There hasn't been a whole lot to write about lately so again, I'm just going to hit the highlights.
Sunday, February 2. We watched the Super Bowl with Jim and Sue at their new and beautiful motor home. Sue made ham sandwiches and I made baked beans and we had a good time.
Tuesday, February 6. A Highlands Happy Hour bus trip to Casa de Juana - a very nice Mexican restaurant on Southern and Dobson in Mesa. The decor was bright and cheerful and the food was delicious. A couple of people went ahead in their cars, and learned that a reservation for 33 people (9 from our park and the rest from Monte Vista) had just been called in a half hour before they got there. The staff quickly set up a room for us and our server, Steve, did an excellent job of taking our orders and serving us. I have a feeling that he got some good tips that evening.
Thursday, February 8. We picked Jim and Sue up and headed it to Meridian Road to hike a trail on the east side of Usery Mountain. We chose the County Line, Spillway, and Meridian Loop trails for a 3.3 mile hike. And a very enjoyable one it was, with warm and comfortable temperatures and really good company.
The rest of the day was spent preparing for my trip to Minnesota tomorrow.
Friday, February 9. I was up, packed, Frisco walked, and ready to leave home by 10:15 when Tom took me to the airport. Check-in, security, the wait and the flight all went smoothly and I was picked up at the airport by Ben and the girls. We had a typical Friday night at the Bridge household with pizza and an evening of watching the Olympics Opening Ceremonies and a few of the skating events. Ben and I stayed up and talked until almost 11:00 - so good to be reunited!
Saturday, February 10. Ben and I were off to take Norah and Camille to gymnastics this morning and it was fun watching them go through all of the moves in the class. Their favorite is 'the pit' that is filled with soft, cushions and the just worked on maintaining balance. Because the followed the coach's instructions and cooperated with getting in and out of the car, they were rewarded with a trip to one of the very few gluten free bakeries in the area, called Sift. Ben and I each had a very yummy Lemon Poppyseed Muffin and the girls had chocolate donuts with sprinkles and they lovingly ate every bit of them.
I watched the girls tonight so Ben and Jill could go out on the town and enjoy a concert. We watched the Disney movie, "Moana". Bedtime was a bit of a disaster - Norah kept getting out of bed with a multitude of excuses and Camille got up because she said
Norah woke her up. It was almost 9:00 before I was able to get in the shower. By then, I was exhausted and went to bed myself.
Sunday, March 11. It was another very active day, but the morning got off to a much slower start. Charlotte had ice skating class and we all went with he so Norah and Camille could get some time on the ice too. I was tempted to put on skates but didn't want to risk breaking any of my almost 70-year old bones. Charlotte is really learning a lot and her coordination is improving so much. Talk about cold - 9 degrees and we were standing on ice. The coat Jill loaned me to wear and the long underwear layer really kept me toasty warm, but my feet turned to ice shortly after we arrived. The days have been sunny and bright, but they sure are cold. The ice rink and warming house brought back many memories of my childhood, skating with family and friends at St. Ann's near my home in Stoughton.
After the twin's nap, we headed to St. Louis Park to Punch Fun and Sports for a game of bowling, my first since an evening with Ben and Jill back in 2007 in Pacifica, California. Jill was the high scorer and Grandma Rose came in as the low scorer. It just happened to be a place that served Gluten Free choices, so we had dinner there too.