tales from a far-land

As I reflect on 2019, it was a year full of travel, family, friends, new adventures, great accomplishments, and saying goodbye.  We are so blessed and hope that 2020 bring even more incredible adventures and moments to our lives.  Here's to hoping and wishing ....

After a very busy 2019, we wanted to ring in 2020 in a more low-key manner.  We celebrate New Year's Eve with our good friends, the Raetzes.  They came over to spend the evening with us.   We ate cheese fondue and grilled stuffed-flank steak.  We played pinochle.  We told stories.  We drank.  We laughed and laughed.  We shared hopes and dreams for the new year.  We commiserated  about the unhappy times of 2019.  We watched our kids play so nicely together.  And we toasted the New Year.  It was a such a great evening!   Such a good time, that we could wait to see each other on New Year's Day.  This time we went to their home for dinner, drinks, pinochle and play-time.  Here hoping 2020 is as full of laughter, love and happiness as we experienced starting the new year with our cherished friends! New Year's Eve Paige and I The Adults The Kids Cheers to 2020! New Year's Day Aiden and Madi Laughing, Pinochle and Wine = Good Times Toastin

For the past three years, we have spent the week between Christmas and New Years in Puerto Penasco, Mexico, with our friends, the Raetzes.  It has become a very fun tradition.  However, this year, due to unfortunate circumstances (a very sick Maelyn), they were not able to travel with us.  We almost didn't go, but we would have lost all of the money that we put down on the VRBO, so we decided to make it a long weekend family trip instead.  It was a very quiet and relaxing trip, except for our arrival night when we got stuck in the sand trying to find our rental.  Thankfully, there was a good Samaritan from New Mexico who pulled us out.  Our rental house was on the beach in Los Conchas.  We really liked the location and the beach.  The ocean was so much closer to the house this year.  The weather was chilly, but once the afternoon sun came out, it was warm enough to play and walk on the beach.  Our kids did spent a good amount of time on the beach playing in the sand and the water

For weeks before Christmas, our kids decided this year they wanted to see Santa.  They came up with numerous plans on how they could accomplish this.  One of the plans included them getting in a huge box (which they created) and leaving it by the fireplace with a tag on it saying "For: Santa, From: Aiden and Madilyn."  They thought that Santa would just take the box home with him on Christmas Eve and then they would be able to live at the North Pole with him.  It was such a clever and cute idea, until Josh and I burst their bubble and told them that Santa didn't have time to take gifts home with him and  they would have to wait an entire year to return home because Santa only visits once a year.  Another plan they concocted included leaving the GoPro on all night so they could "catch" Santa in the act.  Luckily, for Santa, the kids forgot to charge the GoPro.  In the end, the kids decided their master plan would be to just stay up and wait for Santa. We contin