We couldn’t have made it through our five-week (supposed to be three-week) visit to the States without the help of family and friends. Thanks to them we only spent four nights in hotels the entire five weeks. So today’s post is a big SHOUT OUT and THANK YOU to all of them.
Our first stop was at my sister Vicky’s home in Aurora, Colorado. Thank you to Vicky, Jodi, Sharra, Butch and Mitch. It was a very, very stressful few days with us having to rearrange our other flights, meetings and getting our mobile phone issue sorted. We were more than a bit grumpy so thank you all for putting up with us. I really wish we had more time to visit and that our stay wasn’t shortened due to the schedule changes. Never enough time together.♥♥ Why didn’t we take more photos?! I have more photos of the fur babies than of humans. We must have another visit to fix that. Oh, and thank you for the snowy send-off.
Our second stop was at our friend Pete’s home in Phoenix, Arizona. Pete wasn’t expecting us until the middle of the week but with our change in plans, we arrived Sunday evening. Lucky him! ha ha. It had probably been almost eight years since we had seen Pete so lots to catch up on. Our nights spent in his backyard oasis, by the firepit, listening to music, and drinking wine certainly helped to relieve some stress. Thank you so much, Pete! Thank you also to Emily, his beautiful doggie for all the lovin. Those eyes!
Our third stop was at our friends James and Amber’s home in San Antonio, Texas. Again, it had been years since we have seen them so it was great to catch up. The last time we saw them, their twins were not quite 2 years old. Now they are 10! Not sure why they didn’t remember us. ha ha. We had a lovely weekend with them all. Thanks so much!
Our next stop was at my cousin Donna and her husband Carl’s home in Denver (yup another Denver), North Carolina. When we arrived we were a bit (read: a lot) stressed once again as a key meeting that had us rearrange our plans once had been moved again. I think we came through the door telling them that instead of five days they might have us for three weeks! And they did, on and off, as we flew to Las Vegas twice and drove to Raleigh once. Lucky them! Donna and I have a special bond and I always love our time together. ♥
We drove to Raleigh and stayed with our friends Doug and Juanita for a night. When we first moved to North Carolina we were neighbors and became fast friends. Unfortunately, even though we lived across the street from each other and then three miles from each other, our work schedules and family commitments meant we didn’t get to spend as much time together as we would have liked. Time with them is always special. Thank you both so much for a lovely visit.
Back to Donna and Carl’s (did I mention how lucky they were to have us around for so long?) 😉
After our next trip to Las Vegas, we drove to Phoenix and Pete put us up once again. Or put up with us. It was a quick trip before we then headed back to Donna and Carl’s. Thank you, Pete, and thank you, Donna and Carl!
Every single one of these people were amazing! They opened their homes and more importantly their hearts to us. They fed us. They loaned us their cars. They went out of their way to help us and for that, we are eternally grateful. It was a very stressful time for Bob and me and they all put up with a lot of grumbling from us. They listened, advised, commiserated, hugged, and loved us. Truthfully, words are not enough to express our gratitude.
The Winery Woman 