Guatemala and U.S.

9/4/06
We began September with completing our doctor visits in Guatemala with an appointment for Kay with a neurosurgeon.  The MRI confirmed that she has two herniated discs in her neck that has been bothering her, mainly in bouncy dinghy rides.  So, we wanted to see what the neurosurgeon had to say.
Thankfully, he said we can strengthen her neck muscles with exercises and have an 85% chance of complete recovery without surgery.   We are very thankful.

9/5/06
We caught a taxi to take us to Zone 1 in Guatemala City to the Mercado Central for some last minute shopping gifts.  Then, we picked up our bags at the hotel and headed for the airport for our flight.

We arrived at DFW at about 11 p.m.  We will be staying with Garrett and Madonna and Kylie in Waxahachie first.   It is good to be home to see our kids and grandkids.

Garrett, Madonna and Kylie
Grandma and Kylie......making salmon patties.

Grandpa and Kylie standing on their heads.












We were able to share in Madonna's Birthday.   A sweetie!

These are a few of our reasons for a trip home....





Claire was on her way to school and dropped by to show us her new purse and headband.

Chase and Kylie are showing their Rio Dulce t-shirts with a sailboat on it.
We sure have enjoyed them.

9/9/06
We needed to borrow Garrett and Madonna's car, so we took Madonna to work at the hospital in Arlington at 5:30 a.m.   and then headed on to Lake Texoma to visit friends.
We started the weekend by eating breakfast and lunch with Pat and Jim Kunard, S/V Sojourner.  They were our first sailing buddies and have been to the Rio Dulce to visit us.
We then visited old friends at the marina and spent the night, after a delicious meal with Hugh of S/V Bear Necessities.  He and Bear are preparing their boat to be hauled to Kemah for cruising in the near future.
On Sunday morning, we left early and caught Barry and Judy Lower, S/V Remedy and Kay's first boss at Holcim.   They were probably the ones who started the ball rolling for us to get into sailing.   When Barry was transferred from Midlothian, we bought his Hobie Cat and knew nothing of sailing, so we took some lessons, and it proceeded from there.
On Sunday afternoon, we drove to Ken and Karen Kruse's, S/V Bear Necessity, and had a great evening together and spent the night before heading to Austin on Monday to see kids.

9/11/06
Then, on to Austin to visit Taylor, Kodi and Riley Kay.

We had a good visit with Taylor and Kodi.  They have just moved into their new house and it is very nice.   Riley has grown and is talking very good.  She will be two in February.  A real cutie!








Taylor, Kodi, and Riley

After Austin, we took the Greyhound bus back to Waxahachie and visited with Billy, Stacie, Claire and Chase.














The Dixon Family:  Billy Stacie, Claire and Chase

We also got to stay in Sonny's "little" brother, Billy's (and Jeanie's) little house.   It was so nice. Thanks guys!

Kay made a quick trip to Holcim to see old friends and co-workers and have lunch with the girls.
We got to visit a lot of friends and family in Waxahachie.  Sonny's uncle, Houston (and Lois) had a great meal and fellowship in their home with Timmy and Martha and Dan and Vicki.  The guys (and Lois)  played their guitars, piano, and harmonicas.  It was fun.
While Sonny was talking in Wal-Mart, Kay was filling the shopping cart.   We had to buy more luggage to bring the goodies home.
We got to see Gentry and Jennifer, too.   They are trying to buy a house.   Sounds like it may be a little serious (?).  Good luck guys......a cute couple.

9/21/06
 We left then for Minneapolis to visit David, Gina, Kalei, Ashley and Kawika in Clearlake, Iowa.   We had a good time with them, although it was pretty quiet.   Kay







David and Gina,
our kids in Iowa

Grandpa riding scooter with Kalei and a friend who wanted to race them.

We all played Mexican train dominoes and Kawika was not happy that he came in second place.  We had a lot of fun together.

We got to celebrate David's 40th birthday.

Here is grandpa and grandma with Kawika (in his Guatemalian outfit) and Kalei and Ashley.

9/26/06
 David and Gina took us back to Minneapolis for our flight out on Tuesday.  A long drive, thanks guys.
We made it back to Guatemala City.   We had purchased a lot of boat parts, but, thankfully, everything made it back, safe and sound.
We sure enjoyed all our our visits and funs, but It sure does feel good to be home.
Now we are back aboard Valentina...................

But.......we cannot sit here all day enjoying the beautiful rainbow and scenery, we have projects to do.    But, there is always.......manaña...