WE ARE HOME! 29 September 2012

 

 

 

 



We are home!  We arrived home late on 6 September...and I am just updating our travels as we have been busy since we drove into Tucson.  So let me update you on our month. On 3 September we left Cheyenne and headed west to Denver, Colorado.   We arrived at Buckley Air Force Base about noon and checked into the Air Force Inn and went directly to the base camp ground to have an afternoon with Pat and George Cannode and their family. Pat and George full time "RV"er's.   We were greeted with hugs from Kasey and Karsten ( their beautiful grand boys).  Of course we had hugs from Pat and George and Kris and Amy ( THE boy's parents) and  David...as always made to feel such a part of their family.  We had a fun afternoon catching up, having a great BBQ and just enjoying watching the kids under the great Denver sky.  Of course there was a lot of laughter and talking  about memories and making new ones.  

No one is looking at Maryann's camera!

 

We spent the next two days with Pat and George just doing what we do best...talking and laughing and making new memories.  We took a trip to Colorado Springs and went to the Air Force Academy and Valley of the God's.  We also went to the area where they had such devastation from the forest fires in June and July.  It was very sobering  to see. We were amazed at  the fires path. One home would be burnt to the ground and not yards from it, a home stood with beautiful flowers in the yard and trees that had not been touched by the fire.  What an amazing job the fireman did to help save as many homes as possible.  There were home made signs all over thanking the fireman and emergency crews.  The night before we left, we ordered pizza and sat around the fire pit at the AF Inn.  AND Maryann decided that a fire pit should be part of our back yard in Tucson.  Tom will need to be convinced!!  George asked if it could be done before they come to Tucson in December...so Maryann is trying to make that happen!  While we were in Denver, George had a follow up PET Scan before he had his chemotherapy.  Our prayers were answered and the scan did not show anymore cancer.  He will continue to have the chemotherapy every 3 months but this was great news!  Please continue to keep him and Pat in your prayers.  God is good....all the time!! Tom looked for a Denver Bronco tee shirt but could not fine the one he wanted in his size...the Bronco's are a favorite team of his.  So Pat and George found one after we left and sent it to us and it arrived just a couple days after we arrived home.   How great was that???  It is always bitter sweet to give our farewell hugs to such wonderful friends, but we are looking forward to hopefully seeing George and Pat in Tucson in December as they get out of the cold for the winter. 

 

                Ever since we met, it seems that Tom and Pat walk together and Maryann and George walk together..hmmm

There is a story about the toothpick that makes Tom and Pat think that Maryann and George may be related!!!





The Firepit!

 

We left Denver on the 6th of September with the plan to spend the night  south of Albuquerque, New Mexico.   We stopped in Albuquerque to see our friends Rob and Mary for dinner.  It was so nice to see them as had been a few years since we last saw them in Alaska.  Mary is a nurse practictioner in the AF and worked with Maryann at Davis-Monthan for a few years and they became friends.  They wanted us to stay with them but Tom wanted to get "down the road". We left them with promises to see them in October when we will be there for the Balloon Festival.  



Mary and Maryann



We headed south toward home and Maryann was reading and looked up and we were just passing the sign to Truth or Conquences, New Mexico.  Knowing that there are not alot of places to stay from there to Tucson, she asked if we were going to stay in Demning? Tom said that he was not tired after having the nice few hours with Mary and Rob so "WE" were going on to Tucson and home that night.   We did stop a couple times and Maryann was able to nearly finish her book before we saw the lights of Tucson . 

Once again, as we drove down Houghton Road to our home, we realized how blessed we are to always look forward to our trips to see our wonderful friends and family and then when we are coming home, looking forward to being with our Tucson friends and family.  Also thank God and all the Saints  and our Guardian Angels that we  pray to that we have had safe travels.  WE ARE BLESSED !  We arrived home at midnight and were in bed 15 minutes later!  The next morning we were awakened at about 8 AM by the door bell.  How neat to have Kelly and Kirsten at the door with Dunkin Donuts and great smiles and hugs. They were in town and had come by the house and when found we were home, went and got the donuts before they rang our door bell.   And they even helped us unpack the car.   What a great way to wake up on our first day home!

                           

Kirsten helping unpack our car!

We planned to be home early as we were so glad to help one of our friend's plan his wife's 50th birhday party at one of our local parks on Saturday and then on Sunday, we went to Phil and Loly's to meet their son, Patrick who had been born while we were gone and also to see a priest friend of Phil's that we have come to know.  He lives in New York City but his parents were visiting on their first trip to the United  States from Nigeria and he brought them to Tucson.  What a nice day we had with them all and Kelly and Bryan and girls and Carrie.  Patrick is just beautiful!





Loly, Phil and Patrick ..Patrick's first time at the Graue Family Sunday dinner!



On Monday, we got back to going to the Gym and started in on our yearly house cleaning, helping at the church etc....back to reality...and that is good too. Carrie also had to go to Texas for work that week so we were so pleased to have Buddi stay with us.   Buddi is doing good and such a good boy and it is so nice to have him stay with us...(Buddi did not come with a list of things he wanted to do!) We also had Kirsten stay overnight and she had choices of what she wanted to do. She was glad to have Buddi here too. We went to the zoo, played lots of games, went to Chuckie Cheeses, made butter popcorn and just had a nice two days.  OF course, she talked non stop about everything.  We also went shoe shopping and she got a new pair of tennis shoes..."Dora Logo" of course and a new pair of  fashion boots.  Samantha then stayed and she also wanted to go to the zoo, bowling, Chuckie Cheeses and roller skating. We also played lots of games and made butter popcorn!  Making butter popcorn with Granddad is a must when they stay over.  When we went roller skating, Maryann had not been on skates since highschool and Tom never!   Well, we rented the skates and put them on and after having the skates on about 10 minutes and trying them out on the carpet and beginner area, we decided that NOT a good idea as we held on to the wall to get back to a bench to take them off. We felt that we would both leave with broken bones!  At least we tried...Kelly gave us points for just putting the skates on....!  Samantha on the other hand was just doing a great job!  Molly was next and she wanted to go to  play miniature golf, roller skating, a movie and eat at Chili's  (we were thankful that she did not want to go to Chuckie Cheeses!!!).  We also played lots of games and of course had butter popcorn.   We taught Molly and Samantha how to play the card game "Garbage".  It was such a treat to be able to spend "one on one" time with them and hear about their summer and school. Kirsten just started dance class and Molly is in Brownie's and Lego Club and working on a science fair project.  Samantha is playing Soccer and a Girl Scout Daisy.  Kelly is the Brownie and Daisy leader AND the scoccer coach  We certainly are so lucky to have them so close.  They are such good girls and just a joy to be with. Again, WE are blessed.





 

Kirsten, Samantha, Molly





                                                                              Kirsten and Buddi

Last Sunday we had all here to celebrate Carrie's birthday with her favorite foods.  Her birthday was on 1 September. She has been busy with work and working on her Masters Program.

It was so good to see most of our Tucson family. Our calendar is filling for October to see friends that we have not seen since we left in May.  How fun.

On the 3rd of October, we will be leaving for a week to Albuquerque with Kelly's family, Pete and Linda.  Tom's sister and brother in law will also be flying in from Florida for a week.  It is the Albuquerque Balloon Festival.

Tom and I will leave on Wednesday and stay with Mary and Rob and then pick them up on Thursday.  The rest of the family will come from Friday to Monday.  Tom and I will go to Ruidoso, NM for a couple days with Charlotte and Bill then will head back to Tucson after we take them to the airport on Thursday. We have never been to the Balloon Festival there and hear that it is amazing...so will let ou know in the next blog!

 

We want to thank you all for sharing your time with us during our travels and here at home. We hope each of  you know how you have touched our hearts and how much we appreciate YOU everyday.  Since we are not good with quotes...we have borrowed these to send to you to express our thoughts.

"Life is partly what we make it and partly what it is made by  friends and family." ~ Unknown

"It is not what we give, but what we share, for the gift without the giver is bare" ~James Russell Lowell

AND our favorite words....WE ARE BLESSED!

 



 

Love and hugs,

God Bless

Tom and Maryann

 

 



 





Cheyenne, Wyoming, September 2, 2012

Hi,
WOW, I am doing a blog again this week.  Tom and I left Waterloo on Thursday morning and arrived in  Omaha, Nebraska about 2 PM.  Iowa is mostly flat farmland and we  had beautiful sunny skies as we drive across I 80. It was sad to see all the brown corn fields from lack of water. So many tractor trailor trucks on the road.  IT is good to see that one profession apparently has job security. We checked into billeting at the O'Malley Inn at Auffit Air Force Base and got settled in and then called Mark who came and picked us and took us to their lovely home.  Mark and Linda were stationed in Tucson.  Mark was at the Security Forces with Tom and Linda worked with Maryann at the clinic.  Matthew and Kayla are their children....well young adults now.  It seems the last we saw them was about 20 years ago.  We were able to sit and catch up on the past years and memories from Davis-Monthan AFB.  Even got to see Matthew. Kayla was at work.
Sitting in their living room chatting was like had never been apart.  We then went out for a nice dinner and then Mark drove us around and showed us around Auffit Air Force Base. Mark works as a civilian now that he has retired from the Air Force.  You can tell that they are great parents and that they really enjoy life and have such good work ethics.  Linda had also served in the Air Force before Maryann was lucky enough to work with her in the clinic.  How great it is to be able to cross this great country and see our friends and family again.  We arrived in York, Nebraska just in time to meet Merle and Erma Hillen for lunch. We were stationed in Cheyenne, Wyoming with them in 1970.  They were our friends when we were just dating. We had not seen them for ...hmmm maybe 30 years.   Once again it was like we had just been together last week...just had more news to catch up on.  We had a 3+ hour and as we drove away, we just thank God again for having such lifelong friends.  As we drive toward Cheyenne, Wyoming, we see many more brown fields due to no rain...but have a beautiful blue sky that turns into a wonderful sunset.  We talk about how fun it will be in Cheyenne again as that is where we met in 1970 and then we returned there as a family from 1980 to 1984.  We arrive at F. E. Warren AFB and check into billeting.  When Tom comes out with our assigned billet, it is building 44 and Maryann remarks that that sounds so familiar. AND it turns out that building 44 is the building that Maryann lived  in as her first assignment as a LT. in the Air 
Force.  We arrived at building 44 and how fun that the room we were assigned is right across the hall from where Maryann lived when she was here active duty.  We are staying in the room Maryann's friend, Darlene use to live in. What wonderful memories we have of our "young days" here.  We called our friend, Judy who we met when we were here in 1980-1984 on our way here.  Judy and her John had visited us in Tucson about 20 years ago and we had not seen them since.  What friends can you call at the last minute and they arrange to spend the entire next day with you...Judy and John!  We met them at their home and went to breakfast and then back to their home to catch up on our lives and their daughter, Penny and family.  Judy is quite the  frame maker, artist, upholsterer, seamstress, and builds cedar chest, stools, and anything else one would want built or sewn!  John of course helps her  and finds her treasures to redo.  What a team they are.  We had such fun seeing all their wonders...and Judy  even let us choose a treasure to take home!   We spent the afternoon  sharing great stories and lots of laughter with Judy and John...what a relaxing time.  Then we went to the American Kennel Association Dog Show.  This was a first for us and it was really fun.  Another event to cross off our Bucket List.  Judy is a PLETHORA of knowledge about dog shows so what a treat for us at our first dog show! John took us to a fun sports bar for dinner and he recommended their margaritas and Tom had two as they were great!!    Then we went back to their home and it was nearly 10 PM when we were saying our fond farewells to John and Judy.  We could not have planned a better day!  As we read over this writing, once again we are so appreciative of such great people in our lives and do KNOW HOW BLESSED we are to have had all those we call friends come into our life.  We do not think that it was just by chance that we came to know them but that God put  us in the right place to have them in our lives.   
Today we walked over to the chapel for mass and then walked around the area where we shared such memories.  We feel so at home on the base since we met here and then came back here and spent 4 years when the girls were in elementry school.    F. E. Warren is the oldest continuously active military installation within the Air Force.  It was established in 1867 by the calvary.  It is now the home of the 90th Missile Wing which is one of three strategic missile bases in the United States.  It has the old red brick building with portches that were built between  1885 and 1933.  It also has a beautiful parade field and there are antelope roaming in small herds all over the base.   Of  all the bases we have lived on or visited, this is and always be the most special...it is like coming home to our roots.  As we walked today, it was good to feel the Cheyenne winds on our face.  The Cheyenne winds are like none other and there is wind every day!!  
Tomorrow we will go to Denver and stay at Buckley Air Force Base.  Our friends George and Pat are camped there with their RV.  We are looking forward to spending a few days with them and seeing David and Chris and family.   We will then head home to give our girls a big hug and to see our Tucson Family of friends.
We did SKYPE with Molly, Samantha and Kirsten tonight and cannot wait to give real hugs vs. syber hugs.

We thank you all for your prayers for our safe travels.  
Quote that we found that reminds us of our friends ----"Everytime you cross our mind, we think how lucky we have been, to have you as our special friends."
God Bless you all and we are keeping you all in our daily prayers.
Love ,