Gentlemen and Danica, START YOUR ENGINES

Whew. I am very tired.

I’ve mentioned before that this is only the second year that Bill and I have spent the bulk of winter in Arizona. We arrived here the day after Christmas and are planning on leaving at the end of April, where we hope to be back in Denver in time to see the birth of Grandchild #10.

What I discovered last year is that almost four-and-a-half months was just a bit too long for me to go without seeing any of my kids and grandkids. It’s bad enough that we have our family in Vermont that we only see a few times a year. (All I can say, once again, is thank goodness for Facetime. God bless Steve Jobs.) But I was – frankly – homesick.

So when we headed south after Christmas this year, I made it abundantly clear that I was going to make a trip to Denver sometime in February to visit. And here I am. And I repeat, I am very tired. I am packing a lot of hugs and kisses and dinners and lunches and cooking and coloring and Wii tennis matches into just a few days. And, I might add, loving every single minute.

I watched Kaiya perform acts of juggling in her Kindergarten Circus performance….

I ate crawfish and shrimp steamed and served in a delicious Cajun garlic butter sauce with Court and Alyx and the girls at the Yabby Hut in Lakewood. It was the first time I’ve ever eaten shrimp served heads still on.  I am determined to copy the scrumptious sauce….

I ate ice cream sundaes with Addie and Magnolia….

And scrubbed food coloring off of our hands after making play dough….

And believe me when I tell you that is just a snapshot of my activities!

But meanwhile back at the ranch, Bill wasn’t sitting at home twiddling his thumbs. He and my brother David spent yesterday at the Phoenix International Speedway watching NASCAR. I’m talking getting there before 8 and leaving after 5. Beer, cigars, gasoline fumes, and hot dogs in between. Tons of fun for them, but they were tired too.

Things will soon get back to normal, and we will have nothing to do but sleep, so we’re grateful for every minute of the past few days.

As they say, I’ll sleep when I’m dead.