Settling in back in Albuquerque

July 28, 2011--We have been pretty busy since we returned home on July 7. My Goddaughter Megan and her husband Greg were married on July 9. Brie, Riley, and Drue flew in for the ceremony, and it was a treat to see the girls together again as they have known one another since they were born.The ceremony was beautiful, and everything went perfectly, and we were were very happy to be home for this special occasion. Megan's sister Alissa is on the left, then Drue, Brie, Riley, and Megan.

On July 14 I met Vanessa, who babysat for me when my girls were very young, for lunch. She had seen my blog and recognized me so she left me a message. I have not seen her in a long time, but we picked up as though it were only yesterday. She is a beautiful young woman who is married with two children of her own, and it was such a special treat to see her again. We promised to keep in touch and see each other more often.

Steve's nephew Jonathan and his wife Erin were married in Easton, Maryland, on July 17. Steve, his mom, and I flew to Maryland on Friday and were able to enjoy dinner with Jon and Erin at a restaurant situated on the waters of Chesapeake Bay.

We enjoyed an afternoon visit to St. Michael's, which is a small community by the water. There were wonderful shops and restaurants with great food. Crab is plentiful in the area so we enjoyed crab sandwiches for lunch. We walked around for awhile and did our part to support the local community. In the evening we enjoyed meeting the wedding party and family members at the rehearsal dinner.

On Sunday we drove to Oxford, which was an even smaller community. As it was Sunday, most shops were closed, but we still enjoyed driving around and looking at the lovely homes. We also found two boat yards, one of which was a yard that built Hinkley sailboats. At lunch time, we stopped at a restaurant on the water with a lovely deck. The sea breeze felt nice, and we enjoyed watching the sailboats leaving the marinas for an afternoon sail. It did make us a bit nostalgic.

Sunday afternoon the wedding was held at The Oaks, which is a beautiful old home that is now used for private functions. An arbor was set up very close to the water on a large area of grass, and there were large trees so the setting was really lovely. The ceremony was beautiful and Jon and Erin make a lovely couple. We were again so happy to be able to share in such a special event.

We have gotten right back into life on shore as we each have a car and a cell phone. Right now we are busy working on our home, which we plan to completely renovate. First, we need to rebuild a shed in the back yard so that Steve can have a woodworking shop, and we also have quite a bit of landscaping work to do. That should keep us busy for awile.

I will travel with our younger daughter Drue to southern Michigan the first week of August where she will get settled in and ready to begin medical school at Michigan State--that will be exciting. the next big event will be in December when our older daughter Brie is expecting a boy, and we will go to San Diego to help Brie, Tim, and our precious Riley welcome a new member of the family.

I will post my last blog next week, and that will be a very difficult one to write.