When you leave your phone around and the niblings get a hold of it…
The nieces helped do some painting around the maze before we opened.
Nate and Hosanna were up from NY, so we got to enjoy their adorable children.
Since the old property is going up for sale soon, we all went over to get some pictures, and see the place we all grew up knowing and loving as Grandpa and Grandma Ortmann’s home. The place my mom was raised. The place my grandpa worked all his life, and the place grandpa died. It was sad realizing that I may never climb this tree again. This tree I grew up climbing.
Cleaning out the basement, we found a lot of unfinished wood projects, but also so many incredible pieces of art that Grandpa made. Since Grandma won’t have room for most of it in her new apartment, all of us grand kids got something Grandpa made.
The day of the auction, I caught this group of nieces and nephews raiding garbage cans looking for pop cans to steal pop tabs off of so that I’ll make them all bracelets like mine!
So many friends, neighbors, church family, and others came by despite the rain to support the family. I am so thankful for our community!
It was sad seeing all of Grandpa’s special equipment go up for sale, but at least now someone else can use it to make more incredible memories.
Also, I managed to sneak in a day that week to help with the local election.
I know it’s been over a year since Grandpa’s death, but in some ways, it didn’t really sink in until we started cleaning the place. As long as his cane was still in the corner, and his boots by the door, it was easy to imagine he was just taking a nap, and would be back. But when we entered his shop, and took his worn plaid jacket off the back of his chair and threw it away, it really hit me. He wasn’t coming back for it.
The other super hard moment, was standing back at the auction, and watching other people walk away with my memories. Obviously, we can’t keep everything they owned, so a lot of things went up for sale. I specifically remember a stranger walking away holding a toy that every one of us grandkids played with. I had to remind myself that it’s just stuff. We can’t take it with us when we go, so we might as well pass on the things here so that others can make more memories with it.
The kids thought the whole day was super exciting, and behaved very well!
And one last pic in our tree before the place is sold.
