travel Man bought this chair when he and I had just started dating. I realize now he was showing me his romantic side, a “love seat”! He wanted to impress me and actually bought this as a practicality. We were going to a baseball tournament, and he wanted to be sure there was enough lawn chair seating for the entire family. I think the romantic side was an after thought.

This old chair has been at so many parties, picnics and family beach parties I can’t even to begin to tell you how many times we used it with our tribe in tow. I’m sure there was a lot of baseball game cheering from this chair, and a ton of marshmallow roasting for s’mores. I even think there was an occasional attempt at a curled up kid on this chair trying to snag a nap.

Travel Man and I went camping a few weeks ago and we usually have this chair by the fireside to sit on together. I do admit it is(was) a cozy little seat. We sat down to enjoy the fire together and the chair went BAM. The center support was breaking, and we were about to end up in the dirt. The next day we met some friendly campers, and tried to get them to keep the chair. Once they found out the history of the chair they couldn’t do it, they just couldn’t take the chair. This chair has been with the family for almost 14 years. That’s a lifetime for a chair!

So on Monday when we were packing up our campsite we made the painful decision to trash the chair. We just left it sitting by the fireside, all by its lonesome. That way someone else could throw it in the dumpster, and it would not have to be us.

Goodbye old friend. Maybe someone picked you up and we’ll see you at another campsite. If you see our chair when your out on the open road send me a note would you?

This post is linked to the #MidLifeLuv Linky Party! Click to find other great midlife bloggers!

13 comments Posted in Vacation

Travel Man’s Been Away It’s Time for Things to go Astray

Posted on June 13, 2015 by Renee Spindle

This week while Travel Man is working in New York City I had to take the car in for service. Of course since Travel Man is gone it completely stalled on me while getting onto the freeway Sunday morning. I know I’m a big girl and I can take the car in for service on my own. It’s just that I don’t like to. Thankfully so far the week appears to be going ok, other than the issues with my car. Fingers crossed for a quiet household week. Hopefully I haven’t just jinxed myself!

The last time Travel Man was out-of-town for a whole week there were a few other things that had gone awry around the house. Our garbage disposal died. I tried to fix it, but was not successful. So unfortunately I cannot add that one to my “Things I CAN fix” list. Travel Man was able to fix this one when he got home. He did not want me to call the plumber on this fix. Thank goodness we found out there was just a dime jammed in it from a certain granddaughter who shall remain nameless. Next the pool pump motor went kaput! This called for a complete replacement here. Right before Travel Man went out-of-town the refrigerator door sprung a spring so it wouldn’t close tight. We ordered the part and he fixed it when he got back home for the weekend. The last thing that happened during this eventful week was one of the backyard sprinklers blew its’ top off. So we had an “Old Faithful” geyser going in the back yard for a few days before I realized and investigated what had been happening. Can you believe all four of these happened in the same week?Unreal how good ‘Ol Murph comes in the door when you least expect it.

I like it much better when Travel Man is home and does NOT have to spend time on household fixes (aka The Honey-Do List). I would much rather he spend time with me. I’m a little selfish like that. Being the wonderful husband that he is all of the repairs got completed before he left on his next trip. I’m still waiting to get my car back. Fingers crossed it’s nothing serious. How does the “Honey-Do” list look at your house? What’s the last thing you had to fix yourself around the house?

7 comments Posted in Travel Man

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