Final chapter of YBHA?

The traditional “launch” photo of Amy and her boys.

Tortured readers of the blog have come to expect quarterly updates from the Yeager Boys.

We refer to them as Yeager Boys Home Alone. Again, we are left without, and must fend for ourselves to eat, sleep and stay alive.

This edition comes a little later than the traditional launch of Saturday. Forgive us, we’ve been a little busy playing the distraction game. Amy did depart late Saturday for the Netherlands. But this time, we have some bigger things on the calendar that required experience.

Enter Grandma Honey.

Sunday was a big day at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Ankeny. We were installing our new pastor for care and discipleship, Rev. Pam Schroeder. It was also her first Sunday with us on Des Moines Street and we were having an old-fashioned Lutheran potluck. For those of you not familiar, I’m sorry. They are one of the traditional church’s best events.

The call committee was responsible for throwing the party and since I was the chair of the group, I kind of needed to be there. Grandma Honey is no stranger to staying at church for a long time. The Yeager’s and Bergman’s shut down ALC in Jesup many Sunday’s, so this would have to be one of those days. Instead of keeping Johnny and Paul apart, it was Levi and Noah getting the attention.

The boys did pretty darn good at trying new foods, staying quiet and watching a Veggie Tales movie. Thank the Lord for all things on a DVD.

Shortly after putting the leftovers in the freezer, the Yeager’s loaded up and headed to Jefferson for a benefit for Team Ballard. My cousin Laura’s husband, Bob, is going through cancer treatments. The guest of honor was there, greeting people, giving us all hope as he deals with beating the terrible C word.

Grandma Honey with her youngest and oldest grandsons.

Grandma Honey was needed for one more day as Ankeny schools were called off for the day as teachers went through a development day.

After grandma was released from her sentence, the boys and I traveled around down, causing mayhem. So, back to normal.

Amy is on what is likely her last trip to the Netherlands, at least for a few years. She is transitioning into a different job with Uncle John. She’ll stay in the metro, but trips will now be to Germany and California as needed.

These weeks are fun, but as Levi told me more than once this week, “I miss mommy!” When he was a baby, he knew no different. Now he’s aware that mom is gone and the boys are home alone.

We will see what trouble we can cause in the final few days of this adventure.

YBHA VI Starts With A Delay

Momma and her boys before departure.

The Yeager boys are left alone again.
What could possibly go wrong this time? Another knot the size of Italy? A trip to the surgeon? All of Europe being shut down for Royal Wedding?

Each of these work trips has been an adventure. Some, more than others.

We learned from the last delayed return trip from Holland.

What started out as an excuse for a family photo has turned into a superstition buster. We didn’t take a picture with Amy, Noah and Levi in April and she had some extra time on the company dime.

This departure was a little different as it came during the week and not on a Saturday. So, we took the group picture the night before her adventure. I guess I should have gotten both boys up this morning as Amy’s flights were delayed and rerouted for a six-hour stretch on Tuesday. She originally was headed to Detroit with final destination of Amsterdam. Now she’s flying through Minneapolis.

So, her boss and the other traveler in their group used the Des Moines International Airport as their remote office to plow through some email this afternoon.

The storms finally cleared and her flight landed in MSP then took off for Holland.

Our first day was pretty good. Noah had Kindermusik tonight. He’s of the age where he gets about 30 minutes with Miss Tina and the last 15 minutes with families. So Levi and I hung out in the hall waiting for our time to come in and see what Noah had done. Levi is pretty good during family time as he thinks it is pretty cool to be in the same room as the big kids.

When we got home, it was bath time and bed. Both boys were tired and went to bed pretty easy. I think they are still tired form Noah’s birthday gatherings. Let’s hope they sleep well and be good for Dad. Otherwise, they may not get their surprise later in the week.

Join us next time when we talk about the songs we listen to here in the U.S.A.

10 is Not Enough

Levi, Amy and Noah posing prior to Amy's trip to Brazil back in February.

Another day, another set of twists and turns in the get-Mom-home-from-Europe drama, or as it has been called before on this blog, Yeager Boys Home Alone II.

We’ve had relative calm here in Ankeny as Amy tries to get out of Holland and Amsterdam after her work trip for John Deere. She and some 250 other Deere employes are stuck on either side of the pond and affected by the volcanic ash in Iceland.

Sunday brought some realization that Amy has no idea when she’ll be able to fly. She admitted to me today that she’s intentionally avoided reading the latest news about the volcano. She’s living it, no need to see how bad it really is. You know, thousands of flights cancelled, even more stranded in the airport.

Monday morning Amy and her boss, Gary, and Robert, the third member of their traveling party, headed to the Amsterdam airport to just see if they could get a stand by ticket on a KLM flight home. Amy said the ticket staff wasn’t the most cordial and said with no flights on the horizon, no stand by tickets were going to be issued.

So, now back to the plan of driving 17-18 hours to Spain. That idea picked up steam on advisement from the travel department. Amy, Gary and Robert are planning on leaving for Spain early Tuesday, drive through France, try to get to the southern part of the country, get a hotel, then drive Wednesday into Madrid with hopes of getting on a plane Thursday, Friday or Saturday. There’s a chance Amy may make it out Thursday, but likely Saturday.

However, with the UK lifting some travel bans and revising others, by the time the ink is dry on this post, they may stay in the Netherlands and try to fly from there.

Today I actually got to talk to Amy on the phone. That was the first real conversation since she left on Day 1 of her adventure. Her company issued Black berry for the trip finally worked, but not sure if that will happen again before she returns.

So, we’re in a holding pattern, but you can see more on the WHO-TV 13 News in a story or likely in the Des Moines Register on Tuesday. I did interviews for both groups about our situation. The DMR will hopefully devote time to the Ryan Becker story. Becker, the JHS Alum of 1992, is scheduled to get married in the states on May 7. His mother Joyce’s concern now is if Ryan will make it back in time. Joyce shared that story with me Sunday at ALC in Jesup.

Noah and Levi posing. It was PJ day at school for Noah and not that I don't know how to dress him.

Noah finally asked this morning when Mom was coming home. I’ve tried to keep him distracted enough to keep his mind off Mommy and wondering when was she going to come home. I’d say Levi was wondering when Mom was coming home, but he was more interested in a bottle from 4-5 AM today. He and I are really getting to know each other.

Again HUGE thanks to Grandma Paula for picking up the boys from daycare today and feeding us all. Wil came over to the house later as I was mowing the lawn. So, at least that’s done for the week and we can just focus on eating, sleeping and getting out the door in a reasonable amount of time.

Also a big thanks to all who’ve offered to something for us, watch the boys, go shopping, get us St. Louis Cardinal season tickets, (ok maybe no offers like that). It means a lot.

We just want Amy home safely. When, is not up to us. Her safety is the most important thing.

Day 9 – Indefinite Ending

We are now in a holding pattern.

Amy is another Iowan stuck in Europe because of the Iceland volcano. And it looks like it will stay that way for a while. Sunday was an emotional day as we all found out Amy will be staying in Holland for an indefinite amount of time. Her Monday flight is already cancelled and then it looked like a Thursday departure from Spain after a 17 hour car ride. Now that’s on hold with a slight chance of who knows when she’ll return. She’s on Uncle John’s dime, so they are paying for all of this financially and I think the rest of us are paying emotionally. Deere’s got a few other there now, so Amy’s not alone. Here traveling party is 3. They will head back to Horst and begin another week.

We have a calm week on the docket here. But, a week from today is Noah’s 4th birthday.

Levi and Noah return from church with all smiles.

Sunday was filled of fun in Jesup including a trip to American Lutheran Church. Pastor Dawn is so good at remembering the names of children. Noah has likely been in my home church 6 times over his 4 years of life. But she remembers Noah’s name without prompting each time. A gift for the congregation indeed. We got to see a few people who knew me as a kid and see how Noah is the same as his father. Both boys were well-behaved, so that was a relief.

Then we came home to the farm and packed up all the stuff we travel with. I took my time as my Aunt Lynda, cousin Laura and friend Kristin were making the trip from Jefferson. The three of them were headed to (Great) Aunt Eve’s house for a little exploring of the stuff in there. Kristin has fun looking for hidden treasures. Here’s a look at what she likes to do as chronicled on her blog.

Noah is ready to hit the ball out of the park.

Noah and I got a little one on one time to play some baseball. He likes to play and is getting better. A little running around gets his blood going and hopefully worn out quicker. Plus Levi needed to spend time inside charming everyone again.

Noah’s throwing has improved and he was cracking dad up with his ability to shake off the catcher’s signals with a nod of the head ‘no’ and ‘yes’. Then Dad recited the story of how I created Busch and Yeager Stadium in the backyard when I was a kid. Complete with the detail of the backstop I made, painted disc blades for bases and even a pitcher’s mound. That was a great field. Third base was always exciting, that’s usually where the bee hive was in the grass.

Levi and Noah sleep on the trip home.

As the three of them will explored, the boys and I hit the road. By La Porte City, Levi was out and Noah was all but asleep. Levi slept the entire 2 hour trip home. Good for him to nap that long, bad that he stayed up until almost 9 tonight. Noah’s nap also extended his day until nearly 830. It is ok, we just have fun together while awake.

And the Yeager Boys Home Alone II continues.