My last three days in Portland

I'm back home on my computer, so I will try to finish up my Portland trip pictures now.  

Tuesday was a better day - not one meltdown all day.  Later in the afternoon we went for a walk.  It looked like it might rain, so I took my little umbrella along (very un-Portland-like!), but it didn't rain at all.  However, we DID see a unique rainbow!  I told Jeremy, "That's God's promise that you're not going to drown."

Here are some pictures from our evening.  

I had fun making some JibJab videos with the boys.  Everyone got a great kick out of this snowball fight!

On Wednesday Natasha and I made a favorite dessert from Jeremy's childhood - Frozen Strawberry Fluff.  Sooooo delicious!!

We went for a walk again.  Mike got this video of Watson's adorable reaction to it, haha!

We saw so many airplanes during that walk.  Brennan kept asking, "Are you going to go on that airplane tomorrow?"  Jeremy said, "We're not talking about that today."  None of us wanted to think about this being my last day.

For my last dinner they ordered in pizza, including my favorite - Margherita.  It was a really fun last meal together.  I set the timer on my phone camera for a picture of all of us, and we were counting down with the numbers flashing on my phone.  I was saying, "Blast off!" on the first picture.  Then I told them I wanted an unposed picture, but Daniel just couldn't keep from looking at those numbers flashing, haha!

I had brought a Christmas book along, and of course, the most popular songs were Jingle Bells and Deck the Halls.  But when I played O Holy Night, and Jeremy started singing along, he amazed the kids with his beautiful voice.  I persuaded him to let me video it.  It's very impromptu, and he's not exactly proud of it, but it's a wonderful memory.  

We had a lot of fun playing with the magnetic tiles that evening before the boys went to bed.   

Jeremy made teal bows and added them to the living room tree.   I love them!

And then Thursday morning came.  We had one last playtime with the plastic blocks.  

Before we left for the airport Mike took these pictures.  The tears were hard to hold back.  

Jeremy took me to the airport and went with me all the way through to security.   It was very, very hard to say goodbye, especially having no idea when we will see each other again.  Brennan was so sure it would be next week.  

I had all three seats to myself.  As we took off I looked down thinking perhaps I would see a water tower in one of those communities down there.  

There was much more cloud cover on this trip, so I did not get the amazing pictures like I got on the way to Portland.   It was fascinating one time to see an airplane flying below us!

I was so disappointed when I realized that the sunset was on the opposite side of the plane.  First I tried to get a picture out the window across the aisle by zooming in.  After a while I couldn't stand it, and I got up and moved to an empty row across the aisle so I could get a better picture.  It was incredible - much more amazing than I could capture with my camera.

I was watching the flight on my seat screen, and when I saw that I was flying over Lake Michigan I messaged my blog friend Mari to let her know I would soon be flying over her place.  She said she would blink her lights for me, hahaha!  What a beautiful sight Detroit was at night as we flew in!  

This time I had several hours of layover time, so I didn't need to rush from one gate to the other.  I got this short video as I entered the magic tunnel.  It was so gorgeous and festive with the Christmas music and lights.

I posted something on Facebook about having several hours until my flight to State College.  Our Calvary pastor's wife commented that their daughter was going to be on my flight.  She lives in Minnesota!  I had never met her before, but I knew what she looked like from pictures.  We had fun chatting as we waited for our flight to leave.  In fact, I owe it to her for not forgetting my backpack!  I had walked right over to get in line for boarding without it!  Whew!!  I'm so glad she noticed it!

It was a much shorter flight, just a little over an hour, but it seemed long because I was so eager to be home and to be able to take my mask off.  I also was starting to feel hungry after eating just snacks all day.  I was thinking of the leftover spaghetti and meatballs and garlic bread and frozen berry fluff back at Jeremy and Mike's.  I surely would have liked to have some!

I got to State College shortly after 10:30 pm, and Dick was there to pick me up.  Even though it was hard to leave Jeremy's family, it was good to be home.  Dick took a vacation day on Friday, so we were able to sleep in.  

On Friday morning I took this picture.  I didn't see clear skies like that very often in Portland.  The good thing out there, however, is that they rarely get extremely cold temperatures, so things stay quite green all winter long.  

Of course, I had gotten plenty of pictures of Elizer!  Alex's mom lives in Florida, and she flew Destiny and Elizer down this week so she could finally meet her grandson.  

I've been catching up on things around here these two days.  Yesterday I went to Med Express to get the rapid COVID test.  I had no reason to suspect that I had it, since Mike and Jeremy and family stay at home, and every precaution was taken during my flights, which were not at all full.  But because of the increasing COVID rates, PA has new guidelines for people traveling from certain states, one of which is Oregon.  My test result was negative, which I fully expected it would be.  

I really hate that COVID is again making such an increase in cases and deaths.  As you know, my stepmother Mary died from that in September.  In October my dad's brother, Luke Witmer, died from COVID.  And now today I just got word that my 63-year-old cousin Don Miller died from it.   

Lord, hear our cries!