Holiday Bits and Pieces

What happened? When I was a child, it seemed to take forever to get to Christmas each year. Now - "Snap" - year gone by. Is it retirement that does that? Weeks are no longer split up into Work days and Weekends. I'm glad I have a watch that tells me what day it is. Lots of days seem like Friday. 😆 

Thanksgiving at the Archers, Foxes, and more!

Entertaining the kiddos at Thanksgiving

We alternate holidays with our children/spouses and gkids with the other side of their families. It was our turn for Thanksgiving this year. 🦃  

Thanks to Niece Barb and her husband Mike for hosting the eight of us at their lovely home in Norwalk for Thanksgiving. We celebrated with them and their children Greyson and Mandy, Barb's mom (Paul's sis) Carol. Members of the Fox family - Jean Fox (Paul's sis), her husband Dave, their daughter Annette, and her husband Jeremy with kids Megan and Caleb were there from Webster City and Minnesota. A good time was had by all!

Prime Rib time!

So 

On Black Friday, we had our 🎄Christmas Celebration! All eight of us - we added Baby Reece a month past Christmas last year. We planned around naptimes (grandkids and grandfather) to avoid crabbiness. The meal - with centerpieces of Paul's Prime Rib, and Pat Bullock's Scalloped Corn. Yum!

Pookie saves the day - note Nell has Amy's beloved Pookie stuffy after forgetting hers at home! 

Next, we opened presents that were stacked under the small but festive Christmas Tree. This year I put it up downstairs - to protect it from our little crawler and seeker, Reece. Corey played Santa. Nell enjoyed helping everyone open gifts. That evening we played with new toys - it took a team to assemble the light-up race track. It was a big hit! 

Amy and Corey flew back to NYC early Saturday morning. They had arrived on Monday evening, and we enjoyed hanging with them for a couple of days before the STL Goldsmiths arrived. A highlight was lunch at the Angry Goldfish and visiting the MacRae Park lookout - with a view of the city. 

Nell and Reece had fun with Amy and Jud's old toys

Jud, Kara, Nell, and Reece stayed through Sunday. We went to the Science Center in downtown DSM on Saturday (we loved it) with lunch at Big Grove Brewery in Sherman Hill. That night we celebrated an excellent Cyclone Football win. 

Science Center Fun

On Sunday, Jud and Kara gathered up the considerable gear it takes to travel with two young children and two doggos. A trip to St Louis takes us just over 5 hours. It takes them more like seven with stops to eat and stretch their legs - tending to a three-year-old and a little guy who will be one in January. 

Archie and Charlie

Paul and I will head west to Colorado for Christmas - Denver and Vail to "group up" with our family there. We feel so fortunate to be included in that gathering. 

This time of year is not easy - for many of us. It's set up to be a special time for families and friends. It's hard not to think of those who are no longer with us. I don't know about you but I breathe a sigh of relief when we get beyond the holiday frenzy. Be kind to yourself! 

Our "not fam" family! 

Speaking of kindness, we were invited to our longtime friends' Christmas family gathering last weekend in Minnesota where they all live (we prefer living in the south...of the frozen tundra 🥰). We wish our kids/gkids could have joined - alas they live too far away. It's like an ongoing present to have a group like this - including all generations. Merry Christmas! 

  

Bullock Tradition Continues

I walked down to the beach one evening to join those partaking in this spectacle

The Bullock family now has a three-generation tradition of spending winters in sunny Florida. Okay, we were only there for the month of April - technically not winter. 😆 But we did miss wintery April Iowa weather while basking in the sun. 

Momo and Bubba 

My dad's parents Wally and Zora Bullock spent winters in the St. Petersburg area for as far back as I can remember. They summered in our town, Atlantic - in Cass County, Iowa. Five generations of Bullocks called that place home. Momo and Bubba (as we called our grandparents) gathered with old friends and met new friends at their Florida hotel on the beach. They looked forward to going back annually to hang out with fellow retirees who enjoyed fishing, sunning, playing cards, and socializing over food and drink. 

A pic from a summer visit to Pops and Grandma in Dunedin, Florida

In the late sixties, my mother's parents, Bert and Nellie Morehead retired to Dunedin, Florida, just north of Clearwater. During two summers - 1967 and 1968, Mom bravely drove her four daughters to Florida in the family station wagon. Dad was busy in Iowa, marketing ladies' lingerie across the state. He flew in each year for a short stay with us.  

Those years are my first memories of the Sunshine State. We stayed at the Castaways on Redington Beach for two weeks after taking a week to travel south. I have great memories of those trips. Mom planned visits to Civil War sites, Ruby Falls, Lookout Mountain. We mostly stayed at Howard Johnson hotels - swimming pools were a necessity after all of those miles (not buckled) in the back seat. We had a stack of comic books and coloring materials. My love of car travel and the Florida Gulf Coast was born! The trip home wasn't nearly as exciting, but reuniting with our standard-size wiener dog Jud was sweet. 

Marco Museum Island map

Tan Mom and Dad at a Gulfview party

Fast forward to my parent's retirement. They checked out Arizona - a popular winter place for Iowa folks. But our Mom was always a water person, as are her daughters. Mom and Dad visited Marco Island, Florida in the late 1980s and fell in love with it. Marco was mostly a swamp until the 1960s when developers saw the potential. Our parents purchased a unit in the Gulfview, a highrise on the beach. Great view, lovely grounds, next to a public green/beach space. 

View from parking ramp - pickleball has taken over tennis courts

Mom and Dad loved Marco Life at the Gulfview. They invited us to share their sunny beach happy place many times through the years. We took both kids for the first time when Amy was five and Jud was turning two - introducing yet another generation to the beauty of Florida. My sisters and their children also visited the place often. 

After Dad passed away, we sold their unit in the Gulfview. We love the place but didn't want to be landlords from afar. Since then, except for the Covid shutdown year, at least two (Cindy and I) of us have rented a place in the building. Susi and Betsy have also vacationed there. 

Jud with cousin Colby and pal Connor

 

Amy and Jud with Kohan boys

Cindy, Paul, and I visited the Marco Island Museum this year. It's small, like the island, but filled with archeology, Native American information, and information on how the swampy place became a fabulous destination. We enjoyed a relaxing time on the island. Now...how to get the kids back down there - and the nextgen - grandkids? 

Fab Holiday Gathering

You know how when you plan things - they don't usually go quite to plan. I dare to tempt fate even further by creating a spreadsheet with food, activity ideas. Don't be impressed - it didn't help. I ended up going to HyVee and other stores five times in four days. 😑

I didn't get any pictures with our guests - except this kitchen shot. And our annual group shot on the steps. 

Despite the Thanksgiving holiday food prep cluster, the long weekend lived up to pre-event anticipation. Our kids/Nell arrived Wednesday night - no drive/flight issues. Nell is 15 months old - an age I remember as being "busy, requires constant attention". She's all of that but was content getting into cupboards on the approved list. She totters about in an adorable singsong voice chattering. Her parents have trained her to use sign language to indicate hunger, and full - so helpful. Nell still sleeps around 12 hours at night - waking up cheery. She's a messy eater, and is experimenting with utensils. Green food is not her favorite. 

On Thursday, Paul rose early to put the 17-pound turkey in. I'd made 2 batches of fancy (sour cream, cream cheese) mashed potatoes for the Crock-Pot, and whipped up Mom's Scalloped Corn recipe. Paul baked 2 pies the day before - Key Lime and pumpkin. Paul's sis Carol, her daughter Barb and family - husband Mike, and kids Greyson and Mandy were our guests. Carol and Barb brought salad, stuffed mushrooms, and a chocolate dessert. With all of that and stuffing (thanks Carol for gravy duty). We had plenty to eat. It was so fun to hang with family, especially after spending 2020 Thanksgiving alone. 

Thursday night we switched to Christmas with our kids. We ate leftovers and opened presents. Then we played trivia-type games, always witty with this group. 

Nell's first tailgate!

On Friday our whole gang - Paul and I, kids, and Nell drove to Ames to tailgate at the last ISU home football game. We loved it that they got to visit with old and new family friends including Jeff McFee, Steve Crittenden, Conovers, and our tailgating buds, McKims, Ehreckes, and Chaneys. Jud, Kara, and Paul went to the game - big win over TCU. The rest of us enjoyed Nell time. We may not have followed Jud's explicit directions, but she thrived despite our rookie moves. 😉

We went to Booneville for a Waveland breakfast Saturday morning and Amy and Corey caught a flight out that afternoon. We were sad to see them go. We're not sure when we'll see them again as they begin a new adventure - moving to NYC at the end of December. They were anxious to pick up their dogs - Franklin their alpha weenie had suffered a dog bite at the dogsitters. It sounds like he's on the mend. Jud and Kara's dogs Archie and Henry were at our place. Henry has epilepsy, so he takes meds, but he wasn't feeling well the first day. I hope he's on the mend too - such a good boy. 

Thanks to great weather Nell got to visit a playground. She loves slides and climbing on things. We love to watch her enjoying things.  

Paul made a prime rib that night and we savored that treat along with twice-baked potatoes (thanks HyVee). Chatting over and after a meal with your adult kids is so gratifying. After supper we watched "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" - a funny/touching old holiday movie with Steve Martin and John Candy. I got to serve breakfast to smiley Nell before she and her parents/dogs packed up (babies and dogs require a lot of gear!). Paul headed south to sit in a treestand and I putzed around doing laundry, putting things away - while glowing from a special family time. I'm still glowing. 

On December 2 we celebrated Patrick George Goldsmith's 30th birthday. Grief hit me that morning and I got a bit weepie, thinking of what we lost by not having him physically in our family. Six days is all we had due to a congenital heart issue - hypoplastic left ventricle. I remember the love our family received during Patrick's brief life and funeral - from family, friends, and even strangers. Patrick continues to impact our lives - we try to turn our grief into gratitude. But sometimes the hurt breaks through. Thanks to all who help us remember him. His angel food cake is delicious. 

after C Section - breech baby. That hair! 

Patrick's tree

Thankful - Where to Start?

Hi out there in blog-reading land! It's been a long while. Adele took five years to put out an album...it's all about timing/feeling. It's been a few months for me. Oh, I've written some things - but never hit the publish button. I'm not sure why I've been more reluctant to write the blog and share it lately - it's a strange time in my (all of our) life, this pandemic. 

I like to take photos and share what I'm doing. I also like seeing your photos and hear about what you're doing. 

Covid knocked me off of my stride. It knocked the whole world off its stride. Today and the future are forever changed. Ah, Road of Life, you are not smooth. I've blogged before about how our parents - mostly our mom - prepared the Bullock girls for rough roads. Though supportive, she was no helicopter parent. From that, I learned to bounce back from adversity. It isn't painless - and can be quite tough. On December 2nd, Paul and I will celebrate our baby angel Patrick's 30th birthday. His short life taught me many lessons. 

I've learned as a parent of Amy and Jud how hard it is to watch your children struggle. Teaching them resilience (with support) is one of the best gifts ever. Life will continue to throw up obstacles - health, career, relationships, ISU Cyclone teams (can't leave that out!). This Thanksgiving I'm grateful for the support of friends and family who make resilience possible. 

What are your plans? We are so excited to host our family for Thanksgiving (and early Christmas). Jud and Kara with Baby Nell will be arriving Wednesday.  Amy and Corey fly in that day too. I can't wait to see them all again. 

I set up a calendar reminder to take the 17 lb. turkey out of the freezer - never leave important stuff up to my memory 😆. Last year Paul and I were on our own for Thanksgiving since it was before vaccines were available. We're so excited to host local family on Thursday. Paul's sis Carol and our niece Barb, husband Mike, and kids are coming. We'll miss Paul's sister Jean and husband Dave who can't make it this year. 

I'm not a natural entertainer like my sisters and some friends are (if they're not, they fake it well). I'm jealous, but not enough to change it! When I start to stress about food/activities, my mantra is "it will be fine". Covid helped open my eyes to the fact that it's the people, not the food or house. 

We're so happy that travel is back - even if it requires masks! Paul and I are all vaxxed too. We are thankful that we've been able to hit the trail/road/air in recent months.   

-I traveled on my bike all summer after installing a trailer hitch on Bleuy, my car. I purchased an easy on/off bike rack and Albie, my bike and I were off - traveling to and riding on trails all around DSM - 40 miles a week. Exploring the trails was so good for my mental and physical health. 

-We hosted the Goldsmith fam reunion in DSM in August. It's the first time to get three generations together in over a decade. It was so fun to catch up with our nieces/nephews and meet some of their kids for the first time. And we got to show off our granddaughter darling Nell. (who turned 1 in September!)

-In September we attended UNLV vs ISU football game in Vegas. Jud and Kara were there, sans baby, having a good time. Those trips are good for parental mental health. We traveled with our college pals, Vic/Fred, Moose/Kay. After the game we traveled to several State and Federal Parks for sightseeing and hiking. The beauty of America astounds me. And beer is good everywhere. ;>) Kay did a great job planning out our travels, Moose drove us safely. It's a good travel group. 

Right after we returned home from Vegas and Utah, I drove west to Omaha to "group up" with Atlantic friends - some of whom I've known since preschool. There's nothing like hanging with friends who knew your people, and have known you through many stages of your life - child, young adult, and now as a "senior". Life stages are not as scary when you're surrounded by friends.  

We joined our ISU friends in Ames for several football games this fall. Tailgating was fantastic - food, friends, and a few beverages. The Cyclones haven't had the season we were hoping for, but talk about resilience - team and fans are still "All In". And the ISU Varsity Marching Band is awesome! Especially the drum corps.  

In October, a family wedding (congrats Eric & Molly) took us to California - touristing a few days with sister Cindy in San Fransico and Napa (thanks David and Lisa Lamm for hosting us at a winery!), before going to Half Moon Bay, just south of SF for the wedding. Gathering with family for a special event is simply the best!  

Assignment this week? Enjoy, and be grateful. 

Leslie learns to Video Chat

Let me be clear - I am not a techie. I only do this stuff when necessary. We purchased our first personal computer (PC) back around 1994 - when our children were little. I'd worked on one at my job at Cornerstone Financial, Mike Moffit's business in Creston. I was fascinated with the PC Mike had at the office. Paul and I soon signed on the dotted line at Best Buy for a very expensive zero-interest loan for our very own PC. Amy and Jud have fond memories of that first computer - Oregon Trail and other games.

I've been the family tech person ever since that first computer. Gulp! Too bad techie stuff doesn't come a little easier to me. I'd give myself a D on tech knowledge with an A for effort! I keep grinding away until I get it. Then it's one of those head knocks like, "duh, it was right there all the time!"

I'm not an early adopter. Change is hard, ya know. Once I learn something, I prefer to just do it that way until forced to change - stuff like upgrades, or insistent children. Covid 19 is causing changes in all of our lives. I'm looking for some of the good changes.

I know many friends who have grandchildren who have been using video chat for years - mostly FaceTime. Getting to see the little ones grow and change is so great for them. Much better than the slightly out of focus photos I'd send to my parents who wintered in Florida, and to Paul's folks at their Earlville home.

Isolated in our homes, my friends, family, Paul and I began to look for ways to feel more connected. We miss our peeps! I've discovered there are many different chat and meeting type Softwares to use, and I've begun bumbling my way through them - with a little help from others! Here are a few.

I have a Zoom business meeting tomorrow with another party - they set it up. I am in the process of setting up a part-time consulting business (yes, I can't get away from trash). I need to do a remote meeting for my business, so I decided to look into Zoom - the limited version is free. When I told a couple girlfriends, they said - check out how to use it with us! So we did!

I'm still figuring it out - how to manage the screen - and who sees what on the screen. For the other participants - I think they only saw who was talking. Last night, six of us "Zoomed" for Robyn's birthday (she's now 62 like all of us except youngster Sal) - all wearing the jammie tops she bought us for our Florida trip. We sang, laughed and watched Sally cook dinner. We got to see Sal and Pam's dogs. Paula thoughtfully presented a pretend cake. She and I are really missing having dogs right now. Her pup Sammie passed a year before Odie. Julia's beautiful daughter stopped by to wave "hi". Chris couldn't attend as her baby boy was flying into Phoenix. The birthday girl was in her glory!

Last weekend, we talked to our kids (Saturday - Amy/Corey, Sunday Kara/Jud) via Google Hangouts. They each set it up, and sent me an invite via email - all I had to do was click on it.  I looked at that program yesterday - it says you don't have to have Gmail but I had put a couple non-Gmail addresses in an invite and they disappeared....so I need more info on that. It may be the addresses they supplied have a block?

Kara had tried to Facetime us on Sunday but it turned out I didn't have Facetime enabled on my phone. Oops. That is now fixed - so next time! We don't have any other Apple products besides my iPhone, so - no iPad to see bigger pics, so this would probably be lower on my list of things to use. We got to see the Goldsmith doggos too and could hear Franklin shaking his ears out. Next time we're going to do a group call with all six of us - maybe we can get Cindo in there too!

I have an older HP laptop - and must admit I've had a piece of masking tape over the camera lens for years after the "your computer is spying on you" stories. I've peeled that tape off now (during calls #paranoid)! The HP camera is not the sharpest - which is kind of nice, like older actors and actresses having that filter to smooth out wrinkles. Last night, I had all six participants' little pictures stretched out on my screen like the Brady Bunch. Just thinking about it now makes me smile. I need to set up some more groups! College pals, sisters, Cyclone tailgating people, Creston homies, Paul's family - the list goes on!

If you are not already using video chat systems - try it! Just don't ask me how - haha.