A bit about April

Amazing how busy you can be when you are retired. As soon as we were back James had to see his dentist. A molar had to be taken out. 

Our washing machine decided to give up on us and it was the week of sprint break here. We were having our three boys here on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday starting about 8 am. 

The first day the weather was so lovely that we decided to go to Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. Daffodils, Tulips and other spring flowers and trees were in full bloom.

 

 

When we came to this pond we met a garden employee who was observing a "resident". See the stone right of the middle on the far side of the water in front of the green tall grass?

The boys of course loved it and asked the gentleman a lot of questions he was happy to answer. I is a "good" snake which keeps the "bad" snakes away.

There is always a lot to see at LGBG but at no visit can we miss spending some time at this tree. It is so perfect for climbing. 

On the way home we all needed some "refreshments". Luckily we knew where the DQ was.

The next day we had to start off with this! Needless to say that it is a favorite.

It is conviniently very close to our church. We could combine that outing with doing a very good weeding job in front of the church buildings.

After lunch Papa needed a walk around the neighborhood. 

Lots of things were blooming even on the above field. Who has decided that dandelion is a weed?

Friday the boys wanted very much to visit the science museum. I know it was going to be full with visitors since it was spring break but we have season tickets and it doesn't really matter. We can go whenever we want and for long (or short) we want. 

This is what they call the "hamster wheel" and was the first on the list they wanted to do. 

Another favortie is the cage where they can measure how fast the throw the balls.

And yes, all three had to climb into the small space capsule.

Omi didn't feel like cooking lunch. It was more fun to be on the round table with the lazy susan in the Peking Restaurant. Of course we had to tell them about our trip to Xian to see the clay warriors just like the immitation in the corner.

We had been so lucky with the weather. Those three are too lively to be shut in by rain. But the rain the following week washed away some (only some) of the pollen. It had been especially bad this year and extra long. Yellow, yellow everywhere. 

Did I mention that our washing machine decided it wanted to be replaced? Decision, decision!

Arranging the delivery almost drove us crazy. It seems in today's world you are not able to talk to a real person but only robots. Finally it was done but the closet had to be rearranged because we decided on a toploader instead of the frontloader.

Saturday the 12th we had the three for the night. The parents had a adults-only dinner party at their house.

Look at them. They wanted to try out our glasses.

We did do some egg decorating though. Hard-boiled ones and also some blown-out to hang up on my Easter branches in a week. 

Holy week is always special. James and I try not to miss any service. Easter they joined us for the service...

... and joined us afterwards for a simple lunch. You know what the dessert was going to be, even without Helen and William which could not be with us this year. I put the ingredients on the table though and everybody made their own "rabbit".

Helen and William were still in the middle of moving. It is not easy when you do it one trunkful after the other. Helen hurried to get WiFi in the new place and the most neccessary things so she could do her work and teach from there and also spend the nights there. The word from Nashville is that they are both very, very happy in the new place. To hear that makes us parents very happy indeed. 

Very Exciting March!

Finally spring had started and it felt like it. On March 21 a blizzard from DQ felt very appropriate. 

We also had a chance to watch one of the twins baseball games. They are both quite good. Here is Colin already pitching. 

But here is most exciting news. Where Helen and William lived in Nashville was not ideal. That townhouse was on the east side and way too small. No garage or storage to leave the 3 bicycles, no place for Helen to teach her online classes but on the dining room table. William's school was on the west side and the time to drive to school was of course when the traffic was the worse. Nashville traffic is not pretty, believe me.

It was time for a move. A place was found and on Monday March 24 we were on our way to help. Any excuse to see our children. As we used to we started very early when it was still dark. And it was still dry then but that changed later and we got quite some downpours. 

A photo for Helen to see were we were. This is in the Tennessee welcome center. 

The next few days were a bit strenuous for us older people but still fun and rewarding. Helen had to work (in the old place) and William had to go to school. James and I tried what we could to get the new place ready to move in.

First on the list was the delivery of Helen's pod with her stuff which had been in storage. Finally. Helen said it would be a little bit like Christmas to see the things. The driver who brought it was first class and very friendly too. It was fun watching him do it with such precision. We were lucky too with the empty spaces.

The new place has three floors and three bedrooms. Yesssss, a guestroom for us. Woodfloors throughout the house but the top bedroom (Helen's) is carpet. Sarah had lent us her carpet cleaner and it was excellent.  Not a 5-minute job though at our age and doing it for the first time. Sarah had given me an excellent lesson though and all the things I needed.

James' teak wood chairs from his flat in Singen have now made it to Nashville. The loveseat should be in the pod. We had brought a little child's table just for now to have our lunch. 

Oh, but the best: we got to help by picking William up from high school. From the new place it is so easy. My map said it would take me 8 minutes to get there. Helen reported recently that he can sleep 1 hour longer because of the move. So important for a teenager. 

Of course in a situation like this one doesn't know how things would work. I had brought some twin beds for the guest room but had miscalculated. They did not fit but one of Helen's friends was very grateful to have them for the kids. 

It took us a bit longer to sort things out, order mattresses, etc etc. So James and I staid in hotels. Yes, plural. The first I had booked online Helen did not approve off. Not in a good area and way to dangerous (what do we know). She really worried about us. It had been easy to drive to and a reasonable price. We had to promise to go there before darkness. 

Well, it was ok. The next night we went to a different hotel. The same known chain and at the airport. Strangely enough I had booked it buy calling and it was even cheaper. They had plenty of rooms.

The following night we didn't pre-book but this time they didn't have that many rooms and we actually had to stay in a suit but for the same price. Could not book it at the same time for another night though because we were close to a weekend and a school team was booked.

As you can tell, we didn't worry and took it one day at a time. Yes, our card game in the hotel room.

You wonder about this picture? Once the pod was delivered and Helen was done working, she tried to open it. It had two locks on it and she had the keys but the locks were rusted shut. She consulted google about it. I got a text when I was picking up William from school to stop and buy rust remover or whatever would help. It took a while but she did it.

A celebratory moment of her and William opening the pod. We carried what we could into the garage and tried to sort it by importance to be needed first. But we did need a second day. 

One of the two stairs between the floors. 

So many decisions to make for Helen. She bought these chairs which we could pick up for her at one of the stores who carried them. She put them together and we had a meal at the island. They are very comfy. Good buy!

William got a mattress delivered. He likes it and is very happy.

He helped Helen pick out some flowers for me which I put on a window sill so not to forget. William took this photo which I thought was very clever.

Yup, the empty pod, left open so the neighbors knew it will be gone the next day since it took two days (the parking!).

On Thursday James and I thought we had done what we could do to help. Helen had to work that day in the evening so we would not see her anyway. We had asked whether Ben, William's dad, would like to meet for dinner in Mt. Juliet. This is one of William's favorite places because the boy loves sushi. 

We had seen Ben earlier because he too helped Helen move some things on his truck bed from the old to the new place. It was nice though to have time talking at dinner. 

To get to the dinner place was a perfect example of Nashville traffic. It took us 3x as long as it should have. The online map would send us the fastest way but still red lines here and there on the map. =

This is my curry. Oh was it good.

And since we had not pre-booked a hotel room and we would not see Helen anyway since we had planned on driving home on Friday, we decided to drive on after dinner and see how far we could go. We made it all the way through Knoxville which was so great. We had pulled over and looked on the internet for a hotel and found something easily enough. We were tired and fell into bed right away.

We woke up early and didn't even bother to shower. We were eager to get on the road. We were before the (included) breakfast time but at check-out we were offered a coffee for on-the-road. Nice!

Luckily it got light soon and I asked James to take some photos of the sunup. 

Tradition: a photo at the Virginia welcome center.

Home Saturday March 29 and having a soft-boiled egg breakfast curtosy of William and Ben's hens (and Helen who shared them with us). 

Had to ask William whether he knew what this means. Oh, he knew right away. Our family game of "sharing" the empty egg. 

Home in time to see our redbud bloom.

Home very happy to know that Helen and William are very happy too about the change.