 | ||||||||||||
| 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
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.
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!
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!
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
|
No comments:
Post a Comment