On Wednesday night we headed to KC, to stay the night with Garry and Heather (a.k.a. "Geather") before our flight out Thursday morning. After a very long day at work, and then a three-hour car ride, I really thought I'd be ready to go to bed soon after we arrived at their home... But as is the case with good friends, paired with good music (Garry is the king of music trivia; he and I always bond over music, and Dave/Heather just roll their eyes at us) and lots of catching up, it was easy to stay awake. We were up past midnight, which was ok for us, since we were just on vacation. But poor Heather had to leave for work at 7:15... I felt bad for her! Thanks, guys, for the great evening! You know we always love to get together with you... and appreciated the hospitality.
Me and Heather... (sporting our "wine teeth"!)
Dave's dad and stepmom live outside of Boston, MA, but have spent winters in Florida for the last several years. They stay in a RV park near Orlando, in the small town of Fort Pierce, and have many friends in the park. This was my first time to meet them, and we had a lot of time to get to know each other over the four days there. It was great to hear stories about Dave's childhood/teenage years - many of stories were already familiar to me, but they had a new twist coming from Dave's parents! He has two sisters and quite an extended family back in Massachusetts, and I'm looking forward to meeting them all, hopefully in the next year. His stepmom, Gail, had lots to share about everyone, so I already feel like I know them a little.
We went to Ft. Pierce's Friday night gathering down by the waterfront, and then Gail and I went to the farmer's market on Saturday while Dave and his dad went out on a fishing trip. One of my favorite things was our trip to the jetty on the ocean. The above picture is of us at the jetty, which had apparently been washed away in a hurricane and rebuilt.
It was a great visit, and I'm so glad I've finally met Jr and Gail-- great people, and I had to laugh because I can definitely see where Dave gets his "strong" personality. He's a lot like his father! Looking forward to spending more time with them, hopefully they will make a trip to Missouri or we'll head to Boston within the next year.
