A Very Nice Visit

Stachelbeere came for a visit recently.  That's a big deal.  In October 2009 he left on a mission for the church and was gone for two years.  He came home in November 2011 and we had a big get-together with him and a lot of the kids.  That was a very good time.  Alas, he was only around until the next January when he left for Idaho to enter school at BYU-Idaho. He spent the semester in Idaho and then came home, being home in time to make an excellent nurse while I recovered from my knee replacement in April 2014, for which I was very grateful.  His help made my recovery so much easier and better.  He stayed with us for several months before moving to Chicago to live with his sister, Erdbeere, in January 2016.  He stayed with them and helped them during the time right after their second child, Moon, was born.  He's a good helper that way.  Then he left for Hawaii, intending to get into school, which he did.  And he pretty much has stayed in Hawaii from then on until we had the family reunion last June.  That's like over two years, longer than when he was on his mission.  Then, happy day, he was able to come to the reunion.

He flew into Minneapolis, Brombeere and I drove over to pick him up a few days before the reunion.  It was exciting to see him again, it had been so long!

Our house began to fill up with family in the lead up to the reunion.  Schwartzbeere and family came over to see everyone since they would not be able go to the reunion.  That was disappointing for them and everyone else but she was at the end of a high risk pregnancy and it just wasn't wise to be that far away from her doctors and medical care.  Not that there wasn't any doctors or hospitals out towards the northern tip of the Door County peninsula, but there wasn't the kind of care she might have needed had anything gone sideways with her delivery.  We all wanted that little baby to get here safely, for both the mother and child.

So while the reunion was officially the camping trip up in Door County, there was a lot of "reunioning" going on at the house just before.  And it was wonderful to have Stachelbeere there for it.  It had been too long.

As ever helpful as ever, Stachelbeere was a big help in the final preparations to get us up to the campground.  It was such a good time to have him around, to enjoy his quiet, subtle humor, and just enjoy his company, along with that of everyone else.

Whether meal times ...

... or having quiet time at the campfire after all the little kids had gone to bed, it was nice to be around him.

I think he enjoyed the change of scenery, too.  It was a very different climate from what he had lived with in Hawaii all the time there.  A little cooler, maybe, though not too much.  Right out in the forest and trees.  Part of the time in Hawaii he was in the Laie area, attending BYU-Hawaii.  But then he moved to the other side of the island to go to the University of Hawaii.  Very urban.

He was a good sport, putting up with nieces and nephews who all loved playing with him.

We all went out to Cana Lighthouse, Stachelbeere was right there in the midst of all the grandkids.

He hiked to the top of the lighthouse with us.  No small feat since the hike to the top included passing through a very tight doorway to arrive at the top.  Stchelbeere is the tallest of my kids and I had a tight squeeze getting through that doorway.  I know he must have, too.  Unfortunatly, I didn't get to watch that little show because our group was too big to all go up together - they limited the size of the groups that go up so that it took us three groups to all get up that wanted to go.  He and  I went up in different groups.

Whether at the restaurant or in camp, he was always willing to help out and help make it a good time.  I like that about all my kids, they're all good about that.

The sweet boy, hamming it up with his dad.  Such a kid.

Maulbeere and her husband and Stachelbeere spent a lot of time setting up and playing a round of dungeons and dragons.  They enjoyed that.

I thought the preparations for the game took as much or more time than the actual play.  And they seemed to enjoy all that preparation as much as playing the game, too.

Like several of the others, Stachelbeere had a hard time disconnecting, since there was sufficient phone signal in the campground to be able to use cell phones.  That wasn't a bad thing, though.  There were down times during the reunion when everyone was able to do what they wanted.  Chill and relax however they wanted.

When we were getting ready to make dinner on the second day I began working on getting the fire started and ready when my eagle scout Stachelbeere came to my rescue and took over.  He and his sister, Heidlebeere had chopped a bunch of wood for the fire.  Then Stachelbeere got things going.

There was a bunch of smoke at first but then after a few minutes of huffing, puffing, arranging, and rearranging, he had it going.  And he kept it going to the point that we had a very good fire for cooking the meal and then afterward for more marshmallows.  It was a good thing.

Stachelbeere and his niece in the yurt he shared with Brombeere and me.

When it was time to break camp and head out, Stachelbeere was a big help to Heidlebeere in taking down her camp and packing up to head out.  He also was very helpful in packing everything into our car, too, when it came time.

Back at the house we had a birthday party for Stachelbeere since he would be back in Hawaii when the actual day of his birthday rolled around.  We wanted to party with him.

So there was good food and games to celebrate, not only his birthday, but just having him around after so long.

We also slipped in time for a haircut while he was here.  All trimmed, nipped, and clipped, ready to send back.

All too soon, it was time to send him back.  He'd been with us a week but it seemed to zip by.

I drove him back to Minneapolis, to the airport and off he went, back to the island in the middle of the ocean.  So far away again.

The boy seems to have acquired a taste for the island life.  Not that its all beach, sun, and relaxation for him.  Stachelbeere works pretty hard to keep himself there and in school.  I'm proud of him for keeping himself there.  But it sure is a long ways away and that makes for too infrequent visits.  So its, oh so nice when he is able to come and we are able to talk in relaxed, easy conversation.  Something that just isn't quite as nice over the phone.  It was a good visit. We'll have to see if we can somehow make the next visit a little sooner than two and a half years.