Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Summertime (and the livin is easy?)

Here it is the 2nd full day of summer, and it looks like we went back in time to April. Mostly cloudy, showers, and maybe 70 degrees. But I will take that over temperatures in the 90's with humidity to match, which is what a lot of folks are having now.
Today is our 24th wedding anniversary! Seems like only yesterday. How can this be?
Since I am still working nights, we have no big plans for the day. We thought that we would go up to the Snoqualmie Casino for their Happy Hour for a drink and a couple of appetizers.
We went to Keith and Sheila's for Fathers Day. Had a nice dinner, visited, played a little ping pong with Grandson Chandler, and had a good day. Skylar greeted us at the door in his power chair, and was talking up a storm. While there we stepped into the motorhome for a few minutes just to check things over. We kinda got the urge to just "drive off". We may still try to squeeze a week or so away into the month of August. It always amazes me that the motorhome smells new, even tho it is now 8 years old. It must be the combination of the wood and the leather. I like it! On Monday we went out to dinner with Josh and Brynn for Fathers Day as they worked on Sunday.
We have Patrice, Paul, and Anthony ariving from Chicago on Sunday. They will be here for 6 days, so we will be busy doing the tourist/tour guide thing. We are looking forward to it. The Mariners are out of town all next week, so the guys will be attending a Raniers game in Tacoma. As usual we have a list of things to do that is longer than the number of days to do them in. Not having to work for the week is especially apealing to me. Then after that I only have 3 weeks to go, then I will be retired again!! Speaking of retired, Joyce is into her 2nd week and doing quite well.
She has enough to keep busy with around the house, and she now has the time to work on her upcoming trip to Europe.
We are trying to extend our Hawaii trip in October for a few more days. We have never stayed on Oahu before, so it would be nice to have at least 10 days to explore. We haven't ruled out the possibility of a Cruise in early October and/or in January. In fact we want to do both, but not sure how that would work out. If the weather was good, we could take the Motorhome to Florida for a late January cruise, then head for Arizona for some "Summer" in February and March.
I'm sure that I have failed to include something in this rambling, and since Joyce has a lot of free time now, she just may add a P.S. For those of you in the Seattle area, summer will be back! For the rest of you, I hope your A.C. is working!
Till the next time, Ernie

Sunday, June 7, 2009

What A Difference A Month Makes

We are now into the 2nd week in June and we went from freezing in April to sweltering in June. I believe that we topped out last Thursday at 93 degrees. That's about 15 too high for me. But Joyce thought that it was just right!
I have now finished 3 weeks of my "Back To Work Adventure". I have questioned my decision to do this several times, but I keep telling myself that it's easy traveling money. The problem is now that my time is eaten up by work, we don't have any time to travel! If I do this again next year, I hope to have better timing. But I thought since Joyce is still working part time, what the heck. Now as things turn out, she is soon to be unemployed, and we would have had a month or so to travel this summer. I finish work the last week of July, and she starts weekly Italian lessons the first of August in preperation for Europe in September. Timing is everything. We do have a week scheduled in Hawaii the last week in October. This is the week we were supposed to do in January when my mother was hospitalized, and we had to cancel. Since we had prepaid the accomodations, I was able to reschedule so we will be there for my birthday. And, right now airfares are about 65% of what they usually are. We may extend the stay on Oahu if I can find a good deal on a condo for a few more days.
Last weekend we had some of Kristin's friends and some family friends over for a graduation party. The weather cooperated and we were able to spend the day out on the decks. Kristin and Joyce did all of the food, and everything went really well.
Kristin just left today for her summer job at YMCA Camp Colman. She will be there for 3 months, but will be home for a day or so now and then. She would like for camp to turn into a full time job, but right now that doesn't look like a happening thing.
When she gets back from Europe she plans to start seriously seeking a full time job.
I'm out of things to write about so, Aloha,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Ernie

P.S. As Ernie mentioned above, I am soon to be unemployed. This Friday is my last day at the YMCA where I've worked for approx. 21 years all told. Unfortunately, myself and 3 other long time employees had our jobs eliminated due to restructuring and reorganizaion. There were layoffs at all the YMCA"s in Seattle. In all fairness, we were offered an option to take another job within the YMCA. However, i declined the offer. After talking it over with Ernie, we figured this would be best for our future travel plans. I am sad to leave but at least the YMCA is literally just down the block from where we live and I can always drop in for a visit. I will mostly miss all the wonderful friends and co-workers I will no longer be able to interact with on a daily basis. I will especially miss my good friend Molly who was like the other half of my brain - we worked together for so long we could practically read each other's minds. Even tho I worked part time it was a big part of my life and I will miss it. --Joyce