Visiting Family

On the recent trip out west we took, the main event was the sealing of Heidelbeere and her new husband.  But, of course, it was also an excellent opportunity to visit other members of our families.  And visit family is exactly what we did.

Our first stop was on the way out, to visit my sister and her husband.  We haven't seen them for a few years. Sometimes they are able to go to the intermountain west when we go, other times their schedule does not allow it.  This time, our route out west took us right by their place so we stopped and spent the night with them.  It was  nice to visit and catch up.

The next stop was Brombeere's sister and her husband.  We actually spent a couple of days with them.  That was nice.  We haven't been able to get to see them the last few visits out either.  They live a ways away from our own kids that live out there and time hasn't permitted us to go see them the last few times we were out so it was nice to go see them and have a little time with them.

One of Brombeere's brothers and his wife lives near by so we were also able to stop by their place and spend an afternoon with them.  That was very nice, they're fun to visit.

Another of the things we did while in the area was go up to the local cemetery, where a lot of family is buried.  In my own family, they are buried in several different cemeteries, scattered around the intermountain west.  Most of Brombeere's family, however, is in this one county.  Only a few are elsewhere.  We've been trying to identify where they are and stop when we can but some of them are in out of the way places that we don't get to very often.

After a couple of days it was time to head out so we said our goodbyes and took off for Heidelbeere's home.  On the way, however, was another of Brombeere's brothers and his wife.  So we stopped and spent an afternoon with them.  This was one of the best visits we've ever had with them; we got them talking about family history.  Specifically, among other things, the story of how they met.  They were high school sweethearts, something I hadn't known before.  It was interesting.  Actually, with my sister and each of Brombeere's brothers and sister, we got them talking about family history stuff and memories, and they each let us record it all.  So we came away from these visits with several hours of recordings that we now need to go through and preserve.

After meandering into Heidelbeere's neck of the woods, we spent a few days with her, as well.  We also got to see my brother and other sister briefly while there.  One evening Heidelbeere took us to a place we'd never been before, which was actually quite nice.  It was to a place that has locations all over the western United States (we'd never heard of them out in the Midwest where we live) that was almost an ice cream place; cold and creamy with a variety of toppings - so how could we go wrong, right?  It was another "build-your-own" place so you could put it together however you wanted it.  And it was pretty good; I'd go back.

As mentioned, the main event was Heidlebeere's sealing, which was real nice.  That was a real nice afternoon.  

A couple of days later it was Easter weekend so, of course, there was an Easter egg hunt for the kids.  Heidelbeere and her husband hid a bunch of plastic Easter eggs around outside their place, each filled with goodies, and then the kids got to find them.

There was a minute of instructions, mostly letting the kids know the area where the eggs were hidden, and then they turned them loose to hunt.

The kids had fun.  Each egg had one of their names on it, they were only allowed to gather those with their own name on them.  Several of the eggs where easy to find, didn't take them long at all.  Others were a little better hidden and took a while to find.  As they found them, they brought them over to add to their piles.

During the several minutes it took them to find them all, the family pooch kept guard over the piles of eggs that had been found.  He had to be restrained; it was like leaving the fox to guard the hens.  They needed some hints to find the last couple but eventually they found them all.  It was a fun time.

Moosbeere and his family live several miles away from Heidelbeere and they are still somewhat in isolation so we weren't able to visit them in their home yet, but we did spend an afternoon and evening with them "off-site," outdoors (for the most part).  There is a small wildlife preserve in the area that we met at.  It has a walk way out through a marsh habitat that the birds really like so we met out there for a visit, a walk, and to see (we hoped) a few birds.

They have a pavilion and a tower there, with a boardwalk between the two which had information kiosks along the way, that made for an interesting hike.

Even though no machinery was involved in either of them, they reminded me of old fashion mechanical equipment.  They were entirely made of wood but had very interesting looks about them.

It was a good time, spending time with them, letting the kids run off all their energy.  

While we were there, a storm was moving in.  It got pretty windy and began to get pretty cool so we ended up cutting the hike short.  The original plan had been to hike the entire loop, but the weather deteriorated to the point that we decided to cut it short.

At one point, Moosebeere's hat blew away, out into the marsh.  His oldest boy was only too happy to get off the boardwalk and retrieve it.  He got a little muddy when the ground turned out to be a little softer than it looked.  In fact, that was why he got to go, he was smaller and lighter than his Dad.  In the end, he got it, and enjoyed the added adventure.

And we did see a few birds, too.  There were plenty of ducks, some alone...

others in pairs.

There were other kinds of birds as well.  They were usually flying and not getting too close, which made getting pictures a bit of a challenge.  We didn't get the big crane that flew through, but we got this little falcon.  Afterwards we all went to an ice cream place to get out of the wind and have a treat.  We ended up there quite a while, just talking and having fun.  It was a good visit.  We're really hoping that by the next time we make it out things will have improved enough that we can visit in their home and spend a few days with them, like old times.  It's been a while since we've been able to do that.

The rest of the time we spent with Heidelbeere and her family.  That was fun.

We did some sightseeing, which is another story for another time, and just generally had a good time.

It was a really good visit, with lots of family, which is the main reason we go each time.  We love seeing the kids and grandkids.  But eventually it was time to head back home.

We had one more stop to make before heading home.  As mentioned, my side of the family was a little more scattered out in where they are buried so our last stop was on the south end of the state, the area where my grandmother grew up. We wanted to see the old family home, visit the cemetery and graves of a few ancestors, see a monument to the area's earliest settlers (which lists a couple of my ancestors), and see the old summer homestead.  Unfortunately, we never found the old homestead; I suspect it is no longer standing, that and the roads in the area having been changed significantly.  But we saw some real pretty country looking for it.  It was a real fun visit, interesting to see an area I haven't been to since I was a teenager.  

Alas, we were only able to stay in the area a day.  So, when the time came, we turned the car east and headed back toward our house.  It's a long drive each time we go but well worth it to be able to see these places and members of our family that we don't get to see all that often.  If we could just find a way to live close enough to everyone to be able to see them all whenever we wanted.  That would be perfect.