Catching Up

August 2021

Ok…so when I last posted in March 2020 we were heading home from Aruba and looking forward to our summer trip on the Queen Mary 2 followed by 5 weeks in the UK. Obviously that trip didn’t happen. Like everyone else in the world we stayed home for what seemed like an eternity before we started getting out a little bit during the summer.

Here’s a summary of what we’ve been up to in the last 18 months.

We attended my niece’s high school graduation in May 2020. It was a drive-by and each graduate was allowed 2 cars. After the 30-second ceremony we went back to the house for pizza and a socially distant celebration.

Then in August we had an addition to our family. Our granddaughter, Deanna, had a beautiful little girl they named Kimberly. When she was about 3 weeks old Grandpa and I babysat so Deanna could run a few errands. We watched not only Kimmy, but her two older siblings who were attending school via Zoom. We were only alone with the kids for about 30 minutes so we did okay. Thank god the diapers are marked with “front” and “back” or we might have had a bit of trouble when it came time for a diaper change.

We stayed in Chicago for our 5th wedding anniversary and while it wasn’t the celebration in London we’d planned, being together on our special day was enough. We spent the night at the Waldorf Astoria in Chicago and enjoyed a delicious meal at a local Italian restaurant. Of course we could only eat outside but the weather was beautiful so it was a great anniversary.

And then in early October when the forecast for Chicago was in the low 30s, we decided we couldn’t take another Chicago winter and made the big move to Arizona. We’d been looking for our perfect retirement place for several years and after our month in Glendale AZ in 2019 we knew we wanted to be in the Phoenix area. So, we got in touch with realtors on both ends and within 10 days we sold our house in Minooka, bought a house in Eloy AZ and were back home packing for our retirement move.

While our original plan had been to live in the Mesa AZ area, we ended up at Robson Ranch in Eloy AZ, about half way between Phoenix and Tucson. Click the link to view a video of the community. https://www.robson.com/communities/robson-ranch-arizona/

The community is in the middle of nowhere, about 45 minutes from the closest Target in Chandler. We stayed here when we were house hunting as a part of their guest program. We paid $110 for a 3-night stay in a 2 bedroom house. For that price we also got 18 holes of golf and a free dinner at the onsite restaurant. We had absolutely no desire to live here because it was so far from Phoenix but fell in love with the 5-star resort atmosphere and the friendly people. It would have taken 6-9 months to build a new home but luckily we found a resale that we loved. It was built in 2018 but had only been lived in for about 9 weeks. So, it was basically brand new. We closed in AZ on Monday of Thanksgiving week followed on Tuesday by the sale of Minooka. It was a whirlwind 5 weeks but we couldn’t be happier. Our home is just over 1700 square feet and has 2 bedrooms, 2 baths and a den for Peter. It’s significantly smaller than our Minooka house (3500 square feet with the finished basement) but we don’t miss the space. We gave most of our furniture to the grandkids and bought a few new things here. It’s a perfect size for us and we love the community.

Before leaving Chicago we did a couple of “last” things.

Since moving in to our new house we painted the walls a beautiful soft grey, added ceiling fans throughout the house and the patio, installed under and over cabinet lighting in the kitchen, installed a customized master closet, added storage cabinets and epoxy flooring in the garage and did some amazing hardscaping in the backyard. The landscaping had already been done but we added the paver patio, pergola, outdoor kitchen (with Peter’s pizza oven), fire pit and fountain. We also bought a golf cart so we are officially old people in a retirement community.

We live in an active adult 55+ community which has a ton of amenities and activities. The community has a very nice golf course so we play quite a bit. I’m now the VP of the Lady Lynx, a 9-hole women’s golf league. It’s a fun group of women and after we play we gather for drinks and a bite to eat at our onsite grill. I’ve also learned to play pickleball (graduated out of the Novice group in April and now play with the “big kids”), have taken up stained glass, participate in water aerobics and take an occasional Tai Chi class. Peter works out at the onsite fitness center and swims a ton of laps almost every day. We also played in the summer corn hole league. Neither of us had played before so we’re not very good but we won a few games. Most importantly, though, we had a lot of fun and met some great people. Peter met a guy who went to the same high school. Talk about a small world.

We went to a Cubs Spring Training game in Mesa.

We’ve been trying to see some of the local sites . Even though we’re in the middle of the desert, there’s quite a bit to do/see within a few hours’ drive.

In addition to day trips, we’ve enjoyed some entertainment in our community. We attended quite a few concerts including groups covering the Everly Brothers (one of Peter’s favorite groups) a British Rock and Roll cover band and a Journey cover band. We also attended a Christmas concert, a cover of Carole King and a cover of female artists like Whitney Houston and Ella Fitzgerald. We thoroughly enjoyed each concert.

Here are a couple of YouTube video links.

https://youtu.be/RKtVMx3aA8I British Rock and Roll cover band.

https://youtu.be/cT7zy-onji8 Journey cover band

We took a trip up to Mt. Lemon with one of the community groups – The Roving Ranchers. We drove up the mountain in our own cars and met for lunch. This was our first trip with the group and we look forward to doing more.

The community had pool parties for both Memorial Day and 4th of July. Several hundred people collected at the pool for music, food and drink.

Here is a short video of our community 4th of July celebration by the pool. https://youtu.be/5vN8jjI3eF8

Speaking of the heat, the high desert temps really aren’t that bad because of the super low humidity. We’ve played golf with the temp as high as the low hundreds. We can play 18 holes as long as we start no later than 7:00. If the temp is going to be too high, we get out early or only play 9 holes. Between playing golf and going to the pool several times a week, I’ve gone through about a gallon of sun screen. Peter has a crazy dark tan and has lost about 25 pounds. Between getting a lot of exercise and not being in the house to snack, the weight has been falling off of him. He’s looking and feeling great!

In late June my nephew Mike visited with his family. They hung out with us for the day and were our first overnight visitors. It was great to spend time with them.

In mid-July the Cubs were in town to play the Diamondbacks. We went to games on both Friday and Saturday nights. Since it’s about an hour to Chase Field we stayed in Phoenix Friday night. We had a great time and our beloved Cubbies won both games. Of course this was before the Trade Deadline Massacre when our core players were traded. It was fun to see Riz, KB and Javy for the last time in Cubbie Blue. Thanks guys….we’ll miss you! 😢

Then in August my sister, Amy, and her daughters Gina and Madison paid us a visit. It was a first plane ride for the girls. Luckily, the weather was great, so it was a smooth flight. They spent a couple of days here playing pickleball, enjoying the pool and doing a small stained-glass project.

Then we headed to San Diego for 5 days. There we enjoyed the beautiful San Diego Zoo, Old Town, Sea World, Balboa Park, the USS Midway and Mission Beach.

After 5 days in San Diego the girls flew home. We had a wonderful time and it was great to see them. Hopefully they can come back again sometime soon.

As I write this it’s Wednesday August 25th and we’re packing for our next adventure. Tomorrow we leave for 2 1/2 weeks in the mountains. We’re heading to Sedona AZ, the north rim of the Grand Canyon and Colorado. We’ll spend our anniversary in the Colorado Springs area before checking out Rocky Mountain National Park. On our way home we’ll spend a couple of days in Sante Fe. It will be great to be on the road again. I’ll post pictures from our adventure so keep checking the blog.

Talk with you soon. Love to all from Lynn and Peter