Home from Oregon

Well, we finally got home after having our flight cancelled and rescheduled due to over an inch (close to two inches) of ice. When you travel with a baby, packing light isn’t possible. We were ready to leave on Sat. by noon, packed up two bags and a backpack for me, a very large bag, small bag, carry-on and a portable baby bed and the car seat for Michelle and Kayleigh. All of this was loaded into the 4x4 truck (weather was looking bad and news reports weren’t encouraging). We were 30 min. into our trip to the Portland’s airport when my SIL called to say that the flight was cancelled. Once we got back to the house, with the truck covered in ice as the freezing temp. froze the rain-ice mixture, we had to unload everything. The storm increased in severity, accumulating 1-2” of ice in Portland. It wasn’t looking good for an early flight the next morning and indeed, when I called to change our flight, the reservationists said they weren’t booking anything for the morning due to the warnings that most roads would be closed in Portland (those who had to travel had to put on chains). So, the earliest flight we could get on was at 5:15pm the next day (Sun). This meant we didn’t get home until 1:30 a.m. Mon. Kayleigh was great, but it was a very long day for all of us.

Other than the ice storm, we had a great time discovering the Willamette Valley Wine country. Michelle navigated while I drove. We stopped at three different wineries to sample wines and bring home a few bottles. Both of us like the dessert wines the best and kept asking for the chocolates to accompany our sampling. So far I have found a few specialty fruit wines I like (blackberry, loganberry and raspberry), a really great sweet red wine, a Riesling, and a Pinot gris. The airlines don’t let you check the wine in your luggage, so we had to transfer our bottles to our carry-on which only added to the weight. I’m sure Michelle would fully agree with me, the sweet Riesling we bought at www.sokolblosser.com Winery was worth every extra ounce. She is saving her bottle for her and Justin’s fourth anniversary in March. I’ll save mine for a special occasion (at $30 for 375 ml, anytime will be a special occasion drinking this), but it’ll be before my anniversary since it doesn’t come until August and I don’t want to wait that long before Mike gets to try it. Anyway, it has been fun discovering different wines.

My niece and nephew are growing so quickly, time does have that affect on pre-teens. Adam is so typical for a 12 year old who sleeps in until wakened and then eats before he sleeps some more. April will be 11 next month and she is really beginning to physically develop into a young woman now. It seems that every time I go out there, we experience extreme weather. There were three days during the week where we had to scrape ice off the windows before I could take the kids to school, but we made it in time each day. Then there is the rain… it is Oregon, but there was that one day when the sun came out. It is always an adventure going for the week and as much fun as we have, I’m always glad to come home and recuperate.

Tomorrow is the first day of the spring semester. Continue to keep me in prayers. I have intermediate algebra (last developmental math before I take college algebra and then that is it!), introduction to computers, computer lab and Brit. Lit II. I’m really ready to get back to school, meet new friends and new professors as I go about letting my light so shine. I have classes starting at 9 a.m. with the last one finishing at 1p.m.; so, I’m off to bed.