Checking in - we also just celebrated #35. To celebrate, we put a deposit down on a puppy, who will come home just in time for my birthday in July after some training.
The joy of the new puppy was followed the next day by a call that my mom was being admitted to the hospital in critical condition. All of us children were able to travel to be with her and my dad, and she passed away very peacefully on Friday afternoon.
I know several of you have already gone through this - I knew this day was coming eventually, but itās still hard to go through.
CQ - yes very difficult and hope you find peace in the future with it. Always a difficult adjustment to make when a parent passes. Glad you were lucky enough to be there.
Enjoy the puppy!!! We did no training. That was on me. Iām okay with that though. Iāve had dogs since I was a baby so training Iām used to and this one was a breeze to train. I think itās her - nothing special I did. She is now almost 2 and very spoiled.
Not sure what we will do for out 35th. More to come on that as we decide.
We arent going to London for our 35th we are going to see the Red Sox paly the Yankees With the wedding this year and probably one next year we will be busy. Shaw it would be great if you would suggest a restaurant. I am also looking for High Tea places. Many are already booked.
CQ I am so sorry about your mother. My H and I lost our dads early . His mom in the last 3 years. My mothe ris still here and doing well. I dread it. I am so sorry you are dealing with this.
Congrats on the new puppy. What kind if puppy is it?
RM you are lucky to have family around. So special,
We had SIL and Dil and 9 month Gāson for Fatherās day.
I am done in after a few hours. It was a nice day and Gāson is crawling so I am beginning to find him
more interesting. He has started daycare and H and I are trying to pick him up early 2-3 days a week
to shorten his days. It takes 30 minutes to get there and 45 to get home due to traffic. Parking is $10 each time.
Kinda nuts overall but the in-laws have (finally) left after 7 solid months of living with them in a two bedroom
apt. Dās MIL was determined that the baby not go to daycare for a year. Problem was these are basically newlyweds with their in-laws (taking turns) living with them. Guess I have feelings about this :).
I never said a word.Actually do not know what they think now that they have their privacy back.
We have just made plans to travel the Olympic Peninsula in August. Debating on Glacier in July.
It is a bit crazy to plan this late but you never knowāmanaged to get into Quinolt lodge in WA. which
books a year ahead.
@downtoearth , my favorite restaurant in London for a fancy meal is Adam Handling at The Frog in Covent Garden. Order the tasting menu. The chef is a young genius of food. You need to reserve in advance (substantially in advance, I think). They know me there, If you call, you can say I referred you and that you are a friend. You can sometimes reserve on opentable.com.
We are also celebrating our 35th this year. Iām taking the kids and SOs to the Canadian Rockies for my Bday. Not sure what we are doing for our 35th. I will be recovering from knee surgery at the time. But, maybe we should take a fall trip to Paris or Mexico City or some place with good art and good food. We just had a sensational 2.5 week trip to Northern Italy. Not sure we need another. Maybe we should have called that our anniversary trip.
So many of you celebrating your 35th anniversary this year! We hit 33 in December. H has already bought tickets to see Hamilton (for the 2nd time) in NYC. For the last several years weāve spent a couple of nights in NYC for our anniversary ā love the city; a couple of nights provides the perfect āfix.ā
Per our usual pattern, weāre at the beach for the summer/fall. Not that itās really felt anything like summer around here! Lots of cool, gray days and so much rain!!! Iāve had a lot of golf canceled.
D & SIL are doing well; starting to think about starting a family and buying a house. (Theyāre currently in a condo in South Boston.) D, in the International Department at the same hospital as @downtoearth, has been to the Middle East several times and is headed to Israel in September.
S is currently on his 2nd deployment, again in the Middle East. The first time was during the winter months, so the heat was fairly tolerable. This time? He called for Fatherās Day and said it was 122 degrees!!! When he comes back in the fall heāll separate from the regular Air Force and join an Air National Guard unit in Delaware. Theyāll send him to pilot training, which will be full-time for about 18 months, and then heāll be part-time, flying the big C-130 cargo planes. And thatās what heās always wanted ā to fly. Of course Iām happy for him, and oh so proud, but wouldnāt mind him doing something a little less worrisome ā¦
The other day, for some reason, I was thinking about our little group here, and how long weāve been ātogether.ā I was also thinking about a bunch of people we havenāt heard from in a while, like @kmcmom13 and @#theorymom.
Oregon - not sure about my energy level. My H is much more energetic than I am. I do get things done but not like I used to. Sigh.
CBB - Itās great when the children are doing what they love - hard when itās risky but you have to be thankful that you raised well rounded children who have turned out to be great adults.
Still no idea what we are doing for our anniversary. News maybe coming on that front. We are going to Cape Cod in a few weeks for a week but that is with our kids, spouses and the 3 grand kids. It will NOT be a restful vacation but it will be FUN!!
I had a nice surprise at work. Iāve been here about 6 months and didnāt think that I would qualify for my bonus this year as the company fiscal year is April - March. Well I did get something!!! Yeah!!! Of course it is only 1/4 of a years amount but better then nothing and actually better than what I had received with my last bonus at the old place. So I think they like me.
Donāt now if I mentioned this but I hit a milestone last week. I was in SF on my birthday. ShawSonās company completed its Series A capital raising (which is a pretty big deal) and the money from VCs hit the bank. They took the team out for beer that night. Then, he took me out to dinner and paid for it. Itās the first time one of my kids has paid for my dinner.
That is a milestone, @shawbridge! Congratulations.
Poking my head in & trying to catch up while coping with the new format. (This background color is very hard on the eyes.) We have finally hit summer after rainy, rainy May and most of June. At least weāre not up in the mountains where they had several feet of snow last weekend.
Attended a conference in Rhode Island last week and had the great good luck that one of the only non-rainy evenings was the night we were hosted for a grand dinner at Ochre Court, Salve Regina Universityās mansion in Newport right next to the Vanderbilt Breakers mansion. Just stunning, and glad I was able to walk around the grounds, drink in hand.
DD just moved back from NYC and is off on a trip exploring the Pacific Northwest. Weāre excited to have her back around here.
Business is booming.
Whelp, thatās about all the eyeballs can take.
Wanted to let everyone know that D is pregnant. She is not sharing on Facebook yet but she is over 3 months so far and everything looks great. Hereās hoping it continues like this. Taking her clothes shopping this next week as she is starting to show some and her clothes are all tight. We are really happy for them and are looking forward to welcoming another grandchild (this is 4) into the family in early Jan.
Still no idea what we are doing for our anniversary which was yesterday. Maybe just put the money to the house as we keep making improvements.
Glad to hear from Ararab.
Congrats to RM on new grandchild.
Congrats to Shaw on getting a meal paid for,
We are at the lake fixing things . I need to plant but its too hot today.
Shaw we were with a mixed group so could not go to recommended restaurant. But maybe next time.
London was fun.
D1 is now planning her wedding. 7 months after D2. No traveling for us anytime soon.LOL
I bough a MOB dress in London. more European. Some friends like it some donāt. now I am confused. I donāt want to look awful in pics that will be passed down through the ages
DTE - if you like the dress and I will say maybe also that your D likes the dress then I wouldnāt worry about what others say. I mean if you like it then you will feel great and confident in it so just stick out your tongue at the naysayers.
@arabrab, great to hear from you and that your daughter is moving back.
@downtoearth, Iām no judge of womenās clothing but if you and your D like it, Iām sure it will be fine. Moreover, at my niece and nephewās weddings, everyone was looking at the stunning brides who had to be poured into dresses. Not clear anyone remembers what MOB wore. FWIW, ShawWife says that when she hit middle age, she became invisible.
ShawWife and I are struggling with what configuration of houses to have. She decided that she and her sister would knock down and rebuild the old family cottage on a lake in the Laurentians. Not my favorite place, but I will probably spend much of the summer there. We canāt figure out whether we should buy a smaller house in our town in walking distance of the town center or in walking distance of the wildlife conservation area or get more of a pied-a-terre in Cambridge or Somerville. [Realtors of course keep showing us bigger houses]. We need to find an art studio to rent in Sausalito so we can go there. ShawWife just arranged for a new show at a Canadian museum.
Shaw - best of luck but you will need to tell me how it all goes. I really need both of mine replaced but from what Iāve heard that will mean that the 5k I run 3 days a week will probably not be done. Well I jog it and rather slowly but for me itās a run. I really like to jog and if I canāt do that then Aleve will just continue to be my friend until I really canāt stand it.
We decided years ago to just stay in our house. Itās 2700 sq feet and although probably bigger then we need we like the neighborhood and where itās located. I will probably regret the stairs in future years but it is what it is. Still need to update the kitchen and then it will be ādoneā.
Just back from a week at Cape Cod with the family. Good time had by all. Pregnant D is a bit snippy and the kids are just dirt magnets and leave a wake of dirt in their path but was still a good time.
I am hoping to hear how Shaw is doing.
I have been working to a lot due to shifts I traded. I broke my toe in June. Not a big deal but makes it hard to work when you on your feet 12 hours a day.
Cape co is really nice. I live near there.
Hope everyone is well
@downtoearth, thanks for asking. The surgery was three weeks from today. It is painful. Iām off opioids and doing PT and exercises. The issue for me is getting back range of motion as this was the third surgery on my knee and there are a lot of adhesions. Iām at the final goal for extension but Iām making slow progress on āflexion.ā ShawWife has been a gem as always, taking care of me. ShawD was very helpful in the beginning when medical help was useful. ShawSon came from the West Coast for 5 days later on.
Sorry to hear about your toe.
ShawD is moving at the end of the month to SF with her BF. ShawSon in his ever-competent manner found a 4 BR condominium to rent. ShawD and BF will take the Master BR and ShawSon and two friends from business school. Great deal for ShawD and BF as this is a special place and they are paying what they would pay for a mediocre 1 BR. Very thoughtful of ShawSon. ShawDās BF switched from a job in one tech giant in Boston to another tech giant in the Bay Area. They are coming for dinner tonight, which will likely be the last time we see them until we get out to the Bay Area. Weāre thinking of going out for Thanksgiving and having Thanksgiving dinner on the houseboat.
Good to hear the updates - Iāve had a really busy summer. I canāt believe itās the end of August already!
Weāve had our puppy a little over 3 weeks now. Heās very sweet and loves to cuddle; he also has bursts of energy (after which he crashes). Going up and down the stairs is really fun and entertains him. Due to my schedule H is the main caregiver; heās the one who really wanted a dog. The puppy is VERY quiet - not sure if that will change or not. He makes little squeaky noises but doesnāt bark yet.
Iāve been back to Florida twice since my mother passed away. First time, in early July, H and I helped my dad downsize to one room in assisted living. We also emptied out the storage unit and have even more stuff in our house now! We held a small memorial service for friends in the community.
Then I was back again a couple of weeks ago. My eldest brother wanted to have a service for family members. He knew that it would take some time to coordinate everyoneās schedules. My dad had 8 of his 11 grandchildren there. My two were missing; I mainly coordinated it around the availability of my nieces and nephews and brother. It ended up being a very nice weekend.
S moved to Boston with his fiance a couple of weeks ago (same weekend as the family memorial service). Sheās starting her MBA program this week; he is looking for a job. He sat for the NY bar in July. He had some phone interviews before he moved but not sure if they will lead to anything.
Iāve been busy traveling for work. I leave Sunday for a 2 week work trip to Fiji! Iāve never been to that part of the world, so Iām very excited!
And we leave Wednesday evening for a family wedding! Both my kids are coming, as well as a ton of family.
@shawbridge, hope the recovery progresses well. What a great living situation for your kids!
Iām okay with that though. Iāve had dogs since I was a baby so training Iām used to and this one was a breeze to train. I think itās her - nothing special I did. She is now almost 2 and very spoiled.
