It's a Wrap!

June 10-15, 2018
Fresno - Valencia, California

Immediately after our return to Valencia, we drive the Jeep to Fresno to see Bill's mom and cousins. We arrive about 12:30 and Mom's already at the house. She was so surprised to see us!!

We spend a lovely afternoon and evening visiting with the family and two of their friends who came to visit in their motorhome. It was great fun, and I didn't take a single photo!

Monday morning we check out of the hotel and stop to visit with Mom at her home. Then we meet the cousins and friends for breakfast at our favorite place - Benediction. Three hours later we're back at our home!

After that quick visit, we spend the rest of our week with the kids and finally getting my doctor and lab appointments done. The time flies by!

Ezra brings Mommy to the wading pool to learn how to float.

Splashing is much more fun.

Perfect spot on a hot afternoon.

My doctor agrees that I always bring her "interesting" issues, but quickly rules out any serious concerns about my weird itching. She orders labs for "everything under the sun" just to be sure. I have most of the results by the end of the day, and I'm very pleased with all the normal readings.

The allergist appointment is similar, no diagnosis and lots of lab tests. She schedules a phone appointment to go over the results which will be in next week. 

Thursday Bill manages the impossible and gets all of the kids, including our "other" sons, and their partners and families to our place for the evening. Travis and Emily are in Aruba on their honeymoon which I guess is a reasonable excuse for missing it.

Ezra shows Ella the bubble wand while her sister Autumn looks on. Maximus and his dad in the background.

Ezra used up all the bubbles - what a great invention to avoid the messiness of bubble fun!

Cousins Ezra and Maximus master the dino puzzle. Hard to believe they're a year apart!

All the littles - Craig, Autumn, Avery (Craig's sister), Maximus, Ezra and Ella. None of the bigs thought we could get this shot.

The Gravel guys, with room for missing Travis - Corey, Richie, Bill, Nick with Maximus.

We did it!

Our last day started with getting my dental implant and filling. All painless, I love my dentist.

I get hugs from Jeff and good-bye-for-now, and pick up Ezra for a few hours of shopping and playing at our place. He is such a delight to spend time with! When Brian gets off work he and Shalise meet the three of us at Lazy Dog for dinner. 

Serious things to tell us.

Playing puzzles - Ezra used PopPop's hand to do some too!

A brilliant kid's dessert - Fruit Loops to string on licorice vine to make a necklace.

Even more fun when you sneak a few of the "beads"!

A family effort.

It gets harder every time we have to tell Ezra good-bye. We're already looking forward to taking him with us on a road adventure!

So it's a bittersweet leaving as we head north for Nevada on Saturday......