Saying Goodbye

Last Friday, we hopped on a plane to Chicago and then another to Eugene, to go to Grampa's funeral.  Evie is a great flyer and also knows her way around the airport, so we had her figure out what gate we were departing from and lead us there.

We had an uneventful first leg to Chicago and then had a long layover so we walked around for a bit and finally decided on a place to have dinner.  In our walk around, Evie saw a sailor who had dropped his wallet and she picked it up and ran it over to him.  I didn't think he was nearly as grateful to her as he should have been, but that was probably because his buddies were ragging on him that a 7-year-old had better sense than he did.  By the time we got to the restaurant, Evie was tired of walking and just tired in general.

We had an hour delay on our flight out of Chicago while the crew figured out how to balance the weight of the plane.  I've never seen this before, but they asked people who were in a window seat to move to a vacant aisle seat and then they brought some suitcases up from cargo to sit in the window seats.  It was one of the strangest things I've seen while traveling.

We arrived in Eugene and got our rental car and drove to the motel we had booked.  There was some obnoxious people yelling outside our door at midnight (which felt like 2 am for us), but otherwise we slept pretty well.  The we drove up the 5 to meet Jill and Eric who drove down from Battle Ground.  On the way, we stopped at a Barnes and Noble and happened upon a 15 minute demo of Nut Remix, which Evie enjoyed watching.

We had a delicious ramen lunch and enjoyed catching up with Jill and Eric.  Jill brought Evie a cute t-rex necklace which she liked playing with and wearing.

Then we hit our second Dutch Bros stop (our first was on the way north) and Evie agreed with us that Dutch Bros is superior to Starbucks.  Because who doesn't love a whip straw?

We got to Gram's house and met Ira, Brenda, and Parry there.  Evie immediately remembered that this was the place with the orchard and the cow she used to feed and wanted to go feed the cow.  Unfortunately, I think the cow is no longer there.  She also remembered playing with the toys Gram kept in this little barrel.

And she learned how to use a rotary phone.

We went to meet cousin Cathy and her husband Rick for dinner and enjoyed catching up with them.  We hadn't seen them since Evie was 11 months old, at Grampa Mayne's funeral.  Then we all headed back to the house.  Evie and I went to bed early because we were still adjusting to the time change.  

Because we went to bed so early, we also woke up early, so she and I took a walk down the road to the mailboxes.

After breakfast, we got ready for the memorial service for Seth's dad.  It was really nice to hear the memories that the people of the church there had of Greg, and it seems that he brought a sense of purpose to the people of the church.  I was especially moved by something the pastor relayed: they had had the carpet replaced recently, but after the old carpet was out and before the new carpet was put in, they wrote on the floor a lot of different Bible verses.  The one that was written under the spot where Greg sat was: Then Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk."  I thought that was very fitting and moving.

After the service, we decided to take Evie out for some fun, so first we stopped by the duck pond next to the church to try to recreate a picture that we had taken exactly 6 years earlier.  Evie was more frightened by the ducks and geese this time than she was at age 1.

Then we went to Wildlife Safari and enjoyed seeing the animals there.  Then headed back to the house.  

Evie took quite a shine to Aunt Brenda during this trip, and they enjoyed playing with each other.  Brenda rolled her around on the walker, like Gram used to do.

And played a game where they tossed a rubber ball in a sheet to see where it would go.

And helped her navigate the rocks around the Umpqua River.

And played limbo

And played board games.

Evie stayed with Ira and Brenda Sunday night while Seth and I went out for dinner.  It was nice to have some time to let him process the events of the day and talk through everything.  It's hard to say goodbye to your dad....

Monday, we went to a park and Evie found a lone dandelion and sweetly made a secret wish.

 Then we all went to dinner and when we got back, Evie planned a surprise meal for breakfast with Aunt Brenda's help.  This turned out to be macaroni and cheese, bean chili, and some traditional breakfast foods.

Then we headed out to the Eugene airport.  It was sad to leave, knowing that this might be the last time we stay at that beautiful property in a place I've grown to love.  Seth also felt like it was the end of an era since there's now no one there we would need to be sure to stop by and visit if we are in the Pacific Northwest.  Goodbyes are hard...