Family

What a vacation. It will take me weeks to blog about this one. Our family get together in Phoenix was so amazing. It was wonderful to get to see our brother, Larry. He always makes me laugh and our first night together was a night FILLED with laughter and stories.

We started off picking up my Sister, Kathy and my Cousin, Mary Lynn in Grand Blanc. Kathy had driven there from Detroit to spend the evening and we picked them up at 6:00 am to begin our vacation.

We decided to stay at hotels that had a special on "Stay two nights, get one Free" - More on that later...........ggggrrrrr.........

The first evening we were in Springfield MO. Our hotel was nice and after 12 hours on the road we were pretty tired. The second night after another 12 hour drive we stayed in Albuquerque NM and that was a fun night - we asked the clerk at the hotel where to go for Mexican food and her eyes lit up when she told us about Los Cuertas. YUM. HOT HOT HOT salsa that bloomed in your mouth and spread heat all over.

In Arizona We stayed at the Embassy Suites - it was as great as 15 years ago when we made this trip with as many children in tow as we could. When my Mom died we kept money out of the estate to spend Christmas in Arizona. We should have kept much, much more of the money to continue to travel and get to see each other. I can't believe it took us 15 years to go back! Anyway, Embassy Suites is a fun place to stay. Free breakfast and a free Manager's Evening Reception from 5:30 to 7:30 you can have popcorn, chips and salsa and anything you want to drink - we had lots to drink! The rooms are so nice and the setting with palm trees and stucco buildings is amazing.

My sister, Jane came in to Phoenix from Tulsa. We drove from Saginaw to pick her up. How many people do you know that can drive to the airport and wait 2 minutes to pick up someone at the door after driving for three days from Saginaw to Phoenix?

When Larry walked in and sat down that first night at the Manager's Reception it was like a hole was filled up in my heart. I missed him so much. So - I have lots and lots of stories to tell. So I'll be writing a lot in the coming days.