Our Favourite Son Comes Home

A week ago this past Saturday, Jeremy arrived home at midnight!  Phil had trooped it out to the airport, well beyond his normal bedtime.  He was really tired the next day.  Before you know it, the whole week is gone and now Jeremy is getting ready to return.

They went to Sun Wah to have Chinese lunch on his last day.

Yummy Noodles and Beef

Noodles and Janet were busy working on our new babies cross stitch.  Actually, Noodles wasn't too big of a help as there was a noise in the house that was driving her crazy.

They watched the last 1/2 hour or so of "The Full Monty".  Janet loves this movie and it always makes her cry.  She has watched it so many times she knows most of the dialogue.

Noodles is chillin' after the movie.

I have my foot on Janet's foot in an effort to make her pay attention to me.  It's not working!

Hello, Janet....hello?

Janet just loves the Pasta Carbonara at Piazza Italia in Portland and she is on a mission to recreate it at home.  To call the first attempt a miserable failure would be gilding the lily.  It was really horrible.  It was so horrible that Phil didn't even try to lie and say it was good.

Sad, very sad.

We Get Into a Back At Home Routine

After all the activity on our way home we are now back into our regular routine.  Janet hasn't gone to yoga for nearly two months, but went back on Monday.  She says she is really stiff!  She went for a bike ride and back to volunteering today and Phil is back at work.

Our lives march on as usual.

The stress of hoping someone will leave the bedroom door open is killing Noodles.  She went straight for the pillows and fluffed them up the way she likes them.

I'm such an important doggie that I need two beds.  Do you think these cheapskates will ever crack open the wallet and buy us memory foam beds?  Pashy has one!  We are older than Pash!

Janet somehow managed to dent the front of her little camera, so the shutter wouldn't open up fully.  She could adjust it by hand, but Phil said she should get a new one.  Janet said she was OK with the old one, but Phil was adamant and told Janet that the four of us have such fascinating lives that not one single day should go undocumented!  If she buys into that, she is truly certifiable.  Our lives are riveting, but theirs are so boring it puts us to sleep.  All.  Day.  Long.

Super cute!  It matches one pair of p.j.'s that Janet has and her dog walking bag.

Our favourite son came home from his work up North.  They went for pizza!  They love Pizza Prima Strada.

Janet might have a new camera, but her memory has not improved.  She forgot to take a photo until they were nearly done eating.

Here is a photo of Janet, slaving away on a Cross Stitch she has been working on for our new baby.  She started as soon as we knew about the baby and is now just barely past the half way mark.  Janet is right on schedule if Meg can wait until July to have her baby, instead of the projected due date in mid May.

Janet made Chinese fried noodles with pork and veggies for dinner last night.  The pan it was in was so full, it was spilling over onto the stovetop.  Clearly, Janet has a handle on cooking for two six!

They Finally Came Home!

Yes...they were gone for 10 nights and we really missed them.

Just kidding......this is after they were home for awhile.

Here is a brief recap of the last of their trip.  Phil was finally able to participate in the last couple days of enjoying the sun.  They made the huge mistake of going for a bike ride around 4:30PM to a different town; two towns away.  The town had a really long road that led to the ocean.  There was a road at the end that said No Trespassing, Jogging, Biking or Walking.  Phil was pretty sure they could go on the beach to the intermediate town and save alot of time, but it was getting late and they didn't want to be on the road in the dark.  Long story short, they road back to the highway on several exhausting hills.  Next day, they checked it out - sure enough!  A 10 minute walk on the beach would have saved them 45 minutes uphill!

This is BEFORE the ride uphill on the way home!  Phil is totally "old school local boy" bike riding in his slippahs!

Remember the big stage that was being set up for the "Chicago" concert?  Janet went back the next morning.  Here are the VIP seats for $95/person.  Every other price point sits on the grass.

This was something Janet had never seen before and it was outside the concert venue - a portable hand washing machine.

They walked across the street to the big fancy Hilton Waikoloa where they have a huge dolphin pool.  Janet told Phil that for her 60th birthday, she wants to swim with the dolphins.  They are so cute!

This guy is the Noodles of the dolphin family  - always circling for some bonus food!

Janet and Phil also walked across some lava fields to go to a beach where there are reportedly a lot of turtles.  Nope, they never saw one!  There are wild goats on the Big Island and when they went back to the car, this cute little baby was crossing the road.  Janet was really worried as the Mom wasn't anywhere in sight!  Phil chased him away from the road and into the bush, hoping he wouldn't go back to the road.

Go into the bush, cute little baby!

Phil always wants to pay for the least expensive accommodation, but Janet won't go there.  Here is why: they paid a small amount each night to upgrade to a deluxe unit that had new appliances,  flat screen TV and updated decor.  This stovetop was being removed from a close by unit while Janet and Phil were there.  It was so old the colour was worn off the knobs.  Phil likes to make out like they live on income assistance and Janet likes to think she is an heiress on Downton Abbey (except that nearly didn't work out, did it?).

This cooktop looks like a JennAir but was actually GE.  Janet said it was so old, she had never seen one like it.

Janet and Phil bought some sushi the night before to have for lunch on the plane.  Being as how Janet was in seat 21E and Phil was in 19D on a nearly full flight, it took some finagling to get to sit together.  The sushi was kind of jumbled, but was still way better than anything the airline was selling.

Janet Goes On Vacation By Herself

It has been a few days since Janet and Phil went to Hawaii.  Phil has been sick and lying about the condo everyday, so Janet is cranky and has been forced to make her own fun.  She complains to Phil that she is never sick and he says "yeah, but we aren't talking about sick in the head" and then Janet says......never mind,  you can see where this is going!  Some bad words were exchanged!

Most days she goes for a big walk of about two hours and sometimes adds on a smaller walk in the afternoon.  Then, she decided to rent a bike!  Here Janet is trying the bike on for size outside the rental shop.  Phil apparently doesn't like to use the zoom lens, but rest assured, it's Janet!

 She rode on Tuesday afternoon and on Wednesday morning from where we are to a different resort area called Mauna Lani.  Round trip, including poking around in Mauna Lani was about 1 1/2 hours.  This involved riding on the side of the highway, which Janet was completely comfortable with.   Until it was time to get the bike!  Turned out, it was fine...really, really wide shoulders.

To while away some more time, Janet did some laundry.

First load would be the underwear that Phil has been lounging around in all week.  His shorts are spotless, due lack of going outdoors.   This is Janet's second attempt at laundry.  First try, she loaded the dirty clothes into the dryer, dumped in the soap and hit start...odd, there weren't any water temperature choices!

Finally, on day 7, Phil emerges to the great outdoors!  He slapped on his "good 'ole wife beater" and off they went.  A sure sign that his physical health may have improved, but his taste in clothing is still rock bottom!

They stopped for lunch and after, chanced upon a community centre where there was a group of seniors singing.  Janet said they were excellent.  She watched them for about an hour and they asked if she had a request.  Janet asked for Aloha Oe, which always makes her cry.  She cried this time too.

Then, they went for a hike!  Yes, a real hike!   Well, kind of a real hike.  15 minutes in and 15 minutes out.  These cuties were enroute.

The little guy is watching Janet very, very closely.  She had better not try any quick moves.

They hiked down to this beach.  It looks like black sand from this height, but was actually all lava rock when you arrived.

This is what some of the trail looked like.  This is near the top.  About 1/3 of the way down, it turns into mostly rock.

This photo proves that Janet now has serious hiking cred!  Just kidding.....she wouldn't have gone if it had been even a little bit scarey.

They Went To Hawaii

Without us!  It is our doggies New Years resolution to learn how to be crated so that we can also go to Hawaii.  Everyone wants to go, so it must be pretty good.

Janet and Phil took us to PDX so they could go on their trip.  Reflect upon this beautiful trifecta of Golden Retrieivers.

We were caught off guard as they left the house at 4AM!  What!  Janet NEVER gets up that early, absolutely never!

I slept outside their room all night to prove the love.  Still, 4AM is pretty early!

Bye, Janet and bye Phil.

They are really happy with their condo, which is a major dust up for Little Miss Fussy Pants Former Travel Agent.  Normally, she never accepts the first option and insists on seeing others - if not that day, then for sure the following day,

This is Phil on day 4 of the trip.  He sleeps away most of every day and has a bad cold.  Janet would take better  care of him, but she knows the life insurance policy is pretty good.  Bad, bad, financially secure Janet!

While Mr. Sicko Phil is whiling away the days on the sofa, Janet is out and about on her own...albeit on foot as Mr. Cheapskate didn't make her an additional driver on the rental car.

Move over tropical grass at home!

This was on Janet's walk this morning among a petroglyph field.

How We Finished Off The Year

It's hard to believe another year has come to an end.  Everyone has gone to their respective homes, but we were busy for the last couple of days.

Jeremy finished off his visit by doing nearly all the dishes on the last two nights.  He even roped Phil into helping.

Janet had to take this photo as it will be many years before Phil does dishes again.

Phil has been making calendars every year for the last six or seven years.  Now our girls have jumped on the band wagon and made some as well.  Meggie forgot her laptop at home, so she has to email the photos to Phil so he can make her calendar.

Everyone's calendar is made with their own photos.  Bronwyn's calendar is of photos of the Gorge area.  Phil's calendar, on the left is of their trip to the U.K. and Briana and Ted's calendar is of places they have visited.

Everyone has gets to help and everyone loathes loves calendar season.  Phil starts out with the young ones.

When they tire out, he presses his 88 year old father into action.  Nobody, but nobody gets out of this seasonal torture treat.

Janet polished off the year by making mounds of Macademia and Pecan spicy nuts and Almond and Pecan spicy nuts.

Us doggies ended 2012 by being ill.  Noodles started not eating and throwing up, so Phil took her to the vet.  With everything being closed on New Years Day, they didn't want to take a chance.  Dr. Smith said Noodles has caught a bug and gave her a shot and some medicine.  He told Phil to get some Pepto-Bismal to give to me should I get the same bug.  Noodles can't be counted on for a lot, but excelled 100% this time as now I am sick.  We didn't even want our breakfast this morning!