Well, I haven't done very well keeping up with my blog, have I? Let's see - what has happened since I last wrote in November?? George and I flew out to California for Christmas. We spent a wonderful day relaxing in Palm Springs, then spent Christmas with Aunt Susan in her beach cottage. Brandon flew down from Washington and joined us. Here are the pictures of the Gingerbread cookies we created while we were there:
The bottom left is the one I did. It is a likeness of a traditional Ox Cart from Costa Rica. The upper left is a snow scene that Susan's artist friend made. The dolphin was made by Aunt Susan, the fireplace was George's creation, and Brandon made the cool guitar. Lots of fun!
Then we went to George's mom's house to spend Christmas with that side of the family. Renee and Devon and the girls drove down to be with us. George's sister Brenda and her husband and 6 mo. old son flew in from Columbia (where they had spent Christmas) before returning to Seattle. We all had a great time together. Here is a picture of the 3 babies.
From left to right: Lorna, Shanna, and Adrian.
Shanna and Lorna got to visit the beach for the first time while we were in CA. It was fun watching Shanna look at the ocean and experience the sand. Here she is seeing what sand tastes like!
While in CA I was also able to visit my mom, who moved back there after having a stroke. Fortunately, she has pretty much fully recovered. She is in a very nice assisted living place in Riverside and seems to like it OK. Her apartment has a great little deck with a view and she can keep her cute little dog, Barkley, there too.Let's see - January and February were fairly quiet here. I was busy at work in February with a Book Fair and then Inventory. Then at the end of the month I got sick. When I went to the doctor, he said I had pneumonia in both lungs! That was a big surprise! He said I needed to take the whole week off work the following week. My co-workers were great about arranging substitute teachers for me. Fortunately, the antibiotic shot I got in the office along with the antibiotics I took over the next 5 days seem to have wiped it out pretty well. I'm sure glad I live in this day and age of modern medicine! I worked 1/2 days Monday and Tuesday, then regular days the rest of this past week. I think I'm pretty well healed now, but I'm going in for another appointment next week and we'll see what the Dr. says.
In just two weeks I'm flying over to CA again for a foot (bunion) surgery. I'll recover for a week, then spend the rest of spring break visiting Renee and family in Portland. I can hardly wait to see the girls. Shanna is saying all kinds of things now and I hope she'll come up with a name for me - that will be fun. AND my Aunt Susan is coming with me too. Her excuse is that I need to have a "nurse" to travel with me since I'll still be healing from the surgery, but the truth is we're both really looking forward to the trip. Lorna will be dedicated on the Saturday just before Easter, so that will really be special to be there. I'll fly home on Easter Sunday, just in time to prepare for work the next day...
