Summer 2014

Bryn and Anthony, Oct 18, 2013

It's been a helluva 7 months: my beautiful daughter had a fairy-tale wedding and married the man of her dreams in October (2013),

I took care of my dying mother right after the wedding in Albany NY, she died a day before her 93rd birthday, we went through the services and burial, I put her house up for sale, cleaned the house out, sold the house.

Engagement--Sean and Chanelle

 My youngest son got engaged to a beautiful girl, Chanelle, who we already love, and my oldest son finished his dissertation, defended it, and got his PhD. Unfortunately, he hasn't found a university teaching job (or a university hasn't found him).

Bob and I were obviously due for some quiet time and fun. We had already planned on spending the entire summer, out of the horrid furnace called Phoenix, at the cottage in Maine. It might be our last cross-country trip as we have done this trip more than 15 times and we aren't getting any younger.

The Las Vegas Wedding--Antoinette and Heath

Ziplining in Costa Rica

Costa Rica while Sean and Chanelle surfed

Costa Rica

There was so much to do before we left, however. That included a trip to Costa Rica (via Denver--another long drive) and attending my cousin Antoinette's wedding in Las Vegas (to our great friend, Heath). So we were busy, busy, busy--most of the time, gloriously so.

We were lucky to find two wonderful friends (a former student, Marissa, and her husband, James) to housesit and dog sit for us. Our original plans were to take the dogs and get the house set to be vacant all summer (which involved getting a top-of-the-line security system). However, Marissa volunteered and after a dinner at our place, Bob and I decided that they would love our dogs and take loving care of our home.

We wanted to be in Maine by June 1st, but we were pretty sure we'd be a few days late because it took a lot of planning, packing, and follow through to make this trip happen.

We packed the van (not close to as full as it was the last time we went to Maine) with art supplies, technology, clothes, etc. and once the kayaks were tied to the roof rack, we left. Our first leg was Phoenix to Flagstaff, but things would not go smoothly.