Back home for the weekend

A note from Havasu Gal,

I am finally writing my blog from my first weekend flying back "home" to Chicago to visit friends and family. I will get better at this...my daughter had to help me sign in after not blogging for two weeks. We are settling in nicely in Lake Havasu City, Az, after moving here in early March.

Nice! Huh?

I have included a pix of our lovely home and we will have an awesome pool that is being built (and yes, it is BIGGER than my sister, Neenee's!) . Hopefully it will be ready soon since it is 104 today! ("But it is a dry heat", said the skeleton)

OUR HOUSE and THE VIEW FROM MY FRONT DOOR

Usually I fly home to Lake Havasu City (from now on LHC), AZ, in between my jobs in the midwest but the last weekend in April presented an opportunity to attend a friend's daughter's wedding and visit my Auntie, my great nephews and great niece, and a friend from work. So I decided to do a marathon weekend in Chicago, Kenosha, and K=town.


Friday night I flew from Indianapolis (which after working there for 4 weeks I found out that there is only 1 "N" in the word) to Midway Airport in Chicago. I drove to my Aunt's condo in Chicago and spent a lovely evening reminiscing about old times. She always tells me that when I was a baby she would sometimes take care of me but she did not have a crib so I slept in a dresser drawer next to her bed. She told me a story about a doll that she loves to look at every day. She bought it for me one day because she knew that I collected dolls. But she fell in love with the doll and kept it herself! I told her she could keep it but she had to name it "Carole"!

She showed me pictures of her two awesome grandsons (here as little boys and older) and I have added a picture of my favorite photo of their mother (Meems) when she was a little girl. This portrait hung in my aunt's house above their beautiful piano. When we were growing up in Kenosha, Wi., we visited them very often, and I always admired the photo. Meems was a beautiful child with golden curls and even though she is grown up with children of her own, I fondly remember her at that age.

In the morning, we worked on her computer and I started my blog. She promised to start her own blog as soon as we can figure it out. Help, Amy!

Then I drove to K=town, Wi, to visit my niece and her family. She is a big blogger and writes often of her three kids: BDE (Best Daughter Ever), Dimples, and Baby. We had a picnic in the park, had a race over the picnic tables (I kept saying to myself 'I am going to kill myself falling off this table' ), played Twister (Dimples said that I cheated) , and looked for bugs (boy can BDE ever scream loud!)

We blew bubbles and talked to the new baby (Pineapple) in my niece, Teeners's, tummy. She is due the same day as her sister, JuJu. Their mother, Neenee, is already trying to figure out how she can be two places at the same time! She may have to do a 'Quantum Leap'...oh boy...

It was a wonderful visit....

Then I got all dressed up and drove to Kenosha (first I had to steal their bumper seat which was in the back seat of my rental car and leave my $811.00 pair of shoes at their house.........not my Monolo Blahnik's.....my orthepedic tennis shoes!). I was to attend a wedding reception of the daughter of one of my "ya-ya's". We have known each other for many, many years and it is such fun to get together. We are missing one of our group who has moved to the Charlotte, NC area. Last year we all flew down there to surprise her and I hope to see this whole group this year or next year in LHC! Don't surprise me, though.....I need time to prepare the pool (and bake the gourmet treats that we are all accustomed to having....oh and to hire more pool boys)

The next morning, I attended church with my son, AJ. We had lunch at IHOP and spent a nice afternoon talking and sharing. He is a great son and I "heart" him. He drives a merchandise van for a living so he is out of town a lot, too.....just like me. Someday, he wants to move to Hungary and be a missionary. That works for me, too, because someday I would love to live in Italy! (Summers in Tuscany.....mmmmmm) Andrea Bocelli better watch out! I can learn to make some good pasta!




Then I had coffee with my old "pod-peep", C , before heading back to the airport. C and I used to have a blast working together. I love her because she always laughed at my jokes and even when I wasn't trying to make a joke: one time I was calling about 10 hotels in Europe for availability. When the hotel operator would answer (whether it was Italian, or German, or whatever), I always said, 'Do you speak English?'. So on and on it went. Then I called London and said 'Do you speak English?' and then I laughed and said 'Of course you speak English, you speak the proper English!'....C cracked up over that and whenever she needs a laugh she IM's me and says 'Do you speak English?.............Nein!'

Then I stepped on a pebble and sprained my ankle. After all that hoopla of dancing and running over picnic tables and twister.....

I didn't mean for this pix to be so big! But my ankle hurt like a mama so I had to take a wheelchair at the airport. Sheesh. It still hurts and I have a Dr's appointment Tuesday to see if I have a stress fracture or whatever. Anyway...

Back to work and we will see what other trouble I can get myself into!