Trip Wrap Up

I had every intention of making a wonderful day by day description of our journey. I can remember the days in which I had the time and space to seriously journal write and document this life that I'm living! I was going to relive that!

With what extra time did I think I was going to do this writing? A person can not go boating and hiking and gardening and visiting and keep their blog up to date. Not possible!

Therefore, I am going to wrap up the trip and move on...


We said farewell to Aunt Phyllis and Aunt Jean and took off for St. Louis. Grandpa Tom loaned us a car and in that car were a dozen sunglasses. Willie was amazed and the long straight road and the corn. Miles and miles of corn. Miles and miles of corn. No mountains, no lakes, just corn... In St. Louis we met with Mema and my brother Mike and his two kids. It was at this time that I decided I had better blog something as I was quite sure my father would become suspicious when there was nothing new happening in our family. Yikee! Thank you Glenn for the fresh Homer picture!

St.Louis was fun! Our cousins came from Arkansas to see us. We had great meals and conversations and took the kids to some amazing sights. Our family chose to go to the City Museum, which is not a museum at all really but an eccentric artists super wild manifestation of a fun place for kids to play. It was amazing and I would recommend it to any family with active kids over 5.

We also visited Wadlow's memorial. The worlds tallest man! Visiting this memorial is a family tradition that goes back two generations, now three!

Thank you Lynn and Carolyn for making our days in St. Louis exceptional! On our way out of town we stopped by the family farm and showed the kids the creek that Mike and I spent most of our childhood vacations in. It had been raining so the water was not clear, but I am thrilled to have a picture of the kids playing in the water.
Off to Lewistown. This is the picture of Kathy and Larry when they saw us for the first time and realized that we were there. This is a very surprised expression!

As a group we were able to surprise them, and that was no small fete. "The best present you could have given us is having all of our children together!" they said, and they showed us their elation for the rest of the weekend.Kathy made fabulous meals and pies for Vince. The kids played around and swam in the Spotlow's pool. My Dad managed to keep his temper in check when the children were going bizerk. It was a fantastic visit! We took the kids to the Lincoln Museum in Springfield and New Salem. I think they learned something. Falcom found that the dress up area had not changed a bit!

By Monday morning we were able to extract ourselves and get back on the road to Ohio. The kids were sad to go as they were really enjoying the things small town life in the Midwest had to offer and they will really miss their Grandparents. It is hard to say goodbye when you are not sure when the paths will cross again. Thank you Dad and Kathy for giving us all a full rack of happy memories!

On the way to Ohio I told Vince about my dream of eating Brazilian food. One quick text to Tommy and we were headed toward Braza in down town Cleveland. For those of you who have never experienced Brazilian Bar-B-Q it is where the waiters stroll the tables with spits of meat from the different meat groups. It is an all you can eat meat experience. Do not attempt this if you have eaten 24 hours prior to your arrival at Braza. It is a fun meat filled experience!

This is when the battery on my camera went dead. It was during a fabulous dinner with our cousin Mark and his family. These photos are on the other camera which Vince has with him today on the boat where he is fishing with Marks brother Matt. ARG!!! Here I thought I would be done blogging about the trip! Alas... Sorry Mark, I took some great pictures of you and your family and food. You will have to wait until tomorrow!

Party at Tommy's!

June 13, 2010

Aunt Jean rode up from West Virginia to see us. I don't think we have been able to visit her for 10 years! She was at Phyllis's when we got there in the morning. She and Phyllis are a fun pair to hang out with. Very funny ladies. Tom, their brother, was agitating them as I am sure he has done since their childhoods. At one point, Tom had agitated Jean to the point she started hollering back at him in West Virginian. She spoke so fast and with such a thick accent I could not understand a word she said to him! I stood with my mouth agape and chuckled to myself.

The kids played in the warm sun while Phyllis did Jean's hair. Falcom, the future hairdresser, was very interested in how the curlers went into his Aunt's hair. I wished she lived closer so that he could practice on her. The two of them would love that. She requested that he learn to sing a special song. I need to remember what that song is...

To honor our visit and Jean's visit, Tommy put on a bar-b-que for us at his place. Because there were so many of us we loaded up in two cars and headed up the highway.

What a treat! Tommy is a fabulous cook and host. He marinated pork and chicken. He roasted peppers and made asparagus. His girlfriend Adelle made a delicious pasta salad! Heaven.

We all enjoyed the sun while the grandma's and pa sat in the shade of the garage. I was playing with Marina when Jean asked me to call Vince (who had run up to the gas station because the light came on during the ride to Tommy's and a grandma couldn't believe it!) to ask him to get some coffee. Seems Tom asked Tommy to make a pot and Tommy made the mistake of saying, "I have decaffeinated _______" (fill in the blank with your favorite delicious coffee brand or drink.)

Mutiny ensued. Understand that the Greears drink coffee all day. Not gourmet coffee. Nothing with foam. Just Maxwell House from their Bunn coffee pots. Often they will add hot water if they feel it is too strong. Jean is more gourmet because she enjoys hazelnut powdered creamer in hers.

Vince, who had been poking holes in the ladies cigarettes behind their backs all day, ignored their requests for a can of coffee to give to Tommy to keep at his house for them. Instead he reprimanded Tommy, "What were you thinking? Why did you mention it? Do you honestly think they would have noticed the difference if you had poured them a cup of decaf?" I was glad to see that I am not the only person who gets reprimanded from Vince for being too truthful.

Dinner came on. It was fantastic. I was enjoying it heartily when Tom came out of the house with slices of brown sandwich bread.

Cultural tip #2: If you are having Midwestern grandparents to your home for dinner, you must provide them with bread. This is regardless of how you feel about carbs. This is regardless of how you feel about the palate of the plate or the balance of the meal. Even if you are serving sushi or curry. Even if you know that the grandparents have just had open heart surgery and you have plenty of other carbs on the menu, YOU MUST provide a bread.

This was Tommy's second major error. He had the beans, but no bread.

"With the kind of money this kid makes, you would think he would buy a decent loaf of bread!" said his father. The grandma's shook their heads in agreement.

After dinner, I taught Jean how to look like she had received an instant face lift.
The day grew even warmer. The kids played on the slip and slide Adelle brought over. The grandparents all took naps. Falcom, Marina, Willie and I created a mini-golf course in the breezeway. Tommy's house is beautiful and it was a peaceful, wonderful day.

Willie had never seen anyone able to sleep with their arms up in the air before. He made me take this picture.


When we arrived back at Phyllis's everyone enjoyed a nice cup of coffee and went to sleep.

Party at Phillip's!

The last tine we were in Ohio, Vince's cousin Phillip's house looked like a run down shack. He bought it and it's 10 acres on the cheap from some folks with less than reputable reputations and has since been fixing it up every chance he has. From the last time we were in Ohio to now the joint has had a complete turn around and is a fabulous party house!

With a pond and acreage in the back and front, the place is a haven for outdoors men and feral children! Matt brought the golf cart and a wheeler that the kids rode all over while the adults sat in the shade having drinks and chatting away the day.

Marina, Falcom and Willie had a blast putting worms on hooks and catching bluegill. Vince caught a couple of bass. Falcom released their pet turtle into the pond so that it could live free.

Philip's garage contains a commercial grade fryer and we were treated to hot wings, chicken, jojo's, and we were about to have fish but we were all way to full!

This is Vince and Tommy enjoying the view.

The kids zipped around throwing water balloons at each other, the adults laughed, Phillip said, "Gosh Vince, those kids were us 30 years ago." Willie, Marsha and I walked up the driveway and Willie found a deer stand (Matt's).

I asked Willie what he thought of it all and he said, "This is like local style." I thought about it and he was right; the food, the drinks, the play, a pond instead of a beach, a carport instead of a palapa. People just relaxing and enjoying each others company.

As the evening crept in, we caught fireflies and roasted marshmallows. Then the kids lit off sparklers.

Thank you all for a super fun day!

"Strike a Pose!"

And now begins the day by day pictorial of our trip...

For many of you this is the first mention you have heard me make of a trip to the Midwest. I know! Why the veil of secrecy? The Williams/Spotloe families decided the best gift they could give their parents (Larry and Kathy) for their 70th birthdays was the gift of all the children being together. We decided to make this a surprise party. Seeing that my father (Larry) reads this blog, I could make no mention of what we were doing because he would suspect something.

It is going to take a few days, but...

Now! For the blog postings I wanted to make!

Wed June 9, 2010

Traveling to the Midwest takes just as much time as traveling to Asia when you are starting from Alaska. I think there are people out there who may not realize that. There is a five hour drive to the airport. There is the inevitable red eye out of the state. There is the connections (only one if you are lucky).

My kids once again blew my mind with their willingness to go along with this program and were considerate wonderful travelers!

It may seem crazy to choose a flight through Houston to get to Cleveland, but it is actually a lot easier than trying to stop in Seattle or Minneapolis. We had an easy go of it for the overnight and are now in Cleveland!

Thursday June 10, 2010

Grandpa (in the background of this shot) picked us up at the airport and brought us downtown to Shoulman's for a Corned Beef sandwich. Can you see the happiness on Vince's face? The sandwiches are so big and so wonderful we could only eat half of them. The other half we took home for dinner.

After going to lunch, Tom took us by Vince's grandma's old house. This house is in a part of town that is in the ghetto now. I call it the ghetto because I don't know another word to describe a blighted drug overrun inner city neighborhood. We didn't see poor people on the streets or gang members or any of the stereotypes that a person would think of, just boarded up houses and run down rentals.

We did meet Vince's childhood neighbor on the street who recognized Vince and was so fun to talk with. His family is the only one still on the block. He says renters don't stay more than a month or two so he knows no one around him. He says it's safe on his block because no one is there! But he also says it is not a place for children. He has the sweetest pit bull I have ever seen. I guess it keeps people out of the yard. It sure loved the kids.

At the end of our visit Ted said, "Vince, I still see your grandma's face when I pass the cleaners window on the corner. Like she's still in there working." It was very sweet and wonderful to have the past and the present drawn together so...

Ah! Cleveland.

From here we went to Tom's house (Vince's childhood home) where we got to see for the first time THE BED. This is the infamous bed that he told us about last year when he was here that is so big and so wonderful he keeps it in the living room. This is the bed with the mirrors and the lights. Vince and I were lucky enough to get to sleep in "THE BED". This picture does not do THE BED justice.

We then went to Phyllis's house, where the kids were free to play in the yard and get over their jet lag. I went shopping for shorts for Marina. It is amazing how difficult it is to buy little girl shorts that do not make the girls look like trash-tastic hoochie mamas. She is 7 for God's sake! She does not need to be flashing butt cheeks at this ripe early age! I decided I would just let her wear the only shorts she had in Alaska that fit.

Friday June 11, 2010

Went to Old Navy and found Marina some shorts that fit.

After sleeping until 10 (oy! jet lag) we picked up Phyllis and went to the Cleveland Metro park.
We saw all kinds of life that does not exist in Alaska and even found a baby turtle that became our pet for a day. The kids learned about fireflies and spent the evening catching and releasing them. It was a joy!

Tomorrow... Party at Phillip's!

Inside newly constructed duck house

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Everyone Takes the Portage Glacier Cruise

...except for Vince and me.
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Back In Alaska

We Greears have returned to The Greatland from Ohio and Illinois (via Indiana and Seattle). We arrived last night at midnight after a fantastic day in Seattle. This morning Vince went to get the Mel Mobile and found it making even more racket than normal. Matt (our cousin) and his girlfriend Marsha agreed that the van had a serious problem. Fortunately, Vince had not threw a receipt away from the mechanic who fixed the van the last time it broke in Anchorage and we took the van to get it fixed.

The universal joint was broken and Air (the Thai mechanic) lent us two cars to drive while we waited. Air did a fast solid job and even managed to give Vince a ride in his Corvette (no that was not one of the cars we borrowed).

Marsha said, "There is never a dull moment around here is there?" We are now on the road to home.
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We Did It!

To the amazement of everyone (including my parents) my brother Michael and his family and me and my family were able to surprise my dad and his wife Kathy for their 70th birthday parties here in Illinois!

Yes, I put in a blog to throw him off the track and good thing I did because he was wondering! He sent an email saying that he saw the fish and that he hadn't been able to get a hold of Mike...

As soon as I can figure out how to put a picture on from my camera to this computer I will do a full update.

HALIBUT!

Sorry for the lack of blogging. We have been very busy (what else is new) and I haven't had a chance to catch up. The exciting news is that Glen caught a 244 pound halibut on Saturday at our favorite fishing hole.

Glen probably won't need to fish again for a while! He's set for winter.

better picture to follow!

Willie

When Willie was a small boy he lived in Chalan Kanoa Village in Saipan. After school would let out I would "let him drive" my car for a while. What this meant was that he would sit in the front passengers seat and he would point with his thumbs left or right. I would follow his direction, we would blast tunes and cruise the neighborhood.

Tonight, after a tearful farewell with Manuel, we started back to Homer. When we got out of the mountains and into the bogs, I let him take over the wheel. There are no lefts or rights to choose from, but its 1230am, still light out, and we've got the tunes cranked!
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A Long Drive

We are on our way to take Manuel to the airport and we have seen many sights that have never been seen by this Island man before.

"Wow! We are driving through the valley between the mountains."

"Wow! Glacier!"

"Wow! Bears!"

We are having a blast!
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Spring Has Arrived!

Thank you Valda for writing today's post with images! Readers may not realize that Valda is one of the great wildlife photographers in our area. This honor is based the way most such honors are bestowed, someone (me) says it once and then everyone takes it as law. Valda, seriously, you are a great wildlife photographer!

We've been hosting a mom and twins around our meadow, but she is sneaky and she has been keeping the babies out of my full vision. This is why I am not a great wildlife photographer. I won't go that extra mile for the most fabulous shot.

In daily life news: The garden is in thanks to Manuel. He has also built me a duck house. I bought four more chickens yesterday because some creature has been stealing our others. This is where a dog comes in handy. For some reason, when there is a dog around the wild things don't kill chickens as much! I miss you Scratch! Marina has been sick and so today we are going back to the doctor. What else? What else? The minute I press "Publish Post" I'll remember something substantial I was meaning to blog about. For now enjoy these shots from the neighborhood. Thank you Valda!