Last year at this time we were in France on a river cruise with our good friends and traveling companions, George and Linda.
We stopped in Pittsburgh on our way home to visit the kids, grandkids and great grandkids. Christmas eve was an adventure with everyone there.
In February our daughters, Misty and Shay came for a visit. Bill had a lot of plans to show the girls some historic sites. Here's a photo from the Renaissance Festival. Although they enjoyed it, I think they preferred the Mesa Flea Market. We arrived when they opened and other than a quick lunch break with Ron and Mary and Jim and Bev, the market was closing when we left. We did have to give them some luggage so they could take everything home from their shopping trip.
A few days after they left, we started packing for our adventure to Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. We received a call from our trip leader telling us what to expect on our trip and if we had any questions. A few days later we received a call from our travel company asking us if we wanted to change our air travel from stopping in Hong Kong. That sounded like a good idea so we changed it to a stop in Tokyo. And then 48 hours before departure we got a call saying the trip was cancelled and we would get a refund in a couple of weeks. I am happy to say we received a full refund to the penny. I got a call when they mailed the check and they asked if we had incurred any other expenses. I mentioned that we had paid for our visas. They asked us to send a receipt for them and they would refund that also even though we did that through a different company.
As all good Americans, we spent our stimulus check immediately. We had a contractor knock down the block fence and add wrought iron. Bill built a water station in the field behind our fence and we enjoy watching the wildlife come for a drink. Our back yard looks out on the north branch of the Santa Cruz River. Sounds classy but it just the desert.
I did find some new fans that match our western theme.
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Well we needed the fans when we hit 118. Yes, this year has been the hottest on record but it just got hot and stayed there. At least on a positive note the skies were sunny and bright.
During the hot summer, I spent time reading travel brochures. When I saw that our travel company was offering huge discounts for trips, I decided to rebook our Asia trip. It's booked for February 28th. At the time I thought everything would be looking up and travel would resume.
About a month later I got a brochure from them about a small ship adventure to Ireland. They advertised two people for the price of one on the English Channel & Celtic Sea Crossing: England, Normandy, Ireland, Derry and Belfast adventure. How could I pass that up? It just happens to be when Bill turns 85. Sounds like the Barney Stone would be a great place to celebrate his birthday. The ship has a 98 person capacity. We've been to London before but I noticed that we'd be staying in the Tower Hotel again. It is on the Thames right next door to the Tower Museum and Tower bridge. Another great thing about this trip is Hal and Sue, who we meet on our Spain trip are going too!
Excitement this year was when you found a new mask.In June we had a surprise visit from grand daughter Courtney and Josh and their boys Maverick and Reid. We had two great grand children born during the early months of the pandemic. We did get to meet great grand child number 6. Do you think Bill was excited to meet Reid? We'll stop in the Ohio Valley on the way to Ireland to finally get to meet number five great granddaughter, Layne.
We actually made our first trip to Manuel's restaurant with them since the pandemic. Many year's ago when Courtney was very young, she fell into the water fountain. We wanted her to know it's still there.
Bill and I always wanted a big flag out front instead of the one we had attached to the house. 2020 was the year to do that!
I forgot to mention one good thing from the pandemic. When we were having difficulties getting some food items, I kept forgetting to order cookies on my online grocery order. I finally realized that I didn't need them. I've given up eating sweets. I can look at Bill's stash and still walk away from them.
Sherry and Dave had us over for Thanksgiving and I must say I did have dessert then. She had a fabulous meal for the four of us.
Nikki and family called before we went home and she wanted to do a Zoom call. This was our first attempt and it was so nice that Dave and Sherry were included in the call. I got to thinking about how nice the call was and decided to try and do a happy hour virtually on Zoom. There's a learning curve be we somehow managed. Plan to do another one before Christmas but I put a notice on Facebook.
The Recreation center opened back up for limited hours. They are open from 6 am to 10 am and then again from 4 to 8 pm. We've been walking a couple of miles on the track. Classes are limited to 8 people and you have to register 48 hours before class. We've been able to attend both the senior fit and the chair yoga. It sure feels good to be back there. They have virtual classes but I don't feel they are quite the same.
Here's hoping everyone is doing alright. We are happy and healthy but know not all of you are. We're wishing you a Merry Christmas and a better year in 2021.
Turtle Safely.......
