Erika's Unicorn Birthday Party

A couple weekends ago, I was talking to Erika about what she would like to do for her birthday since we still couldn't go out because of Covid.  She said she wanted breakfast or brunch for her birthday food.  I already had a birthday theme in mind since I've been collecting it over the past few months when I went shopping.  

Her theme was going to be unicorns!  I had found some paper plates, napkins and decorations at Walmart, Party City, Hobby Lobby and the Dollar Store.  Last year, she mentioned that she wanted to do a piñata for her birthday and we saved it for this year's party. I gave that job to Mom and she was in charge of obtaining a unicorn piñata.  

As it got closer, I asked Erika what kind of breakfast foods she would like to have at her party and she said waffles, sausage, eggs and hash browns.  We came up with a day and a time for everyone to come over.  I called everyone and let them know of the plan.  Everyone thought it was a good plan and told me they were all going to come.

The Friday before, I did my grocery shopping and bought some more eggs, a new bag of sausage patties, waffle/pancake mix and more syrup just in case ours was low.  I stopped by the Dollar Store to pick up a few different kinds of candy to stuff in the piñata.  We were going to host the party on Saturday but that's when Ben's grandma's funeral was and we would be in Puyallup for it.  Erika was flexible and said that Sunday afternoon-ish would be fine.  I asked Dad if I could borrow their waffle iron because I only had the Scooby-Doo one.  He said I could and if I could clean up the one at Grammie and Grandpa's house I could have that one.  He said that it should work.  I also borrowed Mom and Dad's food warmer.  It's got three trays with lids that you can plug in to keep food warm.  Dad said to just take it and keep it at my house.

When we got back from the funeral and spending time at Ben's mom's house on Saturday, I spent some of the evening getting the decorations ready for Erika's birthday since I knew we wouldn't have time tomorrow morning.  Ben helped me with the decorations and moving the tables and chairs into the dining room.  We got everything pretty much done before heading to bed.  I knew we were going to have to wake up at a somewhat decent time tomorrow to start the food before noon.

Ben and I got up the day of and finished getting all the table clothes onto the tables and getting all of the stuff out.  

About an hour before everyone was suppose to be here, Ben and I started the waffle batter, the scrambled eggs and the sausage.  Doug and Jenn showed up early so they could sneak Erika's giant unicorn stuffed animal into one of the back rooms.  Those giant stuffed animals are ridiculous and I am glad I don't have one.  Erika and Zach came a little early so we could also use their mini waffle iron.   Mom and Dad arrived with Grandma while I was busy trying to get a bunch of waffles done and keeping them warm in the oven.  The rest of the food was done and warming inside the warmers.

Once everything was done it was time to chow down!  The waffles and the rest of the food turned out great!  We ate and talked about random things like we usually do.  We cleaned up and then decided as a group how we are going to hang up the piñata in the yard.  I don't have any low hanging trees so this was going to be a challenge.  The last place we lived had some good branches to hang things off of.  We remembered we brought Ben's Bo staff home from his mom's place.  We could find some rope to hang off of the Bo staff and tie to the piñata.  We went out to the front yard and it worked!  Ben held the Bo staff as we smashed the piñata with a baseball bat.  Everyone who wanted a turn got one after Erika took a few swings.

The Seahawks played the Jets that afternoon and I had it on the TV on mute for a while.  I knew we would destroy the Jets but I didn't want it to interfere with Erika's party.

The piñata eventually ripped open but in a "that unicorn piñata has a broken neck" kinda way.  We picked up the candy off the lawn and brought it inside to distribute.

  

We gathered up all the presents and watched Erika open them up in the living room.  Erika didn't want cake or cupcakes since we had waffles instead.  I was okay with that.  That meant I didn't have to make a bunch of stuff.  She opened her gifts and Doug went to grab the ginormous unicorn stuffed animal. 

 

Erika thought it was also ridiculous but she accepted the gift anyway.  She said she has no idea what she is going to do with it.  She thanked us for the birthday party, piñata, food and gifts. 

Since it was Sunday I knew people had stuff to do before the beginning of the work week.  Everyone went home around 3.  Ben and I put everything away, started the dishwasher and watched the rest of the Seahawk game.  We beat them 40-3.  

We did a couple loads of laundry and watched football until it was time to go to bed.  This weekend was busy but we were glad to spend it with family. 

Next Adventure:  Figgy Does OMD Yet Again...At Home, Teleworking

Saying Goodbye to Ben's Grandma Bonnie

The day before Thanksgiving Ben's grandma Bonnie, his last grandparent, passed away in the comfort of her daughter Shelley's home, surrounded by loved ones.  We had visited her at Shelley's house for the last time on the Sunday before Thanksgiving.  Ben was crushed.  Since that day, he's been trying really hard not to show any emotion.  I told him, you just lost your last grandparent, if you need to cry do it.  It will make you feel better.  Stop holding it in.

Trish called us and let us know when the service was going to be.  It was going to be held December 12th in Auburn.  Ben made sure he didn't have anything scheduled on that day.  We told her we would be there and probably go to Shelley's house afterwards for food.  Trish said they would do the same even though she really didn't want to because of Covid.

We got up, found our nice clothes (since we don't wear them that often) ate a light breakfast and got ready to head to the cemetery.  We called Trish along the way to tell her we made it onto I-5 and we were in the Lakewood area and to verify which cemetery we were going to.  We indeed had the right one.  Ben wanted to stop at a Safeway to get some flowers and the closest one we knew about was in downtown Auburn so we went there once we got off of I-5 onto Hwy 18.

We pulled into the Safeway and some guy working for King County was handing out free masks so I asked for one and he gave me four of them.  Free masks!  I gave Ben two and I kept two for our vehicles.  We grabbed a bouquet of flowers and some drinks and paid for them in the self service area. 

We drove up the hill to Mountain View Cemetery.  I was telling Ben the last time I drove up this road was about 10 years ago when I came up here to grab a geocache from the park that was also up here.  The name is appropriate because you get a great view of Mount Rainier on a clear day.  We followed the service signs and parked near Trish and Amy who had gotten there a little bit before we did.  The ceremony was going to be outside.  It was a very nice yet cold afternoon.  We noticed people we recognized.   Shelley was getting everything polished before the ceremony started.  We walked around and talked to a few people we haven't seen in a while, looked at the photos, the really cool bear wreath Trish and Amy got for her, the little things on the table Bonnie collected over the years and had a short conversation with Shelley.  She wanted Ben and Amy and the rest of the grandchildren, to read part of the eulogy that Shelley prepared.   She gave Ben his portion and Amy read part of the program we all received. 

The ceremony started and you could hear people sniffling and trying to hold back tears.  Shelley had a hard time talking to us but did compose herself a few times.  Then we took some time and each grandchild read a portion of the eulogy.  

Bonnie Jean Crawford was born on January 11, 1923 in Oregon City, Oregon to her mother Leona Daue and father Anton Heinrich.  Her parents got married on October 7, 1923.  Her parent's settled down in Mulino, Oregon where they started their family.  Daughters Rosaline and Bonnie and son Tony.  They bought a farm with 80 acres and put it to good use growing hay to feed their dairy cows.  They sold milk and cream to the local stores and neighbors.  

Bonnie said she saw herself more as a tom boy.  She found working out in the fields with her father was more exciting than learning domestic chores in the kitchen or playing with dolls.

She loved her father and spent all her time with him.  He taught her what the true value of hard work was.  She started at the age of four where she would sit on the tractor and watch her father plow, seed, and cut the hay.  At the age of five she was taught to drive the tractor.  By the age of 10, she could plow, seed, cut and bail the hay then take it to the barn for the cows.

She made pets out of all the farm animals.  She love her mother's cow, Clara Bell, and a dog named Scotty, that she dressed in baby clothes, put it in a baby carriage and strolled around the yard.

She would make money doing several jobs some with her mother.  She could pick 10 crates of strawberries in a day.  She also would pick raspberries, cherries, green beans, tomatoes and corn for the local farmers.  

At the age of 11, after an afternoon of picking green beans, she met and fell in love with a handsome young man, named Chuck, that she met swimming at the Moalla River.  She knew that someday she would marry him.  In 1952, at the age of 14, she hear he was back n town after being in the military.  She wrote a letter and found his father Harry and asked him to give him the letter.  By 1954 they were married.  She got her man at the age of 16.

They moved to Bremerton, Washington where Chuck worked at the ship yards and had their first child, David.  They moved back to Mulino, Oregon, bought property and started a turkey farm while they had three other children, Joyce, Shelley and Richard.  

Bonnie had to learn now the art of keeping house and cooking.  They had many a burnt meal.  Chuck also taught her how to sweep without putting it under the sofa or bed.

Like the farm she grew up on with her parents, she made pets out of the farm animals.  Glow was her favorite cow and Henryetta was her favorite turkey.  She unfortunately, had to prepare Henryetta for Thanksgiving one year.  She proceeded to pluck Henryetta while alive but couldn't come to put an axe to her so she wrapped the poor turkey in a blanket and put it next to the wood stove so it wouldn't get cold.

They sold the farm and moved to Pacific, Washington in 1962.  They bought their first home in Auburn.  Bonnie worked many jobs, making fishing poles, pressing laundry and selling real estate.  Then she found for forever job working for Boeing for 29 years.  She never lost her skill of being a hard worker.  She received employee of the month more than 10 times and earned many employee awards.

Bonnie and Chuck vacationed in Nashville and she fell in love with a shop that had nothing but teddy bears.  This was heaven to her.

Her biggest love was her five grandchildren.  Aaron, Jason, Ben, Trevor and Amy.  She glowed when spending time with them.  She will now look over them from above.  So remember Grandma is looking down watching you.  Someday in a moment of silence you may hear her saying "I love you this much"!

After the reading of her eulogy and program, Shelley asked everyone if we would go up to the casket with our flower she handed each of us and share a favorite memory or story with the group.  When it ws my turn, I had to come up with something fast.  I've only known her since 2014 so I didn't have very many stories or memories so I shared the Wednesday dinners we used to do at her house.  I added that I thought it was funny when she was eating her food, one bite for her and one bite for the dogs.  I heard a few people chuckle.

Everyone went up and said a few and there were hardly any dry eyes. 

I was glad we were able to have a ceremony during Covid and that we were able to have it outside on such a nice day for December.  We sure lucked out today.  Covid had really ruined it for everyone because we were barely able to go see Bonnie in the nursing home and wasn't able to when she was in the hospital for a short amount of time.  I really feel awful that many people all over the world weren't able to be with their elderly loved ones during their last days because of Covid  and the Covid rules.  What terrible times we are in because we can't get moments with our loved ones back.  Once they are gone, they are gone.  We cleaned up and we all caravanned back to Shelley's house for food.

We stayed for maybe two hours.  The food was delicious.  There was an assortment of pasta dishes, potatoes, turkey, ham, veggies, fruit, rolls and some desserts.  We visited with everyone who came to the ceremony at the cemetery and then it was time to go.  I asked Ben if he could ask Shelley if we could have one of Bonnie's teddy bears to have as a keepsake and she said of course.  She and Ben went to the room and Ben picked one out.  Some hugs were given and we headed out.

Since we drove separate from Ben's mom, sister and Ed, we decided to grab a cache on our way over to Trish's house.  We drove the back way down to the valley.  I checked the geocaching app and saw there was one along the way we could grab.  Mega Mtn View (GC6EY6N) took us into a side neighborhood off of Military Road near a great view of Mount Rainier.  The cache was hidden behind a fire hydrant in the rock wall.  Luckily, this cache was a quick find inside the rock wall.  I got out and signed our names and got a few pictures of our visit.

From there, we continued down the hill onto the Orting Hwy and then got onto McCutcheon and then finally onto Rhodes Lake Rd.  We pulled into his mom's driveway and brought our bag of extra clothes in so we could change into comfy clothes.  Last time we were here, we did a bunch of chores for Trish but didn't have the right faucet for the kitchen sink.  That finally came in the mail...the right one, this time.  Ben took a few minutes to install that and then he fixed the light switches in the hallway and in the office.  We stayed for a few hours playing games and hanging out before we had to head home.

It didn't take us very long to get home.  There, we took the kitties out of their cat room, since they've been in there all day, we still don't trust that they can be in the rest of the house by themselves.  I spent some time getting stuff ready for Erika's birthday party the next day and then we headed for bed.

Next Adventure:  Erika's Unicorn Birthday Party

Christmas Tree Adventures

I saw a few days ago that Gerrit's Greens was going to be closed this year.  It was mostly because they need the trees to grow because they sections have been picked over during the past few seasons and maybe a little bit because of Covid.  We've been coming here for years and Greg has told us that he needed his trees to grow so he might have to close his farm down for a year or so to let them grow.  It seemed like the perfect year to do that was 2020.  We were bummed because we liked coming out here, picking our trees and chatting with them for a while on what was happening in their life.

I try to get everyone motivated to go get trees.  This year we were going to Sproufske's Tree Farm, the other tree farm in Rainier.  I like to support people I know.  I went to high school with Jonathan.  I try to do it when we know there is a day on the weekend in early December when it isn't raining to go pick one.  This year we found a day we could all do it and not get soaked.  I talked Mom into going with us because she needed to get out of the house...even though she is not getting a tree.  We take Grandma with us because her tree is her Christmas present from Ben and I.  I've been doing this for at least a decade.

Ben and I got ready to go, jumped into the Escape, dropped off the recycle and went to pick up Grandma and Mom in Rainier.  I made sure I had some rope to tie off our trees with.  I found some at the Dollar Store the other day and threw it in the back.  We picked up Grandma first and then Mom and headed up the hill towards Finian Road.  

We pull into the property and find a parking spot.  We walk over to the building and spotted Jonathan helping out some customers wrapping up their tree.  I briefly chatted with him for a few minutes.  Some about the tree choices and some about geocaching.  We borrowed a saw and off we went to find a couple good and somewhat symmetrical Douglas Firs.  We spend a little bit wandering through the west lot trees looking for the best one to put in our living room and Grandma did the same.

After about 30 minutes of walking around we found the two trees we wanted to bring home with us.  We cut down Grandma's first and she and Mom walked it to the building to have Jonathan wrap it for them.  Then we cut down ours and walked it over to have it wrapped. 

There were some people in front of us so we had to wait in a line for a few minutes.  I went and paid for the trees, then I talked to Jonathan for a few more minutes, thanked him and then met up with Mom, Grandma and Ben at the Escape to tie the trees onto the top.  I am so glad I bought those small ropes.  They came in super handy.   

We took a few pictures of the sign near the entrance with everyone and saw that they got rid of their cache they placed here about five years ago.  I don't know how long it was here nor when they got rid of it.  I was going to have Mom and Ben find it but it had been archived.  

Dad called me wondering if I wanted some holly from Grammie and Grandpa's house so we stopped by there for a few minutes to grab some.  

We drove to Grandma's house to drop off her and her tree.  We did go inside for a few minutes so we could help her trim the bottom limbs and place it in the tree stand.  Her tree stand is a challenge.  We did manage to get it in and secure.  She thanked us and we drove over to Mom's house to drop her off and she wanted help figuring out how to finish her Christmas lights.  She made us some sandwiches for lunch and we talked about how we could get everything plugged in so it all works on her timer.

After some creative unplugging and plugging in, we managed to figure out how all of the Christmas lights could work together with Mom's timer.  She could actually turn on her Christmas lights with out a huge section missing because we couldn't figure out how to get them plugged in with her current scheme.  She thanked us for helping her and we drove home so we could get our tree up and decorated.

Ben and I brought the tree in and got it into the stand and stable.  We found out our tree had a bird's nest in it and we thought it was strange we didn't notice it until we got home.  I wondered if having a bird's nest in our tree meant that we will receive luck over the next year or that we won a prize.  Ben helped me get the Christmas decorations out of the garage and we started going through it.  He helped me for a while putting up the lights and the garland.

Once the base layers of the tree were on, we went through our Christmas ornaments and I had Ben put his on while I went through mine and added mine to the tree.  Every year we add a new ornament to our "years that we've been together" and this year we added our 7th ornament to our collection.  We have been together for 7 years already!  

We put the final touches on the tree and placed the skirt down below.  Voila!  We have a masterpiece!

Now to see what the new kitties will do with the tree.  I was really hoping neither of them ate the tree.  Fingers crossed!

I still needed to put some of the decorations up in the house, finish our Christmas cards and put the lights on the house but will have to wait later on this week when we had time.  We made rice yuck for dinner, cleaned the cat room, did some online shopping and got my elf scene ready for the next day.   

Next Adventure:  Saying Goodbye to Ben's Grandma Bonnie