The first part of December was filled with lots of activities
like xmas shopping, decorating the house, medical, visiting Dan’s cousin Steve
& wife Bonnie, finding a service facility for the Mercedes RV, volunteering
at Habitat for Humanity, house/garden maintenance, vehicle maintenance, etc.
Two events of note (other than xmas) was seeing son-in-law Raymond
in his first jiu jitsu tournament. And
our 38th anniversary (19DEC) dinner at Heritage restaurant in Woodinville –
highly recommend the pate, & the key lime pie in a jar.
Sunday AM, 22DEC, we catch the Kingston ferry for xmas at
Rebecca, Raymond, Jaxson & Mason’s in east Bremerton. After unpacking we start making Grinch
cookies for the evening’s Grinch party organized by Mason. Rebecca makes excellent stew for dinner; &
after dinner was Grinch drink & Grinch cookies. Rest of the evening was spent w/all the
Pitres playing video games (including classic Mario Bros Kart?).
Monday we take Jaxson & Mason shopping for new bikes,
followed by lunch at Mod Pizza, early evening off to Jui Jitsui practice, then
more Mario game competition. Tuesday not
much done, building gingerbread houses & just counting down the hours to
bed time so Santa can do his job.
Wednesday, 25DEC xmas, Rebecca’s traditional French toast for
breakfast. Then opening of way too many
gifts; grandkids hop from one gift/game to another, to another. Later Rebecca & Oma work on dinner (prime
rib roast – very good); then everybody but grandkids veg-out for the rest of
evening.
Thursday not much done, other than kids playing w/all their new
gifts; Corrie even joins in playing Mario Bros; Rebecca has to go back to work
in afternoon until 11PM. Friday AM,
27DEC, we head to the ferry & back to our house to rest & recover.
Tuesday, new year’s eve, we once again show our age & follow
our end of year celebration snack’ies for dinner (smoked salmon, charcuterie,
cheeses, chips & dips, wings, jalapeno poppers); & then early to bed hoping
the neighborhood fireworks don’t set the dogs offL
Friday morning, 15NOV, we get back on I-5N to finish the drive
back to our house outside Sultan, WA. Of
course the final day of driving was in the rain after great weather since
leaving Louisiana; 208 miles driven in four hours.
Saturday & Sunday Corrie runs errands, tends to garden &
partially empties RV. Dan tries mowing
overgrown wet lawn w/o much success, washes RV & Toad, empties all the
cargo holds & overhead cab of RV so that RV can be parked in shop/RV building. Monday, 18NOV, more rain – apparently we missed
the unusual dry first two weeks of November?
The rest of November seemed to be nothing but unending rain,
& the yard never drained or dried outL Not much accomplished other than errands,
medical & dental appointments, trying to get educated on new RV, gardening,
volunteering at Habitat for Humanity, etc.
But there were two other events of note during the month:
First on Thursday, 21NOV, Dan had lunch with 9 of his classmates
from US Coast Guard Academy class of 1974.
Over the last few years Dan & other classmates that live within
driving distance of Seattle (sometimes individuals drive up from Oregon)
informally get together for impromptu lunches (see below link for last luncheon). This time lunch and reminiscing (aka lying)
was at Scotts Bar & Grill in Edmonds (recommended).
https://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2019/04/01-30apr19-sultan-wa.html
https://scottsbarandgrill.com/
Next event, was Tuesday, 26NOV, catching the Kingston ferry to
visit kids & grandkids for turkey day.
That evening was the decoration of their Xmas tree.
Wednesday Corrie & Rebecca prep’ed house & commenced cooking
for an early turkey day dinner. Like
last year Rebecca’s work schedule conflicts with Thanksgiving day mealL Early that afternoon Dan heads to Kingston ferry
to pick up his niece Marisa & her sons, Jaxson & Eli, who will join us for the early
thanksgiving dinner.
After recovering
from an excellent dinner, we play bingo & then just veg out; while younger
kids play beyblades. Thursday (turkey
day) Rebecca heads to work & not much done.
Later that morning Dan takes Marisa & boys back to ferry; leftovers
for dinner.
Friday morning Corrie does some black Friday shopping & then
back to ferry & home.
