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Borrego Springs, CA

Saturday, February 21, 2015

Time out for family

Don’t think I’ve ever gone this long without doing a blog post, but sometimes life gets in the way of the blogger thing.  I’ve kind of enjoyed the respite, and especially enjoyed the reason for it this week.  Last Tuesday my daughter Robyn and grandgirl Phoebe flew in to Yuma to spend the rest of the week with me.

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They left below zero temperatures in Chicago behind to don some shorts and soak up the sun in our 80* temps this week.  Besides not blogging, I also took very few pictures.  I just wanted to enjoy our time together, so most of the pics are from our hike on Wednesday along the Painted Desert Trail.

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I had promised Phoebe a ‘date shake’ if she came to visit, so that was one of the first things we did.  We stopped at “From the Farm” on our way back to the rig from the airport to have the shakes and some tasty tacos.  Phoebe is an Olympic style eater for a five year old; willing to try most everything and making it easy on me for meals.  She’s not picky at all when it comes to food.  Very refreshing!

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Both of them liked the food there so much that we made a return trip on another day.  I’ve got one of those small Bullet blenders, and Robyn even made fresh chocolate date malts one afternoon. 

_MG_1570 _MG_1568Seems there’s a budding photographer following in her mother’s and grandmother’s footsteps.  Winking smile

A five year old can definitely wear a person out each day!  This year she wasn’t afraid of Emma, and they got along just fabulously.  Phoebe figured out early on Emma’s favorite ‘sweet spots’ for scratching, and that’s all it took.

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As we made our way through the Yuma Proving Grounds (YPG) one day, the paratroopers were falling out of the sky.  How can you not take pictures of our warriors?  Robyn was thrilled to watch, and so was I.

Phoebe and I snuck off yesterday afternoon while Robyn was taking a nap for a ‘secret’ mission.  We had a plan to make some chocolate chip cookies in the volunteer building that has a full sized oven.  As we were sneaking away, Phoebe looked at me and said, “ I know why we’re doing this.  It’s because you love my mom.”  I told her she was exactly right!

As we waited for the oven to preheat, and the batches of cookies to cook, there wasn’t much to do.  The only book with pictures in it in the volunteer library was an old edition of a National Geographic magazine, so that’s what we looked at.  This issue was all about the ‘Brain’.  Oh my goodness, what graphic pictures there were!  Phoebe squealed a lot, but kept wanting to see more. Surprised smile  And of course there were pictures of naked folks in Africa.  You can just imagine her comments about that.  What a hoot!

It was a wonderful visit, and I sadly took them back to the airport this morning for their return to the cold north.

IMG_8732                                                                                THE END!

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

33 comments:

  1. That was a long break from blogging, for you!! It looks like you had a great visit with your family, and I'm sure that they were sad to have to leave.

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  2. That looks like a great visit - just what you've needed during this trying volunteer stint. I'll bet they hated to leave you and the sunshine! Glad you had a wonderful time. :)

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  3. What a great visit! At least they got away from winter for awhile! Supposed to be -45 wind chills tonight. It is really cold:(

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  4. What a fantastic reason for not blogging. Phoebe is such a cutie. And she really does look natural with that camera.

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  5. Oh my what a little doll! You bet you can spend as much precious time as you can and lay off the blogging and pics while you enjoy your blessings! We will always be here when you get back....

    KarenInTheWoods and Steveio
    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
    (Blog) RVing: The USA Is Our Big Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/
    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

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  7. So glad you enjoyed your time together with some of your family. I wanted to be there for the chocolate chip cookies!

    www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

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  8. Children and grandchildren trump blogging any day. It looks like you had the boost in spirits that you've been needing lately.

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  9. So happy your daughter and grand daughter were able to spend time with you.I'm glad you didn't take time to blog. Loved that you shared family pictures with us.

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  10. I am so happy that you were able to spend quality time with your daughter and granddaughter. I liked hearing about the things you did during their visit, especially the cookie-baking story.

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  11. oh how precious. . .you are so right about them wearing you out. . .but it's just worth every minute. So glad you got to make those memories of "loving her mom."

    Just loved this post. . .

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  12. Your final photo of Phoebe made my heart thump.....saying good-by to our kiddos and grands is so heartbreaking. I am so happy that you had a great time with them.

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  13. What a fun time! Looks like you found plenty of things to keep Phoebe entertained with this week after all! Glad you were able to give them a week of warmth and sweetness!

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  14. Phoebe sounds like a wonderful little girl. I loved the picture of her with the camera. A chip off the blog for sure. Sorry the visit was so short and I'll bet they would have rather stayed in the 80 degree temperature.

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  15. What a great time y'all had! Best reason in the world to take a break ... from blogging and the VC. Don't kids say the most amazing things?

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  16. A win/win visit for all. How great to get out of the Chicago winter & how nice for you to have yourself a good week without your mind being on your current Park situation. Goodbyes are always so hard. Soon your environment will change & you will be off to new adventures........

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  17. Glad to hear from you again and know you've had some joy come for a visit!

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  18. That Phoebe is a sweetheart. I can't image a 5 year old listening to someone read her the National Geographic magazine. You must have used a wide variety of different voices to keep her attention....hehe

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  19. What a fun time you had--children who aren't picky eaters are refreshing!!

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  20. Phoebe is a hoot. We certainly enjoyed them at Tamarac. So glad you were able to enjoy a great week with family. See ya in 3 weeks.

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  21. Five year olds are amazing and Phoebe is no exception. I had the pleasure of teaching them for 34 years in Kindergarten. I love the budding photographer! What nice memories you three made!

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  22. What a wonderful time. Our grandkids are all graduating from college. It brought back memories of them at that age.

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  23. Looks like a fun time was had by all! You deserved a break. No time for blogging when you have all those cookies to eat!

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  24. At least you had a great pick up from the dull drums with them visiting. They looked a little chilly in some of the pics. :)

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  25. Great post, Judy. Nice to see your granddaughter following in your footsteps as a great photographer!

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  26. The acorn really doesn't fall far from the tree. So wonderful you had these special visitors to spend time with. Family is so important and you can't get enough time with them, so you made the most of it. And chocolate cookies and date shakes! Were you bribing them for another visit? :c)

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  27. Know you had a great time. It shows in your post. Now, to catch your breath and start the countdown.

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  28. I don't know how you managed to let them go home...!

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  29. I'm glad it was for a happy reason that you took a break. So wonderful to see them...so hard to see them go. Lovely pictures of your family.

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  30. I totally understand the lack of blogging..AND ...taking time out for family! How fun...and no, I didn't 'have any raw oysters...yet.

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  31. I know how much you were looking forward to the visit, and am so glad that all went well. Great times with family make everything better it seems.

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  32. So glad you had good weather for them to enjoy.

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