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!!
 



 

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



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!*! 

 

 

SHADES!*!

 

SHADES OF LAST SUMMER!

 

 

 



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!*!

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!!!

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!



SIGN OF THE TIMES!

If this isn't a

SIGN OF THE TIMES,

then I'm not sure what is!

 



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!



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!