Final things before we Hit the Road

We are almost done with our packing for the trip. Most of the stuff is in the car and secure. We just have last minute things to take care of in the house, have dinner with friends and be up and off in the morning. At this point the weather is OK, with some rain and hopefully not freezing rain in the forecast for tomorrow. Last year our house up here was in complete disarray, boxes in the basement, boxes in the family room, boxes in the living room. Boxes boxes everywhere. Our Ann Arbor house was stil full of furniture, and boxes were stored in the basement. Today the Ann Arbor house is rented to great tenants, and the Cedar house is in full operating condition, with no more boxes. We both feel like the transtion to moving up here has been completed. We now live up here, feel connected and feel that the house is in good shape. Of course, there are always things we want to improve, but that's the way it always is.

Now that we are ready to go, I feel excited about the upcoming trip, but in a different way than last year. We'll get to see three of our kids, and our grandkids. That will be the best part. The road is now familiar, having driven now multiple times, and we are becoming more familiar with Des Moines, and Salt Lake City, and are now very familiar with the Bay area of San Francisco. But we really have been having fun in Leelanau county, and Traverse City. We love it up here. Maybe next year, we will make different plans, and still visit California but not for as long a time or at different times. Dan

This blog will not be filled with  stories about how cute our grandkids are (though it is true) or pictures of them. Well, there may be a few stories and a few pictures. Here is one of Henry on his six month birthday, and one of Isaac on his birthday in July.  Posts about grandkids will be on one of our other blogs Dan and Pat's Grandkids.