Blizzard

We traveled to Kansas on 1/23 to spend time with JD and Janel and to meet Blizzard in person.

First a little background info.

Dan was born in California and has only lived there and in Phoenix his entire life except for three years of college in Flagstaff AZ and three months that he and I lived in Vancouver WA when we were first married.

I was born in Springfield MO and lived my entire life in Overland Park KS until I moved here to the Phoenix area (and the months in Portland, OR).

We have been married for almost 36 years and have not encountered snow, ice, COLD in years. We told our kids when they began getting married that if they lived in the Midwest our window of opportunity for visiting them ran from Memorial Day to Labor Day. We have made an exception and gone out there in October for Columbus Day if the weather was good (meaning no snow in Flagstaff). After three plus decades in the desert, our blood is very thin.

So it was with trepidation that we headed out to Kansas in January. Yikes! We had to drive the southern route which added three hours to the overall trip due to snow in Flagstaff and northern Arizona.

I won't dwell on it, but let me assure you that we were very cold the entire time we were there. At one point I had on two layers of warm shirts, a sweater, a sweatshirt, a shawl and was wrapped in a blanket. No kidding. We kept our hotel room at 74 degrees so we could thaw out at night. We keep our home at 70 degrees so that shows you how chilled we were. And it wasn't just me. Dan was just as cold as I was. He just didn't want to admit it to our kids!

But all of that aside, we had a wonderful trip. Blizzard is just the cutest little boy ever. He's such a good blend of JD and Janel. And speaking of them, they are doing an awesome job as first-time parents. Janel is so calm and competent. She's so happy - no sign of anxiety that first time moms sometimes display. JD is a great dad and jumps in to help with every aspect of baby care. It was so cool to be around them for Blizzard's first week.

Of course we took tons of photos. And it was desperately hard to leave him. This will be a huge change for us. We're used to having our grands close to us. Available for every family event, for sleepovers, for play dates, for lunch at Freddy's...

All the way home I was plotting, planning and praying about ways to be a part of this little boy's life from a distance. It's such a blessing in this time to be able to "see" each other on the computer for video visits. I warned JD and Janel that I will be requesting visits on a regular and consistent basis!

We already booked our room to return in late May. We have plans to see them in July. We are committed to visiting them in Sept/Oct. And we're praying for an unusually warm Kansas winter so we can return for his first birthday in 2018.

Look at his hair - I've never seen a baby with natural blonde highlights before!

Is there anything more precious than seeing your child as a parent?

Three generations

All of the grandparents

I have several more photos and will share them soon. We are so proud of you, JD and Janel! We love you, Blizzard!