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February 18, 2005

IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

Last Friday morning we were up bright and early to catch our flight to Phoenix, Arizona to visit my sister and her husband, Jeanne and Bob Claycamp. We arrived in Phoenix with no problems, but guess what? It was raining! In fact, it has rained so hard here that there was a lot of flooding in the area, not what we really came to see. I can't remember when I have seen it rain so hard, even in Oregon! Dave thought it looked like some of the weather he saw in Southeast Asia, that's how hard it was raining!

Saturday night we attended a "50's" dinner at Bob and Jeanne's church. It was a "diner" theme and the "Blue Plate Special" was meatloaf and mashed potatoes. They played some old rock and roll music and some of the women came dressed up in their poodle skirts. They also had an entertainer who sang 50's rock and roll songs, with the lyrics changed to a Christian theme. Jesus and "do-wop". It was different, but it was quite entertaining.

Bob is pastor of the Calvary Chapel in North Phoenix and so Sunday, we all headed for church. After that, all of the Claycamp clan came over to the house for a spaghetti feed. There was quite a crowd; the four of us, my Mom, Bob and Jeanne's three sons and daughters-in-law, and six and a half grandkids. It was quite an event! We did manage to get all the activity stopped for a minute to get their family portrait. Dave helped Bob start assembling a swing set for the grandkids and later, Jesse and Micah finished putting it together. We also got to meet Lia, the little girl from China that Jesse and Michelle recently adopted. She's only been here a few weeks and is such a sweetie.

The sun finally came out a little on Monday, but most of the week it has been cloudy. I don't think I will come home with any suntan. Stanley, the resident Basset Hound, enjoyed the sun when it was out. He loves to lie out on the rocks and soak up the heat.

We drove down to Casa Grande on Monday. It's about an hour and a half south of Phoenix and we went down there to visit with Dave's cousin and his wife. Del and Bev are snowbirds and have spent the last 9 years dividing their year between Arizona and Washington. After a nice visit with them, they showed us around their little "retirement" community. They have everything they need right there, pool, gym, game room, post office and activity center. Oh yeah, and most of the time...sun! About the only time they leave the place is for groceries or golf.

Tuesday, we drove over to the home of a friend of a friend of a friend and picked grapefruit. We had no idea who they were...just that someone told us they wanted to get rid of the fruit. There was no one home and we felt kind of funny just driving up to somebody's yard and hoping that we had the right house. But they had said it was okay and we became more assured when we saw the ladder and grapefruit picker waiting for us. Right after that, the owner drove in and was real happy to see us. The trees are so loaded that people are just begging for you to pick them. They have to get rid of all the fruit, as it is time for the trees to start growing a new crop. So we picked about 4 big bags of grapefruit to bring home to the kids. It is a real treat for us, because we think of grapefruit and oranges as something on aisle 4 at the supermarket, not something you can just go out and pick in your back yard!

Wednesday was kind of a lazy day. I didn't felt too good all week; I think I had a touch of a stomach bug. The sun was back and it was about 70 degrees outside, so it was a good day just to sit outside and soak up the warmth. Besides, Jeanne had to baby-sit one of her grandkids, so we stayed pretty close to the house.

Thursday, my brother-in-law Bob took the day off and all of us went out and picked more fruit. This time it was lemons and oranges. I am beginning to feel like a migrant worker, picking all this fruit. The trees are so loaded and it is such a shame to see it all go to waste. As you can see, we got carried away. After all the picking, I had to spend time trying to pack all this stuff in our suitcases. Luckily, we brought an empty duffel bag just for this reason.

Thursday night, Mom, Dave and I took Bob and Jeanne out to dinner in appreciation for letting us stay with them all week. It was so relaxing to be able to stay at their home and we wanted to thank them.

Well, the vacation is over and this morning we got up bright and early and headed home. Jeanne is flying back with us as she has a women's retreat to attend in Oregon over the weekend. She and her friend Barbara and my other sister Judy are planning to drive down to our place at the coast Sunday night, so we'll be able to start re-paying the hospitality right away!