Wednesday, July 31, 2013

SISTERTIME!


Patte came to Indy
and we spent the day in Broad Ripple,
where we shopped to our
hearts delight!
(For clothes, not turtles!)
 


We sat outside and enjoyed lunch
by the water
along the Monon Trail!
 


And we watched little bobbing duck butts while we ate!
 


Sistertime!  Sistertime!
Just gotta love Sistertime!!
 

 

Monday, July 29, 2013

HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES, WORKS & PLAYS!


Jonathan and I headed to
Columbus, O.H.I.O.
to meet up with Patte, Michael, and Daniel.
We wanted to see...
 
HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES, WORKS & PLAYS!
 
But, of course, we needed to stop for that
"must have" cup of coffee
before hitting the highway east!
Look who was guarding the doors of Paradise Bakery!

 
But Jonathan put on his brave face,
walked right past them,
and brought out my coveted java!
(Thank you, Jonathan!)
 
When we arrived in the capitol city,
Michael and Patte met us and showed us where to park.
Then off we went to see where
my two nephews work!
(Both are employed by the Attorney General, Mike DeWine.)
We met up with Daniel and the office secretary
who read (tried to, that is)
the following greeting to Jonathan and I:

 
BTW, "Yia Sou" is a Greek greeting!  Nice try, Daniel!
HaHaHa!*!
Michael acted as our tour guide
and led us through
the long hallways filled to the brim with pictures of the AG.
Michael's awesome office
was filled with photographs from
his trip to the UAE!
Here he is with Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammad!
(Sorry for the glare!)
 

 
(Brownie points earned below, BIG TIME!)
 

 
Michael and Jonathan participated in a
 heated political debate,
and I exited as fast as possible!
(I do not like politics!)
 


Then off we all went to Daniel's office,
 located in the law area.
(Sorry Daniel, I took no photos because there wasn't
a single picture up in your office!)
I agree with your wife -- you need a picture or two in there.
(Daniel's office was awesome as well, I promise!)
 
We saw where all of the the press conferences are held,
and Michael pointed out the new blue tarp.
(I think he meant to say "curtain"!)
 


Michael and Daniel treated us to a
scrumptious lunch in Milo's,
The Capitol Café.


After lunch, we had the cousins pose in the Buckeye Capitol!
(We missed you, Jason!)
 

Off we went to see where
Daniel and Jenna will be living soon.
That's right!  My nephew and his wife Jenna purchased
and awesome house!



Then we were off to see Michael's pad!
He's living the "urban life" in a downtown loft that rocks!
 


What a wonderful day we had in
Columbus, O.H.I.O.
seeing
HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES, WORKS & PLAYS!
 

 
AS - SALAMU A'LAIKUM
WA A'LAIKUM AS-SALAMU


Saturday, July 27, 2013

THEY REALLY DO GROW UP!

Jason bought a house!
 
 
 
After the closing, Jason and Chloe
prepared to paint.
 
 
Jas dug in (under Chloe's guidance)
and actually painted (for the first time in his life!).
Man oh mulligan, Chloe is certainly handy!


I helped out by painting a couple of walls.
 
 
And then Chloe tackled the kitchen cabinets.
(Wait till you see the finished product -- OMG!)
 
 
Once the painting was complete (several days later),
Jas came home and packed up his room.
 
 
It was his last night sleeping under our roof!
 
 
THEY REALLY DO GROW UP!*! 
 
 

Thursday, July 25, 2013

TIME FLIES!

The night before his flight
back to Dubai,
John and I met up with the Moons and the Patterns
for a quick "hello" and a quick "good bye"!!
 
 
 
Geeze, time flies when you are having fun!*!

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

GOOD BYES!


The day before John left to
head back to Dubai,
(oh my, how his two weeks flew by)
we drove back to Kentland
so he could say good-bye to his Mom.
As luck would have it,
several other family members were present!
We got to see our nephew, Aaron, and meet our newest
great niece, Aubrey!



Aunt Mimi was in from Atlanta!
 


Yes, Baby Aubrey was
the center of attention on the Diedam front porch....


....as was Great Grandma DeeDee!



Annie got some "Grandma" time in with little Aubrey! 
 


And Mary and Ron got some "Mom" time in with
Joanne (and Aunt Sherry too)!




Ah, sometimes you just can't beat
these gatherings
at the Diedam house!




This is my very favorite picture
of John saying
good bye to his Mom.....for yet another year!
 



And off he flew, the very next day,
back to Dubai, to Ramadan, and to triple digit heat!
GOOD BYES!!!

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

ANOTHER BALL STATE REUNION!

We may only see
these folks
every few years or so,
but when we do get together 
we make up for the time apart by sharing laugh after laugh!
 

Because we had some uninvited guests for dinner
(flies....lots and lots of flies),
someone said they saw on Facebook that this
would rectify the situation....
 

 
Did it work?
Well, we think it did.  Or maybe it was the Citronelle candle
that was burning at the table!
One thing was for certain -- it made for many more laughs!


Sunday, July 21, 2013

Saturday, July 20, 2013

GET TOGETHERS!

It's just nice being
in the USA
where spur-of-the-moment
GET TOGETHERS
with long time friends can occur!
 





 
CHEERS
to last minute
GET TOGETHERS!



Friday, July 19, 2013

FEATHERS!

John and I
flew to Florida for a couple of days
to look for property
for (GASP!)
when we come back to the States to live!
(One more year.  One more year.)
We've come to the conclusion
 that we simply
cannot do
Indiana WINTERS (OMG) any more.
(Thanks Dubai, you've spoiled us!)
We drove to Cape Coral to check out a home
that our Dubai friends
are building.
Much to our amazement,
look what we found perched in their garage!

 And then we spotted three more sitting
in what will become their
front yard!


We were told that owls are protected,
so I guess Terry and Dana
will not be sodding their entire front yard for awhile!

John and I loved looking around
Cape Coral and Fort Myers!
We loved the scenery, which reminded us of Dubai!



We stumbled upon a quaint little
restaurant where we enjoyed a quiet dinner.
And then this guy arrived.
And we quickly realized that he wasn't alone!


And while we sat
enjoying our fish dinner,


he devoured his!