Catching up on the Messinas…

I happen to be someplace where I have a bit of time to myself today….which I haven’t had in a very long time. I wanted to catch you up on the goings-on of the Messina family.

After 10 short and hard-worked days in Montana getting the house set up, Rich and I left to drive to Omaha and pick up Lily for a family reunion in Florida. We first drove to Kansas City (about 3 hours for those of you who aren’t familiar with flyover state geography). Michelle was supposed to go on this trip with us but had to bow out last minute. Don’t worry…it is a good thing. She got a promotion at work and had some schooling she needed to attend to and it started around the same time. Anyhow, from KC we flew to Tampa and spent a couple of days with Tammie (Rich’s little sister) and his parents. They have a house together in New Port Richey. Over the next 48 hours, family members started arriving from all over…Rich’s brother and sister-in-law and two of their kids from the DC area. Our son, Tim, from California, a niece from upstate New York, and a niece and nephew out of Boston. All-in-all, there were 14 of us once everyone arrived. We packed everyone and their belongings into three vehicles and drove to the port in Tampa and got on a cruise ship for a short, 5-day cruise. This was a celebration cruise because we had a lot to celebrate….Brittany (our niece) graduating with her master’s degree and her 28th birthday, Lily graduating from high school, Rich’s dad turning 80 (in Aug), Rich’s sister, Tammie, turning 50, and Tim getting a job at UCSD! (thank you prayer warriors! He had a phone call within 24 hours of me asking for prayers on this….offering him the job! God is good!) This was a shorter cruise….we weren’t sure how Rich’s mom would handle the upheaval in her life. She has moderate Alzheimer’s disease and it is just hard…on her and those who care for her. That was the idea around the trip. We wanted Rich’s dad and sister, her two caregivers, to be able to go on a vacation and have someone else there to watch over her. So there was 14 of us….ages 15 to almost 80. It was like herding cats a majority of the time. However, we spent the trip almost always all together. We ate our meals together and traveled off ship together. We almost missed the boat together at our stop in Roatan, Honduras…but alas, they waited for us. The couple in Cozumel the next day was not so lucky. They were on the pier as the ship pulled away. Yikes! In Roatan we went to a farm with macaws, guinea pigs, sloths and monkeys. We got to hold the sloths…they just snuggled right in. They smile….slowly. It was so very cool. The monkeys were hopping on and off of everyone in the cage with them. They really liked my camera. I have so many good photos on my good camera, but all these photos will be from phones so I can get this post up. I will post those good photos once I process them. We also went to a chocolate factory and then everyone went snorkeling off a couple of boats. Rich and I stayed back to watch everyone’s belongings and his mom, who spent a lot of the time counting the boats in the bay.

The next stop was Cozumel, Mexico. We did more snorkeling here and the obligatory tequila tasting at a local family’s compound. Not a fan of tequila….but they made plenty of money off our family! Rich bought a beautiful and very colorful beaded elephant from an indigenous artist there. They take fish bones and grind them up into a paste….harden in and then carve the animals. They slowly cover the animal with wax and then place tiny glass beads in brilliant cultural designs to complete the sculpture. It took the artist a couple of months to complete the elephant we bought. We had him sign the piece for us.

After being on the ship for 5 days, we disembarked and made it back to New Port Richey. Board games and card games were played. Joe and Heather taught us how to play dirty rummy. I think we’ll be playing it for years to come. Rich took his sister, Tammie, her son, Casey, our son, Tim, and Joe & Heather’s daughters, Tristan and Brittany skydiving. Then, just as they came…the relatives started leaving to return to their homes. We were the last to go. We were able to spend some time with Rich’s Uncle John and Auntie Joyce and later with their son, cousin John & Kim. Here are a few photos from that last day in Florida.

Rich, Lily, and I flew out to New England after 9 days in Florida. We landed in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and drove in the fog and rain to Salisbury Beach to see Rich’s Auntie DeeDee. We loved connecting with her again. Since Rich’s parents and sister have moved to Florida, we don’t get to see his extended family in New England very often. Have you ever been around Italian aunties? They take one look at you and deem you starving and they feed you anything and everything they have in their house. We stayed the night with his Auntie Cathy and Uncle Mike and they served us a very large breakfast the next morning. We spent the afternoon at our cousin, Dina’s house with the cousins. We celebrated Jared’s birthday (one of the youngest cousins) and just all got caught up. It was really nice. Lily met two of her cousins she had never met before who are the same age. We left Dina’s (in New Hampshire) and drove to Bath, Maine. We had that as our home base for a couple of days as we tootled around Maine. Our big task was to go on a 4-hour tour out of Booth Bay to see whales and puffins. The puffins were the most important thing for Lily and we were able to see them through the mist and rain. Lily can sleep anywhere…as you can see below. We also went to Freeport, Maine to see the original LL Bean store (the big rain boot), and to Kennebunk Port. Rich and I had lobster rolls the two days we were in Maine. We had a great time in New England…even if it was only 4 days. We spent our last night with cousin Jared and his wife Dawn, and family. They have a farm with baby doll sheep, goats, miniature donkeys, kittens, and dogs.

Auntie Cathy had let us know that there was major construction in Boston, so we flew to KC out of Manchester, NH instead. Of course there was a delay in leaving….which caused us to miss our connecting flight in DC. By the time we got to KCI and drove 3 hours north to Omaha, it was after 1 in the morning on Thursday. (yesterday). Tim flew in late last night and has been furniture shopping at our house with the remainder of our furniture we are selling and didn’t move to Montana. The little U-Haul trailer is packed, and he and I will take off in a couple of hours to start towards his place in East Palo Alto, CA. It is a 25-hour drive. Once we get to his place, we’ll load up the rest of his belongings and then start the drive to San Diego, which is 7 hours. He has found a place to rent with more space for him and 3 roommates in a 4000 sq ft home with a large yard only 15 minutes from his work. I am happy that he will be moving into a good situation and a nice neighborhood. I will start traveling back to Montana from San Deigo a week from now. So in 3 weeks, I will have been in 3 countries, and the four corners of the lower 48 states….Florida, Maine, Southern California, and Washington State (which I travel through on the way back to Montana). Rich and Lily will be busy getting loose ends tied up with the house in Omaha and the business. They will join me a few days after I get back. We then will have 3 glorious weeks to enjoy Montana before flying with her down to move her into her dorms in mid August. So it may be awhile before I post again, but know I am travelling our beautiful country and hope to share my experiences when I am back online. (and yes, I am tired. Wouldn’t you be?) 🙂