A fun sister weekend last week, and a fun trip this week.
In between was my grand daughter's birthday, and my youngest had her first choir concert.
Years ago I would complain about having to go to so many of these, but I think when the kids are all finished with school (next year), it's one of the things I'll miss the most.
Silly, huh?
My baby - front and center. (Black hair)
My sister has an old school chum from here, who often makes the trip out west to see her. This year, she invited me to tag along. I was happy to do so, since it has been a few years since I've been able to get out there.
We had such a good time - Karen is very easy to get along with. I haven't talked that much in... well, forever. I was almost hoarse from chatting by the time we got there. If anyone wants to know my life history - just ask Karen.
My brother in law had an itinerary planned for us - after a good night's rest (in a bed as cozy as my mama's lap) we drove all the way out to an outlet mall in California, and shopped the morning away. I got some great deals - a name brand purse and shoes at a Walmart price. How can you beat that?
On the way back, we stopped at a place my sister has been telling me about for years - Apple Hill.
It was different than I imagined - I had a tight little community in mind, but what it actually was, was a lot of different apple orchards spread out over a large area. We drove to just a few of them, and sampled the goodies they had to sell.
...A yummy lunch and gooey caramel at one, colorful pumpkins and gourds at another, and a petting zoo somewhere else.
This place forced us to stop for it's gorgeous gardens...
We drove past Lake Tahoe as the sun was setting - Beautiful!
Autumn in the Sierras. *Sigh*
Saturday was a little more leisurely. We went to the doll show at the Holiday Inn. I didn't splurge on any dolls (no room for them at home), but I did find a few little treasures to bring home.
We had a late lunch at Red Lobster with the girls, then we met the whole family for an early dinner at Los Tres Amigos (at least I think that's what it was called.)
I'm not sure that a bucket of shrimp followed by a ginormous mesquite chicken burrito was a good idea. My tummy threatened mutiny the next morning...
But it was so good to spend time with all the kids - I fell in love with Ty's little baby girl. (He said I could have her - I'll go back and collect one day! :-)
I got to play with the pets too - couldn't be helped, they loved me.
The first night, I convinced Lucy (the cat) to come sit on my lap while we watched Castle and Gilmore Girls. I haven't had a cat in decades, and this one is such a friendly one.
I was a little horrified when she got up, however, and I found that I had metamorphosed from human to centaur.
She had left so much hair behind, that I'm going to have to go get a wax job to get it all off! Ha ha...
It's always fun to go visit my sister's homes and see that the little nicky-nacky's that I painted for them ages ago, are still alive and well, and on display. The ones I did for us have mostly been lost and/or destroyed years ago.
It's nice to know someone out there appreciated them.
That's my week in a nutshell. I'm done traveling for this year - now it's time to light the home fires and settle in for the winter.
I love to travel and see what this wide world holds, but I also love to come home to my own little hamlet, and my own kith and kin.
The kids were here when I arrived, and my darling daughter had made a tasty meal. I was greeted first by my youngest gran - It doesn't get better than this.
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