Bittersweet Symphony

Grandma Marjorie was an amazing woman.  She married grandpa Caleb just before WWII where he was stationed in Mill Valley, CA.  The couple bought land in a hollow just below the mountain where he was stationed, and you can still see his lookout on the top of the mountain from one of their house's large bay windows.  She raised three beautiful, wonderful girls, including Nate's mother.  She was an integral part of her church, a devoted student of the French language, and loved a good walk up or down the mountain, even in her later years.  She lived to the age of 89 and passed away peacefully watching television in the home Caleb designed and built for them.

Though she passed last November, it was decided that the memorial service would be held on her 90th birthday on February 22nd.  And so, family and friends arrived from near and far to enjoy the beautiful California spring that grandma so loved.  The days before the memorial were filled, as family went through old photo albums and pulled out photos that would help encompass Marjorie and Caleb's life together.  Stories were traded as pictures and items were set aside to share at the memorial, a great tribute to a wonderful life.  The service went off beautifully in grandma's home church, and all breathed a sign of relief.

After, we all had more time to spend together enjoying both the home and countryside.  Thought there was limited internet access, Nate took much of the down time to work on his game.  Cousin Alexi became enchanted by the process, and the two spent hours talking about games and design.  Since the trip, Alexi has been diligent in learning more about game design, and is headed to a programming camp this summer to learn more.  Nate is thrilled!  :)

We went out as a group to Golden Gate Park one day and went boating and hiking.  Mom teased Nate that he owed her a paddle boat ride, as many years ago he agreed to pilot a similar boat, but then decided, after paddling out to the middle of a lake, that he would rather not paddle anymore and left mom to get them back.  So the three of us grabbed a boat, and Alexi, John, Susan and Tatiana grabbed a second, and we chauffeured mom around Stow Lake.

We also got the chance to spend time with Caroline Benson and her family.  Caro was one of my bridesmaids, and spending time with her is always a joy.  Though we hadn't talked in a while, we came together as if no time had passed, the two of us making silly jokes and Nate rolling his eyes.  We also got to meet her boyfriend Matt, who we wholeheartedly approve of. 

One of our interests is always learning more about our newly combined family.  We spent a lot of time going through photo albums and hearing stories about Caleb and Marjorie, their daughters Susan, Sally and Molly, and all of our cousins!  We were excited to see the family crests hanging in Grandma's bedroom:

Our trip home had an unexpected (but ultimately fun) detour. We left from San Francisco early in the morning for a 7:30am flight and flew to Chicago to catch a connecting flight to Grand Rapids. Unfortunately, when we got there and turned our phones back on we got an email from United saying our flight had been delayed. By the time we got to our gate and got settled, it was delayed again. We went to the customer service desk to see if they could get us on another flight and we were put on standby. When we arrived at that flight's gate, the agent there told us the flight was overbooked and she was going to have to ask a paying customer to give up a seat, so there was no chance for us.

Meanwhile, at every step of the way we noticed a man about our parent's age who was following the same path, one step ahead. When he saw us at the other gate, he laughed and asked if we wanted to rent a car together and just make the drive. It was a three and a half hour drive or a five hour wait for a flight that might get delayed again. We jumped at the chance to get moving again, so we left the airport, caught a shuttle to get rental car and he offered to pay if we did the driving. It turns out he was from Canada and on his way to Holland, MI for a conference. We had an enjoyable drive there chatting about the differences between the US and Canada and laughing when he said 'eh' without realizing it. After dropping him off, we finished the drive to Grand Rapids, dropped off the car, and arrived back to Lansing right around when our flight was landing in Grand Rapids.

All in all it was a wonderful trip.  It was fabulous seeing so many family and friends that we've been missing, and to reconnect with people in new ways.  We are so blessed and humbled to be surrounded by so many amazing people!

-Nate & Justine (enjoying tea and a hike in Golden Gate Park!)

Gulf Shores Gaiety!

Dear Family and Friends;

Sometimes we don't post here as often as we should because we feel like not much is going on, and we don't want to bother you.  The last two months have been a different story!  We haven't been posting because things have been so so busy!  But we are happy to report that we are home now, and finally life is falling back into place.

At the beginning of February, we headed down to Gulf Shores, Alabama with Grandpa and Grandma Giddings.  As always, we had a fantastic time!

All days in Gulf Shores have a certain cadence to them.  We get up, and both start work on our computers.  Luckily both Doxpop and CAHS allow us to work remotely, so from morning to afternoon we get things done.  Then, later, we start talking about what adventure we're going to go on that day.  We find something to check out, then pack up and head out for some fun!  Then, of course, seafood dinner.

One of our trips was to the Wharf where the pelicans were relaxing after a long day of badgering fishermen for their catch.  But since they spend all day trying to steal from humans, they were very social and we got pretty close to them. This one was sizing up Grandma and, luckily, decided she was too big for its pouch.

Here's another photo that Nate took of the pelicans. You can see the condos in the background; the one above the left pelican's head was ours!

Another fun trip that we took was to the Gulf Shores Zoo, the "little zoo that could!"  It was really really fun! When you first walk in, you see an island filled with ruffed lemurs!  They were flipping and playing and teasing each other, and we had a lot of fun watching them!  Also at the zoo you could buy a cup of food and take it with you to feed some of the residents.  They had six tigers, wolves, bears, capybaras, aligators, livestock, and many more! It was a surprisingly diverse zoo for its size.  

One of our unique outings on this trip was to the Nina & Pinta, replicas of two of the three ships that Columbus sailed to the Americas.  It was really amazing to learn how the ships had been constructed in a shipyard in South America that still used the same techniques that they used centuries ago to make the originals.  Also it was interesting to see where Columbus would have slept (a tiny hold below deck), and to learn that many of the sailors would have slept on the deck for the entire voyage! There is a unique opportunity for people to go live on and sail these ships from place to place for weeks or months at a time, but Nate and I decided that we'd prefer just to visit.

We enjoyed sampling the local eateries (seeing who made the best gumbo) and taking in the Mardi Gras parades.  The parade is half trying to catch beads, and half trying to guard Grandma from beads flying at her.    As always, we had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa and really enjoyed getting to stop in and see Sarah, Lawanna, and the boys on the way down and back up!

Coming up in our next episode: Our trip to California!

Love to everyone!

-J&N