Family Visits

How time flies -- I can hardly believe that the year is half over already. On one hand that is very exciting -- in another 6 months I'll be spending lengthy time at home with my family for the holidays; on the other hand, where has time gone? Just yesterday I was flying home in January, celebrating good times with friends, and shoveling snow during winter. Now summer is here (including the humidity, although it hasn't been too bad yet), and the months just seem to be flying by too quickly.

June as yet again been very busy. My Aunt and Uncle arrived on Wednesday the 13th, and after sitting on the tarmac for an hour and waiting for luggage for 30 minutes, we made it home (late) and I fed them some dinner. I gave them a quick tour of my house since they were resting on Thursday while I went to work, and then we headed to bed. Thursday morning, I went to leave for work, but couldn't find my car keys ANYWHERE. I scoured each level of my house 2 times before decided that i had to wake up my relatives, because my keys must have gotten in their luggage somehow (or ended up in the guest bedroom). Groggily, they willingly joined in the search, and after about 30 minutes when my Aunt and I were coming downstairs, my Aunt fell. Luckily, she was okay, but was in a pain and ended up with a big bruise. I got her ice to put on it, and went downstairs to do some more searching. Eventually, my Uncle, the sleuth, found the keys! They had somehow fallen behind a couch cushion the night before when we had gotten home late -- I recall leaning over to turn the lamp on in my living room, so that is when it must have happened. We were exhausted from searching for an hour at that point, so we talked for a while and then I headed to work. That evening we went to dinner, and I drive them out to Leesburg to see a bit of the countryside, then my Aunt treated me to a facial and a foot soak/massage -- what a treat! Friday, I dropped them off to go into D.C. and I went to work. That evening, my parents arrived (on-time and a 5 min. wait for luggage thanks goodness), went back to my house, swapped luggage, went out to great Thai food, then dropped off my Aunt and Uncle at their hotel.

Saturday, my parents and I slept in and as a gift for them for Mother's and Father's Days, I took them to Riverdance, at Wolf Trap. My friend Anna also went. It was a blast! The dancing and music was magnificent -- Irish dancing (of course!), Russian dancers, and even a flamenco dancer! The weather was perfect, and we had excellent seats. After the show, we went to an early dinner and then did a bit of shopping before heading home for the day.

Sunday, my parents and I picked up my Aunt and Uncle (they did sightseeing in D.C. on Saturday), and went to church. It was Father's Day, and I made a nice lunch for my relatives after church, which included a beehive cake in honor of the two Saxelbee father's! We had a nice afternoon visiting, and later on we drive into D.C. to see the National Cathedral, the White House, and a couple of other sites before dropping my Aunt and Uncle back off at their hotel.

Monday, I went to work, but my parents took my car and went to the Battlefields at Manassas, then to the Air and Space Museum that is close to my house. By the time they were done with those two activities, I was done with work, so we went to dinner, then I showed them around my new workplace (so exciting, I know, but my parents wanted to see it!)

I took Tuesday and Wednesday off of work to spend with my parents. Tuesday we stayed home until the afternoon (it was HOT that day). I wanted to check out a big Talbots outlet store, so we did that then went to Macy's so my mom could buy some new make-up. My father endured, although I bet he was wishing he had brought a book! Tuesday night we walked some of the memorials downtown -- my parents wanted to see them at night, since they never had. They have been here several times, but I guess we never managed to do that!

Wednesday we toured an old plantation about 30 minutes from where I live, about 5 miles south of Leesburg, enjoyed a nice dinner outside, and I know we did something else but I honestly can't remember for some reason! That is why I am supposed to blog sooner, but I have just had tons going on!

Thursday morning I took my parents to the airport, where they met my Aunt and Uncle and all flew to Boston. I worked Thursday, then came home and packed, as I was flying to Boston Friday afternoon to meet them.

Friday, I worked 1/2 day, then flew to Boston. I got in on time, picked up the rental car, but navigating through the tunnels of Boston is CRAZY, so I got a bit lost and had to turn around. It took me about an hour to finally get to the hotel, where I picked up my family and we all went to the North-end for a nice Italian dinner.

Saturday, I drove my family to Plymouth, where we saw the Plimouth Rock from when the pilgrims landed in 1620, and took a tour of the Mayflower II (a replica of the Mayflower). It was fascinating, and much like touring Jamestown. We had some yummy seafood on the water, then went to tour the Plimouth plantation, which depicted life when the pilgrims settled, and also the life that the indians lived. Then we drove to Cape Cod, and took a harbor cruise of Hyannis Harbor. We saw the houses the Kennedy's lived in, and other rich people, whose names for the most part I don't recall, although I do recall that one of the houses is Maria Shrivers, and another is the house of a local guy who owns CHRISTY markets (we spotted one after the cruise). After Hyannis, and feeding the ducks with the oyster crackers we held onto from lunch, we drove all the way out to the end of the cape, and visited Provincetown. My Aunt and Uncle and parents really enjoyed walking on the beach (my mom hadn't walked on beach sand in years!) We also walked to two lighthouses, before heading back. On the way back, we stopped for a seafood dinner, and I had my first lobster. It was very good, it was stuffed with a breadcrumb-type stuffing. Then we drive back to Boston - got in pretty late - at 11:30pm, and were all exhausted!

Sunday, we slept in and then spent the afternoon with my second cousin once removed and his wife - John and Allison Saxelby. The connection is that John's grandfather, and my dad's(and Uncles) grandfather, are brothers. They live about 30 minutes north of Boston, and unexpectedly, a few months ago I found out that John works for the same part of Northrop Grumman that I do. What a small world! His company had actually just been acquired by Northrop Grumman in February when I came across his name in out global address book. It was a beautiful day - their backyard has the Merrimack River running through it! My grandfather's cousin, Joyce, and her husband, showed up that afternoon as well. They live in New York, and I guess when they heard Saxelby's were coming, they drive 2 hours to meet us! How nice is that? In the early evening, we left, as I had to get back to the airport to fly home.

I won't go into all the detail because it is quite the story, but my parents, on their way to CA from boston Tuesday, due to inclement weather, got stuck in Dallas for two days without any luggage, had to camp out at a local hotel, get prescriptions called in to the local Pharmacy, and live without any of their stuff (the airlines would not release their luggage!!!) Thursday evening, their flight out of Dallas left 3 hours late, causing them to miss their connection in LA by 20 minutes, and so my parents had to sleep at the LAX airport overnight. They actually managed to get a little sleep, and finally made it home - safe - yesterday late morning - 3 whole days after they originally got to the Boston Logan airport to get home. It's SO crazy....my mom plans on writing American about the situation.

I worked all week and cleaned up from having company, and now am finishing up because my best friend arrives in 5 hours from California!! We have an exciting week planned, which I'll write about later since this blog is long enough already!!!