A Life of "Leisure" in Retirement.... Uh, Yeah!

Proud Parents of the Bride!

So, okay, I haven’t updated my Blog since January of this year… some of you may be saying, “Thank Gawd!”,  others, possibly, “what the He…..?  Well here’s some explanations, as obtuse (possibly lame) as they can be (choose any or all numbers):  1)  What’s a Blog anyhow?; 2) Hey, I’ve been busy, retirement keeps you hopping, ya know!; 3)  A daughter’s wedding, a grandson’s birth, a family move, can you blame me for not prioritizing a silly Blog like this?... and 4)  who gives a rip?... and who are you anyhow?

Well even if you don’t give a rip, here’s what we’ve been up to..   After spending Christmas and New Years with Sara, Drew and Jonah, we flew back to our new home headquarters, Tempe, in early January.  Coming up soon was the first Big Family event of the New Year, Emily and Trevor’s wedding at the end of February.  We had a number of family and friends come down from Oregon for the occasion, and it was great to see them all.  Things seemed to speed along right up to the big day, Feb. 28^th. 

Jonah was a Ringbearer!

Sara and Emily, bridesmaid and bride

  Emily and Trevor had a nice ceremony in North Phoenix and afterward we hosted a barbeque at our house in Tempe for family and close friends while Emily and Trevor were getting ready to start their honeymoon on the Southern California Coast and Disneyland at Anaheim.

Newlyweds Emily and Trevor

Brother-in-law, Bret, and his wife, Mickey stayed over several days after the wedding, enough time for all four of us to go to a couple spring training games. 

Dodger rookie, Joc Pederson, gets ready to bat - spring training 2015

Mid-March, right on her birthday actually, Lanie and I flew to Colorado for a few days to provide emergency Jonah-sitting help for Sara.  Then, later in March, my best buddy, Lyn, came down from the Seattle area; and, lo and behold, he and I were back at the spring training ballparks and then, right at the end of March, attending a fantasy baseball draft for a league in which we jointly mis-manage a fantasy team.  For those of you who have never participated in, or even heard, of fantasy baseball, my advice is to keep it that way.  It’s an ADDICTION, one that I’ve participated in for more than 20 years.  Thankfully, Lanie has a lot of patience and forgiveness in her, and we’ve stayed married through my long, admittedly half-hearted battle, with this seemingly incurable addiction.

Teaching Jonah to climb trees - it's the least Grampa can do for the tyke while he's visiting Tempe!

With both of us back in Tempe, for awhile, April rolled around and it was time to hit the road for Colorado again to await the arrival of 2^nd grandson, Isaac, due later in April. But, in typical Ventura/Jones fashion, it was not a direct flight, or even a direct route.  Towing our “Gypsy Wagon” (the 5^th Wheel), we overnighted at a KOA in LasVegas first day out, then landed in Salt Lake City (SLC) the next day for a several week long stay, during which I attended a 5 day long conference on Azores Island genealogy.  That’s where the Ventura name comes from, my Dad’s ancestors having emigrated from that Island group a thousand miles out in the Atlantic from its Portuguese homeland to another Island chain, Hawaii.  And we both did other genealogical research as well while in town and even managed a little sight-seeing  in Park City, a ski resort straight up in the mountains East of SLC..

Spring in Bloom at Temple Square, SLC

Of course, no two week stay anywhere is devoid of disruptions for us; in this case Lanie had to fly back to Eugene while we were camped in SLC to attend to some matters with her Mom.   And, after she’d returned to SLC, we were soon hitching up and heading out to Colorado, a one+ day drive that soon saw us backing the 5^th into Sara and Drew’s large driveway in Louisville.  That was on a Monday, the 20^th; as we had with Jonah’s arrival nearly two years previous, we’d “Beaten the Stork”… but not by much.  Isaac decided to arrive a few days early, on Wednesday evening, the 22^nd.    

Baby Isaac and his entourage arrives home in Louisville, CO

This was the Second Big Family event of the year.  Isaac has turned out to be a charming, cute little guy (is there any other kind?); and quickly earned the nickname “Tank”… from his Mom… for his propensity to suck down Mom’s milk at any and every opportunity.  Best thing about this all is that Jonah, 21+ months old on Isaac’s arrival, took to his Baby Brother immediately, showing little if any jealousy for all the new attention now going Isaac’s way.  It’s been fun to watch the two of them together; although it must put a strain on Isaac’s eyes just trying to follow Big Bro, since Jonah is a perpetual motion machine from the time he gets up in the morning until he passes out each evening.

Jonah and Isaac "bond"

Okay, so that’s a wrap on the month of April, now on to May and.. what else?…  a snowstorm mid-month putting 4 inches on the ground in Louisville.  The snow arrived just hours after Lanie boarded a jetliner to Eugene, spending Mother’s day weekend with her Mom. 

 

No Patio dining on this day!

 She’d barely returned to Colorado when we were preparing to go on a late May driving trip back to Arizona, sans 5^th Wheel,  to check in on our house there.  With a little more freedom to roam, not having a 10,000 pound Gorilla tailing behind Bertha, we headed out on I70 West over the Colorado Rockies to Eastern Utah, taking a side road just over the Utah border that ran down the Colorado River canyon to Moab, a gorgeous, winding drive that was well worth taking.

Colorado River near Moab, UT

Soaring vistas from Colo. River Canyon, E. Utah

We took care of our business in Tempe in a few days, including getting together with newlyweds, Emily and Trevor; then soon headed back to Colorado.  This time we took a different, equally scenic route, going East out of the Phoenix Valley to the Superstition Mountains and a winding drive down into and out of the Salt River Canyon before heading to Gallup, New Mexico, then up through Durango, Colorado to cross a handful of mountain passes before descending into Denver.  It was an extremely scenic trip both ways.

Passing through Southern Colorado Rockies at 11,000 ft.

Well, that takes care of May; on to June, much of which was spent helping with the 2 grandsons, and helping pack up their parents for their move to DesMoines, IA.  Guess you can call this the 3^rd big family event this year… so far… .  But I’m worn out from all this moving around… whoever said retirement was a cushy life of leisure?  So the Iowa part of the experience, including Jonah’s 2^nd birthday on Independence Day,  will have to wait for another Blog post.  

The "Tank" is Full!

 

Part of the Moving crew in Lousville, CO