My grandpa, Oscar Henry Olson

The main reason for our trip to California this year is my grandpa's 90th birthday party. He is truly an amazing person. He has outlived two wives (both of my biological grandmothers...try to figure that one out :)) and looks as if he were about 15-20 years younger than he is. He is one of the few Americans, born and raised in North America, who can say he is 100% anything--most of us are mutts of the Great American Melting Pot. But not him. He's 100% Swedish, through and through. This post is in tribute of him with pictures from his party and that weekend.
This is my mom giving a history of my grandpa and his life. Since he's such an interesting person with so many neat little facts, I think I'll brag about him a little. Hey, it's not everyday someone reaches 90 years of age!

*His parents, Olaf (or Pops) and Karin, immigrated from Sweden in 1912 with my great-grandfather's brother, Hans. They left Liverpool, England and headed for Canada. Do you know what ship left Liverpool in 1912 and was headed for Canada? Yep, the Titanic. In fact, they almost bought third-class tickets on it but decided to go the cheaper route and chose a smaller ship. Phew! That was a close one.
*My grandpa (Oscar Olson, by the way), was born in Carrot River, Saskatchewan Canada in 1921. At the time, his dad and uncle were working the mill, farming, and trapping. My grandpa was born in a small cabin with (of course) no electricity or plumbing. Pops and Hans were some of the first settlers of Carrot River and were the ones who chose the name for that township. It is still known by that name today.
*The family moved to Northern California when my grandpas was about 2, so that's where his personal memories really begin. His dad worked the lumber mill in Westwood, CA, and in later years they moved to the bay area.
*When WWII began, he went to sign up for the Army but they turned him away since he was a Swede born in Canada. Later, the draft started up and as soon as they needed every able-bodied young man, he was made a citizen and sent off to Germany. There, he survived several critical battles of the war and was a POW for a little over a month before the war ended and he was liberated.
*His parents wanted to be Americans so they never taught him Swedish. He taught himself, though. He is fluent and has used it on his many trips back to Sweden (one of which I went with him about 10 years ago).
*The family in Sweden still has the original family farm where the "old house" (built in the 1600s, I think) and still stands as a kind of museum. The "new house" (built in the late 1800s) is lived in by some of our family.
*My Grandma Ruby (my dad's mom) died young in 1975 and several years later, after my mom's parents divorced and my parents were already married, he and my mom's mom were married. It made family holidays really easy. Sadly, my second grandma passed away in 1999.
*My grandpa still lives in the house they bought when my dad was only a few years old. The mortgage has been paid off since the 70s.
*He still drives and remains active. He inherited my grandma's cats and has loved taking care of them. He's even taken in some more as others have passed on.

These are pictures of my grandma Ruby and my grandpa. He always loved photography and had his own dark room in his house. He took these pictures.

The four people standing are the family members from Sweden who came out for the party. They love to travel and were wanting an opportunity to visit. They presented my grandpa with a traditional Swedish birthday gift, flowers (since they have such a short growing season they really value flowers over there). They also sang him their Swedish birthday song. It was a really nice touch.

My brother and sisters and I haven't all been together for this much time since Mother's Day 2007. All the cousins (our kids) have NEVER all been together at once. We'll hopefully have a reunion next year and all 14 kids will be together. Fun? I mean...fun! :) My brother came out for a family event last year in November but it was such a quick trip we didn't get to spend much time together like we did this time. Aren't my sisters both lovely? And my brother, the strapping Air Force Intelligence officer. I could do a tribute post for each of them. :)

The party turned out to be a great event. There were old friends he didn't expect to see and he was most surprised when some old buddies from the Oakland airport showed up that he worked with for 30 years before he retired. It was a lot of fun and he was really, truly touched. I spent close to a year living with him after graduating from Ricks, not to mention that we toured Sweden together for a month, so I have to say how grateful I am for having him as my grandpa and for getting to know him better in my adult life. I hope he sticks around so we can throw him a 100 year party and my boys can get to know him better. We love you, Grandpa!

Finally...our California trip

I am finally getting around to posting the pictures from our California trip. We left on October 21 and got there late that evening. Before going to my parent's house, we went to San Leandro (in the San Francisco Bay Area) where my grandpa lives and where we were holding his 90th birthday party on Saturday, the 22nd. My grandpa is a truly amazing person. But the details of the party are in another post.

After heading up to my hometown, Sonora, and my parents' house, we stayed for a little over a week. It was so close to Halloween that I wanted to stay and let the kids experience the holiday with the weather actually feeling like fall. My parents live in a neighborhood that gets literally hundreds of kids trick-or-treating every year. The atmosphere was awesome and Craig and Ethan had a lot of fun. We also got to go to the ward Halloween trunk-or-treat the Saturday before. Other activities while we were there included visiting Columbia (a restored ghost town from the mining days), Cover's Apple Ranch, and Railtown (including a train ride on a real steam train). I've gotta say, I grew up in one pretty awesome place. The weather was perfect for fall, it was beautiful, and nostalgia hit me in the pit of my stomach, then and now as I do this post.


My mom stayed with Grant so I could take Craig and Ethan on a stagecoach ride in Columbia. We were even robbed!

Playing with cousins in Columbia.

This is the Railtown station. It's so beautiful this time of year. It was once a working train station that is now restored. It houses many old, original steam engines and they offer 40 minute rides on a real train. Hollywood has done a lot of movies, T.V. shows, and commercials in the area, using Railtown trains and tracks. Some that you might know are Bad Girls, Petticoat Junction, Little House on the Prairie, and Back to the Future 3.

Craig and Lainey, a cousin, in Columbia. Can you believe she is two weeks older than him? I forget how tall he is.

These are some of the Railtown trains. This first one is engine #3, which is the most famous one. See it here.

Remember in Back to the Future 3 when the train's funnel explodes? This is the funnel they made for that scene.

Playing in what we used to call Rock City in Columbia. These rocks and boulders were actually exposed after the dirt was washed away due to hydraulic mining back in the 1800s during Columbia's heyday.

Me and my little kitten. :) Am I the only parent out there who dresses up for Halloween? I was that night among my family. I love it!

The only way we could get Craig to take this picture was if his really cool cousin Bryan stood in it with him. :) Ethan was running wild, so I had to rope him in and hold him. And this was BEFORE they got their candy.

On our train ride in Railtown.

Same as above.

Same.


And same again.




Playing on an old wagon in Columbia.

The miniature train ride at Cover's Apple Ranch. Craig seemed to like this one better than the real train. I think he liked being able to see his surroundings and this train went through TWO TUNNELS! The poor kid was totally distraught when the train started slowing down and the ride ended. Not even a cookie from the bakery could console him.

Feeding geese and ducks at the park near my parents' house.



Phew! Well, the pictures aren't in order, but I got them on here and explained the ones I thought I needed to. It was a lot of fun and hope we get to go back and visit again next year.

A tribute

Today is a very special day. It is 11/11/11, which in and of itself is special. It's also Veteran's Day, which is a special day, especially since both of my grandfather's are WWII veterans (one was at Pearl Harbor and the other was a POW in Germany), my dad was in the Marines during Vietnam, and my brother is currently a captain in the Air Force. We like the military just a little. :)

However, today is special for a reason that not too many people know about. Today is the day my little Grant turns three months old! He is officially out of the "fourth trimester." He's such a solid, strong little boy. We call him Chunk, sometimes, and I have memories of Goonies. He is almost rolling over, he can sit up in the bumbo seat all by himself, and he is the smilin-est little thing I've seen since Ethan was a baby. So, in tribute to my third son, my sweet little angel, I have a little picture montage of some of my favorite snapshots of him for your viewing enjoyment.

You've Got a Friend in Me

I came into the living room one day to find Craig having a slumber party with Woody. I asked him to lay back down so I could take a picture and got this very natural pose--he looks just as if he was laid out for a wake. For the life of me I couldn't get him to lay on his side, under the blankets, and without smiling...like he were actually asleep. I think he was trying to lay just like Woody. At the time I thought how cute it was that, just like Andy, he and Woody are best friends. But then this happened, and not by accident as it did in the movie:

I just hope Craig realizes that all of his friend's arms don't detach so easily (or sew back on, for that matter). I'm a little worried since now Buzz has suffered the same fate and has been "shelved" for the time being.

Pre-Halloween

I still have a lot I need to post and pictures I need to sort through. I have downloaded them all, though, which is a major accomplishment. Before I can even begin posting about our California trip, I need to post about our pre-Halloween activities. First, a little sampling of the costumes adorned by Craig and Ethan:


Ethan's my little poser, so I had to get this really cute picture of him. As I go through pictures, I notice that I usually take more of Ethan. I think it's because Craig is either bouncing off the walls and many picture of him he's either a blur or not looking at the camera. When I can get him to look at the camera he gives me a really fake smile, sometimes. That top picture is actually pretty good, except for Craig's Michael Jackson move. Boys. But Ethan loves the camera. Craig tolerates it.

We went back to the same pumpkin patch we went to last year: McDonald's Ranch. We love it. For one flat, reasonable fee you get everything...a horse back ride, petting zoo, hay ride, maze, and there's a cool little miniature western town with games and wagons to play in. Again, this year, Ethan had to be the adventurous one and ride the horse first before Craig would try it. All the way there we talked about riding a horse and they were both so excited. But once we got there, Craig got scared. Ethan marched right on up to the table, grabbed a helmet, and headed for the gate before I had a chance to sign the paperwork. Once he was done, though, Craig was all for it. They've been "riding" everything ever since: firetruck toys, pillows, the dog, the cat (she LOVES being sat on, just like any cat would), me, and each other. Grant was his usual sleepy, accommodating self. He's such a sweet, pleasant little baby.


This was on the hay ride. I thought Ethan was so funny...he was just sitting there, pondering the landscape with his hands clasped, deep in thought.

Peaches!

We just got back from a week and a half with my family in California...that's why I haven't been good about updating the blog lately. I still have to go through all of my pictures from our trip, so until then I have this that's been sitting in my computer for a while.

About two weeks before our trip, I found a great deal on peaches at a discount grocery store in the area. After all was said and done, I got these three flats (45 lbs) (pictured above) for $5! That's TOTAL, not each. They were good, firm, pretty peaches, too. So, I got to canning for my very first time all by myself. It was quite a chore. It was a learning experience, though, and I am looking forward to my next opportunity to "lay up in store." I ended up with the equivalent of 25 quarts, I think. I had a mixture of pint and quart jars, so that's an estimate. They aren't perfect, but at least it worked for my first time and only two jars didn't seal. All the rest are beautiful!

Lake Havasu and the London Bridge

(Yes, I took this picture, thank you very much)

In case you didn't know, the world famous London Bridge is in Arizona. Of course, there is a bridge in London where this one used to be, but this one was originally built in the 1830s and was THE bridge that Queen Victoria rode over for her coronation, as well as her successors, including the reigning Queen Elizabeth. In the late 1960s, British officials realized that the bridge, which had been built for carriage and foot traffic was sinking several inches each year on one side. They decided to rebuild and put the bridge up to the highest bidder. An American man (oil tycoon, I think) with interest in Lake Havasu bought it for something like $2 million dollars and moved it out here. This year was actually it's 40th anniversary, having been dedicated in 1971 after being shipped over, brick by brick and taking about 10 years to rebuild. The day we arrived in Lake Havasu, coincidentally, was the anniversary of it's dedication, October 10th. They even numbered the bricks, pillars, and posts so that every piece went back into its original position.

That's your history lesson for the day. We've been here in Arizona for 2 1/2 years and we'll be leaving in February and I just HAD to see Lake Havasu with its bridge before we leave. So, we packed up and went for two days. The weather was great, the kids had fun, and so did we. Here's a little of what we did while we were there.


There's an "English Village" down by the bridge and the entrance to it has this big fountain and big iron gates. There's supposed to be a double-decker bus, too, but we didn't see it.

The best thing we did while we were there (and the best way to see Lake Havasu) was rent a boat for a couple of hours. I was a little nervous to do it, but when we found this one with everything totally enclosed and all gates locked tight, I relaxed and agreed to it. It was honestly the most fun thing we've done on any little family vacation. Boats are so soothing and therapeutic. It was awesome. Robert really wants a boat someday and is always talking about it. He got to live his dream for a couple short hours.

Everyone under 13 had to wear a life jacket, of course. Including Grant. :) He loved the ride, actually. Once I got him swaddled and cozy, I slipped the life jacket back on him and he was very calm and comfortable the whole way almost. I did have to take it off him for a few minutes to nurse him towards the end, but otherwise he hung out in his life jacket and didn't seem to mind it at all.

You're looking at the happiest man in the world at this moment. :)

I must admit, I could get used to this. (Notice we all had on matching Lake Havasu London Bridge shirts--I was surprised Robert went for it since he normally hates to stand out and look like a tourist. :))

We saw these coyotes running along the ridge above the lake. Not something you'd see from the London Bridge in its original location.

People in Lake Havasu drive these really huge trucks! Just kidding. All around the lake they have these 1/3 scale replicas of some lighthouses from around the country. They don't have the BEST one, of course, but they did have Hatteras, which at least is in North Carolina.

Ethan didn't last the whole time. It was hard for him to get comfortable to sleep since that head piece on the life jacket stuck out so far in the back, but he was so tired that he managed to get comfortable enough to sleep. That little bundle of blankets on my lap is Grant, by the way. He fell asleep, too.

I finally had to move to put Grant back in his life jacket so I had to lay Ethan down. We tried to lay him on his side, but he ended up face down. He laid just like this for a good twenty minutes. :) By the time he got up, he had practically drowned himself in drool. Silly boy. It makes me laugh now just thinking about it. Of course, it wasn't so funny later when we got back to the hotel and he wouldn't take a nap and kept waking Craig up. And then when he feel asleep in the car on the way to dinner at 5:30 and was cranky the rest of the night. The things we do for memories.

One of the other benefits of renting a boat is being able to go under the bridge. I couldn't help but imagine the different 19th century fishermen and water-goers who had passed under there and looked at those same stones. I bet Charles Dickens had walked across, passed under, and stood to think on this very bridge many times in his life. In its day, it was the busiest point in London.

Later that night we went back to walk the bridge at sunset. It was beautiful and, once again, nostalgic for me. This might be the closest I get to England in my life and I wanted to really remember it well.

This was an awesome trip and I am so glad we were able to make it work. I would have really regretted not getting to see this place and walk this bridge before we moved another 900 miles away again. One of the upsides to moving so much is that we get to see so much of the country and its amazing sites. Now we just need to be sure and get to the Tetons while in Rexburg. And General Conference. I haven't done that one yet, either.