Update

Here's the latest...

Not too much has changed for us in the last couple of weeks. We've been very busy with Heather, Dan, and little Parker. We're over there just about every weekday; weekends, with Dan at home, we've been trying to leave them alone. (Dan went back to work last Monday.)

Parker continues to thrive. She has two nicknames: Perfect Parker, and Parker the porker. That little kid can really eat. You can hear her gulping clear across the room. Heather and Dan say that she sleeps roughly four hours at a time, all night long. When she wakes up to nurse in the night, she nurses and goes right back to sleep. I'm not sure they realize how fortunate they are.

Last Friday, we moved from Anaheim, just up the road from Disneyland, to a beautiful, little-known RV park in Long Beach. This place is right on the water, less than a mile from the Aquarium of the Pacific and all of the other shops and restaurants in the Pike, surrounding the aquarium and the convention center. We really like staying here: we have a place looking out over the harbor, it's quiet, close to where Sherry lives and significantly closer to Heather and Dan.

Looking out our back window at the Golden Shore Marine Reserve

The Queen Mary; this shot was taken just around the corner from the RV park.

In fact, we liked staying here so much that we just extended our stay here another two weeks. We'd already decided to stick around awhile longer. With Parker spending so much time in the NICU, she, Dan and Heather are still getting to know one another and settle into a routine. So, as of right now, we're planning on sticking around until September 21.

So far, we've pretty much been focused on Parker. Sure, we've spent some time with Jill and her family, as well as seeing Sherry, but our prime focus has been Parker. We are starting to see that change. We've started making plans to get together with friends, starting with this weekend. Fortunately, we don't really need to do any sightseeing while we're here; after all, we lived in Los Angeles County over 45 years!

What's next for us? Right now, our plan is to head back north. We still want to see the several National Parks that we missed in our mad dash south at the end of July. Also, we want to spend some time in Seattle with Scott and Sara. Scott took a bad fall a couple of weeks ago and broke all three bones in his left (dominant) arm; additionally, he tore his UCL and needed Tommy John surgery. We've volunteered to help them out, either around their place in Seattle or head back to the cabin on Orcas. We'll see how that works out.

Our newest Dodger fan

Parker Willow Shook Merrick

Our beautiful granddaughter entered the world on Tuesday August 6th. She is, not surprisingly, absolutely gorgeous. She weighed 10 pounds, 10 ounces and was 20.5 inches long.

She got off to a rocky start. Immediately after birth, the doctors determined that she inhaled some meconium, either in the womb or during birth. Meconium is a dark, sticky, tarry substance discharged by newborns. Apparently Meconium Aspiration Syndrome (MAS), something that I have never heard of before, is the leading cause of of death in full-term infants. Newborns can have respiratory distress and/or lung infections from this. So, a couple of hours after birth, they shuttled her off to the NICU for care. This was REALLY tough on Dan and Heather; they had no inkling that something like this was going to happen.

The real problem was that the doctors decided she needed to be on antibiotics for seven days - all in the NICU. Additionally, she needed a little help breathing.

Despite all this, little Parker is an absolute angel.  She looks like a little sumo wrestler. She’s alert and strong, holding her head up and looking around at the new world she finds herself in.

Parker Willow Shook Merrick, sumo wrestler in training

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This whole time was tough on Heather and Dan; they spent the time shuttling back and forth between home and hospital. We spent the time either running to the hospital and/or cooking and delivering meals to their house. It was a busy, stressful ten days for all of us.

This is the second grandchild in a row that ended up in the NICU; both got absolutely world-class care. Sweet Baby James, last summer, was born seven weeks premature and spent 17 days in the NICU. Like SBJ, Parker seemingly wasn't making a lot of progress toward breathing all by herself... until she was. Overnight, she decided she had had enough of NICU life and wanted to meet her brother Eddy (the dog!) and see what life at the beach was like; she was discharged yesterday (8/16) and is now safely home.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention anything about our other two grandchildren: Madeline and Sweet Baby James (aka Teddy). This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago, around the time of Teddy's first birthday. Madeline is now six, and starts first grade in a few days.

Our original plans called for leaving SoCal on September 6th. We just decided, because of the delays in getting Parker home, to extend our time here another ten days - or more, if needed.

On the Road Again - Finally!

Yes, we are back in our home! Here’s a quick update on what happened, and where we’re at right now.

I’ll start with the last, first. We settled in to a RV park in Anaheim, CA; we’re actually in a park that claims to be the closest RV park to Disneyland. It’s a nice, neat, well-organized park that, for an urban park, is fairly spacious. We’ll be here for the next three weeks, awaiting (STILL!) the birth of our granddaughter.

We were very fortunate that, as I write this on Friday, August 2, we are still waiting for the little one to arrive. Heather was due on July 27 - nearly week ago. This is her first child and first babies are not always ready to be born on time. This was really good for us. While we were on Orcas, as the due date came and went, we went through all kinds of scenarios for what we’d do if we got the call: putting Cathy on a plane, the four of us driving like mad from Washington to LA (to return at a later date to pick up the trailer), me and the dogs waiting for the trailer and making a solo drive south - you name it, and we probably considered it. Thankfully, that was all for naught.

Getting the trailer was very stressful. We were notified on Tuesday 7/23 that the parts were shipping and it would take 4-6 business days for them to arrive. Lippert Components, the manufacturer, a paragon of customer service, didn’t have any provisions for customers paying for expedited shipping.

When we actually got a tracking number from the trucking company, they gave an ETA of Friday 8/2 - today, as I write this! Apparently, the trucking company gives out worst-case ETA's like this. The parts actually arrived on Monday, 7/29, which was in fact just five business days. Our guy Ron at the RV place committed to getting the trailer pulled in the shop "this afternoon (Monday) or tomorrow morning." He had earlier cautioned us NOT  to leave Orcas until they actually had the parts in hand. We responded to his "this afternoon" email that we would be leaving Orcas Island on Tuesday (7/30) morning and would arrive in Ellensburg in the early afternoon... fully expecting to have a repair completed.

Well, we did so... and the trailer wasn't ready. In fact, they were just getting started on it - at 2PM! Ron said to come back at 4:30 or 5. We did so and they were just getting started on it. When I politely bitched about this, he told me that scheduling in the shop was completely out of his control. This makes no sense, since he is a service advisor there, not just some guy off the street.

So, we spent a fun-filled night at the EconoLodge across the street. Ron had told us that the trailer should be ready mid-morning and, true to his word, called us about 9AM and told us it would be ready by 10. It was... pretty much. We settled up our bill, hooked up, and rolled out of Ellensburg, WA at 10:30 AM, with some 1100 miles to travel ASAP.

Not surprisingly, we had a plan all mapped out. We drove 400 miles on Wednesday, stopping in Klamath Falls, OR. The drive through Washington and Oregon was on US 97, a well-maintained highway that winds its way through some beautiful country in the central parts of these states. Below Klamath Falls in California, it took us around the north side of Mt. Shasta, an awe-inspiring vista to be sure.

We drove 500 miles on Thursday, almost all on I-5, stopping in the less-than-pleasant Lost Hills RV park, right off THE 5 in the middle of the Central Valley. Today (Friday) we had a fairly easy 180 miles in to the park, arriving here just after noon.

We are beyond thrilled to be: a) back in our home; b) in SoCal and done with that looooonng drive; c) here in time for the birth of our granddaughter.

We had a great time in Orcas, and if it wasn't for the baby coming we probably wouldn't have cared too much when we left, but are really glad to be back in our home.

Our next update will likely be announcing the birth of our granddaughter... hopefully in the next day or two! The  doctor's already told Heather that they're going to jumpstart things on Sunday, so things should start happening soon after that.