Welcome 2026
Well, 2026 just sort of snuck in, didn’t it.
Shenanigans were mixed in with adventures in January.
We had a week at home after New Year’s Day. Then it was on to Seattle. We hadn’t seen the Seattle crew since Thanksgiving and our son and his wife had purchased a new home during that time.
Our first stop was lunch with David’s dad and sister, J, at the Orting Senior Center. J drives 3 hours round trip every Wednesday to pick up Dad and have lunch with him at the senior center.
It’s a kick in the pants. We are all seniors now, but David’s dad at 98 is, I believe, the oldest person there. Lunch was hamburger and cheese sliders, a pasta salad and cake. The sliders were my favorite.
After lunch we took Dad home and drove the 90 minutes to J’s house for fun and games.
J’s husband wasn’t going to be home that night so we opted for a really yummy dinner at Sparta’s. Sparta’s is an Italian/Greek restaurant very close to J’s house on Highway 99 in Lynnwood. During Covid we’d ordered pizza from them, but we really hadn’t gone into the restaurant for a number of years.
It was so nice to sit in the cozy restaurant and have spaghetti and meatballs knowing none of us had to cook and none of us had to clean up.
Having found some treasures we headed back to the house for some libations and games. We played several rounds of golf – the card game – everyone got a bit happier and we had dinner. J and I spent some time in the hot tub before Ted Lasso.
This made my knee very happy.
Saturday found us at loose ends. David and I had been discussing the future purchase of a truck and a trailer, so we almost went looking – just looking, no buying. In the end we decided on a hike through Discovery Park in Seattle.
I thought I had not been to this park, but when we arrived and started walking it was all looking very familiar. We found an informational sign just above the beach explaining the park was originally Fort Lawton. I knew I had been to Fort Lawton as a Campfire Girl and remember my parents talking about Fort Lawton.
Fort Lawton has an interesting past. Established in 1896 the intention was for the Fort to defend Seattle from naval attack. It opened in 1900 as an army base. In 1909 It became home to the Buffalo Soldiers. Things were pretty quiet at Fort Lawton until WW II. It was the second largest embarkation center for American soldiers during the war. The Fort also housed 1,000 German Prisoners of War and 5,000 Italian Prisoners of War on their way to Hawai’i.
There is more including; a riot between the Italian POWs and Buffalo Soldiers, housing of soldiers during the Korean War, establishing a radar station in the 1960’s. It’s pretty fascinating.
When we got to the trailhead for the beach no one was interested in heading down to the beach. Except me. It was, admittedly, very muddy, steep, and lots of open grate metal stairs. And as J’s husband, K, pointed out; “whatever goes down must come up.”
But, I had my camera and I rarely get back to Puget Sound and Elliot Bay. So I accepted the challenge and carefully walked down to the beach. Once down there the sight was breath taking. Although it was an overcast day the view was incredible. The Olympics (my favorite mountain range) were in view below some heavy clouds the sun was trying to break through. There must have been two dozen sail boats on the water.
More of Discovery Park
Later in the early evening we had just ordered food at a favorite watering hole, The Bulldog in Lynwood, when I got a call for help from our daughter-in-law. Our son was sick and they were in the throws of moving with a five year old and a three year old and she was leaving on a work trip the following evening.
We stopped by J & K’s house after we ate, to pick up just enough clothes/toiletries for a couple of nights and our car, and drove to our son and daughter-in-law’s new house.
We spent that evening and the following day helping unpack, wrangle boys, nurse our son and easing some of our daughter-in-law’s understandable anxiety.
We stayed with our son’s family until Monday. I helped our daughter-in-law with unpacking and nursing our son. David was downstairs I assumed keeping the boys occupied.
By Sunday evening things had smoothed out a bit. Our son was able to leave his bed. The boys were more settled and familiar with the new house. And our daughter-in-law made her flight to LA for work. We spent one more night per our son’s request.
Monday rolled around and we visited our friends M & P in Edmonds. They had recently moved from Tacoma so that they could provide childcare for their first grandchild. They care for him at their daughter’s house. So they invited us to lunch. We spent a lovely afternoon catching up and getting to know their newest family member. This was a real treat since we no longer have babies to play with in our family. The boys are getting too big.
We spent the next two days hanging out with J & K who were actually busy preparing to fly to Mississippi that Friday. They do this every year to celebrate Mardi Gras in Bay St. Louis.
Our last day in Lynnwood was Wednesday. It was J’s birthday month so we drove to Orting Senior Center for their monthly birthday lunch with David’s dad. After lunch we drove back to Dad’s house and picked up his dog and luggage so he could spend a week with us in Eugene.
I didn’t realize what home bodies David and I are until Dad came to visit. David’s dad is losing his sight due to macular degeneration and walking can be difficult – as I said; he is 98 – so without the senior center life at our house can be pretty boring. Dad wanted to go somewhere every day. So when David and I were recovering from our 3 mile walk Dad stood up and said, “ Let’s go look at trucks. I’ll spring for lunch”
We convinced him to wait until we had showers.
Since walking can be difficult and tiring for Dad I wasn’t sure how truck shopping was going to work. As it turned out David really only wanted to look at Toyotas, so we didn’t do much walking. We also didn’t buy anything.
The following day there was lunch at our neighborhood club house so we started the day there. David’s dad won a drawing for some rain bells. After we found ourselves at home again with nothing planned. Nothing planned. Nothing to do. Let’s go buy that truck. And that’s what we did.
Our Kia Soul is 10 years old and can’t pull a trailer. A Toyota Tacoma was the answer. It drives like a car, but for the life of me I can’t seem to park the thing without making 3 tries.
We ended the month with our friends D & R. David had been searching for an authentic, traditional mole recipe. He finally found one and of course wanted to make it, which meant making enough mole chicken for a family of 6 and enough mole sauce for 4 meals. We asked D & R to dinner on January 31st. R brought one of her amazing salads and a lemon cake topped with raspberries. ( R is a dangerous friend to have). Dinner was followed by a game of Golf (the card game) and wonderful conversation.
Leave a Reply