You do not have to look too deep in to the world of social media to see that everyone is publishing topics like the Top 5 Most Popular Posts ,The Nine Best Instagram Photos, The Best of This, The Best of That and even The Top Ten Dishes of 2015 (I did that). There is a very good reason for this. Reflection. As responsible bloggers, we need to reflect upon the work from the prior year in order to plan for and evaluate the next year’s editorial calendar.
However, my favorite part of the “Best of Post” is revisiting a topic that made people happy! My goal was to bring together a community of empty nesters to share their adventures. I am indeed the largest contributor, but there have been many Guest Adventurers who have written amazing articles and were willing to allow me to publish them! Thank you for that!
Christmas with our adult kids is different now. Not bad different, just different. Change is inevitable and as our children get older, they take on new interests and their Christmas wish lists have gotten much smaller. Visits to local, intriguing distilleries, trying new cocktail bars and great restaurants and going to the movies is now the order of the day. They prefer money over gifts. They check their emails and texts. They watch football and play in football fantasy leagues, have a boyfriend, a girlfriend and are quite competent in the kitchen. Times are different, but I like it.
No more assembling toys, taking bites of Christmas cookies and preparing for Santa’s arrival. I made the mistake of listening to a couple of Christmas albums that I used to listen to when they were young. These songs sung by Celine Dion and Harry Connick Jr. caused me to cry remembering those holidays from their childhood. Longing for those times from years ago, yet understanding that they are gone forever.
I just wanted to give you an update to the downsize and Empty Nest Renovation adventure! We so appreciate all of your support and good vibes sent our way! We are just about halfway through…if you stick with the 6 months estimate for the renovation. We moved to Seattle, still travel a great deal, …
Our Maui selfie, taken on our anniversary trip last week.
Allow me to declare that any and all anniversaries should be celebrated! Any time a married couple begins another year together it’s fantastic. Long-term marriages are an important milestone and I wouldn’t be me unless I said we also need to find adventure in life too!
Aren’t we all looking for hope? Hope for a great life for our families, for ourselves and for our friends. On social media I see where “likes” of happy things way outnumber the negative. I actually just scroll past the negative. You and I both know that negativity is floating about, I just don’t need to focus on it, but that’s just me.
In the cornfields in the Pacific Northwest, a couple of years ago
Teri and Roger are owners/innkeepers for the 1802 House Bed and Breakfast in Kennebunkport, Maine. Teri was was kind enough to share her personal thoughts about becoming a new grandparent. The beautiful 1802 House Bed and Breakfast is a member of the Select Registry Distinguished Inns of North America, has been awarded the TripAdvisor.com Certificate of Excellence, and is a BedandBreakfast.com Diamond Collection property.
Becoming a new grandparent – Insights from Teri
My husband and I are currently living in Maine where I’m lucky enough to be living my dream of owning and operating a Bed and Breakfast. My husband is English and we met in Boulder, Colorado 20 some years ago working at IBM when he was on assignment to the USA. We married and my daughter and I moved to the UK. I spent 20 years there and while it certainly feels like home now, I always had this desire to own an Inn. And really, the USA is the place to do that. We talked about it for years, looked occasionally and couldn’t find anything, then kept on with our corporate lives. In 2012, while we were in Kennebunkport on our first Maine holiday, we found THE INN. Perfect location, perfect size and a really beautiful property. Six months later, we had moved back to the USA and became the new owners of the 1802 House Bed and Breakfast.
I am giving you fair warning that this post contains a great number of tedious details. Think of it as a road trip diary of sorts. I understand completely if you do not wish to continue, but thank you to the rest of you who are still reading. It feels good to for me to vent a little about our recent road trip to Seattle.
Did you take driving trips with your family as a kid? Did your grandparents land on the East Coast and make their way west by car?
Did you take your kids on family road trips?
My husband Craig traveled by car with his family every summer. He has fond, vivid memories of these vacations, discovering majestic national parks and visiting different parts of the United States. My family traveled by car only once to Missouri to visit family when I was 8. I hated it (for a multitude of reasons I won’t go into) then and the memory stayed with me.
With our young family of four, we drove as far as San Diego or Palm Desert and once we drove to Danville (Northern California) for a Thanksgiving Holiday with friends from our home in Southern California.
So other than an occasional short driving trip from point A to B, the Staverts always took a plane for vacation. Now as empty nesters, our focus has been on using airline miles and hotels points for parts unknown and usually far away.
When we decided to move to Seattle for 6 months (learn why here) we were moving with our dog Rocco (we did not want to ship him by air) and needed our car while in Seattle… We had to take a road trip. Yikes. That is not my idea of fun. I do not like sitting for hours at a time and Rocco had never been in a car for more than an hour. Craig’s job is very demanding and can’t be away for very long. This road trip presented some major personal challenges, but hopefully no disasters.
The Road Trip Plan
For reasons of comfort and tolerance (mine), we decided to break up the nearly 1200 mile trip into 3 1/2 days of driving and three overnight stays. We packed our SUV with as much of our belongings as possible which was mostly clothes, computers, dog stuff and flat screen TV. The only room left in the car was a small space in the back seat for Rocco’s bed and Rocco. Otherwise, every bit of air space was taken. This was truly a hillbilly-like situation.
Our first potty/food stop was a truck stop in Bakersfield at Burger King. Oh my favorite! It was a blistering 95 degrees and we found a small, dry stretch of grass for Rocco and we stood on this patch of grass while eating our “delicious” lunch. Rocco did his business and we were off. After easily 4 ½ hours of more driving, we traveled through San Francisco and tremendous traffic to stop in Santa Rosa for the night.
The renovation of our empty nester fixer-upper will begin in September.
The last time I wrote about the empty nest renovation was clear back in January. It has been quite the roller coaster ride with so many details, so many decisions, so many ups and downs.
A quick review:
Craig and I decided to sell our home, downsize and leave our beach community of Laguna Niguel after 27 years. We left our dear friends, daily routine, and a house full of memories. Not an easy decision.
We purchased a much smaller, 1937 Spanish Colonial fixer-upper home on a quaint, tree-lined street in Pasadena, CA in order to live closer to our family and my Dad who is fighting cancer.
With so many adjustments and challenges, these past seven months have been really difficult and exhausting, however the quality time I have been able to spend with my Dad has been priceless. The move was truly worth every single minute of heartache or discomfort.
We hired an amazing architect, a well recommended contractor and were finally given approval by the city to begin. Truthfully, we have delayed the start a couple of months because of Dad’s illness. He is an inspiration and has suffered more than any person should ever have to. Dad is still outrunning it and plans to continue on this path!
We have chosen fixtures, tile, marble, granite, appliances and floor coverings. The decision making is overwhelming, but exciting. So… now we needed to find a place to live while the house was under construction. The renovation will include every room and every crevice and to live there was just not feasible.
Happy Fourth of July to one and all! It is just about time to celebrate the birth of our nation, eat great barbecue, watch fireworks, enjoy family and friends and pull out all of our red, white and blue finery. It is heartwarming to see the American flag used as patriotic decorations like these at Farm + …
So what is on your Summer Reading List? My reading habits go from voracious to non-existent. Partly because I get busy and partly because I will read a book that I don’t particularly like and it sours me on reading for the time being. However, then someone recommends a great book and I am off …
One more change in the Empty Nest Graduate from high school, move out, go to college, graduate from college, get a job – rinse, repeat. This is all happening again. Now, five years later, our second and last child has left the nest and graduated from UCLA just a few days ago. I knew …
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