Family time in Kansas 11/5/11

It’s great to be home. I miss my folks so much and love being able to spend time with them. We arrived late, and I mean late, Halloween night, driving straight through from Colorado. It was a long drive and we were exhausted when we arrived. We cruised through the towns of western Kansas, stopping only occasionally for gas and to stretch our legs. During the trip, we had a suicide bird hit the side of the van, luckily it wasn’t a deer, but put scratches down my side of the van. It was weird – we saw a flash of white, heard a very loud THUMP and a scream (me). Crazy… But a gorgeous sunset behind us…



Ahhhh…..it’s good to be home. We spent the week catching up and relaxing. They had worked hard prior to our visit to renovate a room in the house and it looked fantastic! Complete with a new bed, we felt like royalty. The first day we did the important task….of laundry. Haha… We really chilled and caught our breath from the trip and ate a wonderful home-cooked lasagna dinner (YUM!). The next couple days we were on the go. We met Mom & Dad’s American Red Cross friends at a dinner out…



We met up with Brian, an old Army buddy of ours and dear friend….



And couldn’t wait to see Michael’s son & grandbabies! We had a nice visit with Brandon & Alex and met Nolan & Mia for the first time. Soooo cute!!! 







There was not nearly enough time to visit everyone and we hopped all over town trying! We did make time for a little geocaching (of course!) and even a round of golf, a real treat since we can’t even remember the last time we both played.



Oh, and the best part? Getting time to spend with my Grandpa. It’s been a few years since we have seen him last and it was nice chatting with him. He recently participated in the ‘Honor Flight’ where he & my dad were flown out to Washington D.C. and taken to the WWII Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery and other places in DC. My brother even swung by to visit.



The 5 days came and went so fast it was mind-boggling. But we bailed on Saturday morning, headed for D.C. About 3 months ago, I had written my Senator and asked them to line up a White House tour and the approval just came through….for 8:30 Tuesday morning. Yikes!  We’ve got to scoot to get out there. It took us a month to get from Alaska to Kansas, now it will take us just a short 3 days to get out to the East Coast! Haha… We’ve got to get, get, get & go!

We’ll have to visit longer next time… Isn’t that how it always is!
More to follow…
Rene