I think I told you in a blog that my mom and dad came over to visit me and Lucy in September. We had the best time! My dad was confused on the language and was speaking half Spanish half Italian and a smidge of French. When they arrived in Paris they rented a car and it took them 3 hours plus to just get out of Paris center. Needless to say by the time they arrived in Loches the first stop we made was to the pub. The days they were here were great. We spent time at the castle, at the park, walking through town, going to restaurants, and taking lots of pictures. They then went to the Dordogne Valley by themselves for about five days to explore another region of France. Upon their return, we had a few more days in Loches and then we drove in to Paris. Everywhere we went we got lost, but it didn't seem to matter because we were with family. Somehow you know that if you are with family, everything will be o.k. I want to thank my parents for making the effort to come so far to see us. I know that they had a nice trip, but traveling abroad can be hard, and so I thank them so much for giving Lucy and I some wonderful company. The time that Lucy spent with her grandparents, are memories that will last forever.

My cousin Cynthia is one of my dearest and closest friends. We grew up miles away in the states, she in Seattle, and me in Denver, but our parents allowed us to share summers together. In fact is was on this trip that Cynthia's mom Joy said to us over dinner, "Do you two remember how awful you were to me on that trip back east?" Cynthia remembered, however I didn't even remember that we had gone back east together! Well she said "you were about 13 and everything I said you two rolled your eyes at me until I had finally had enough and I yelled so loud at you two!" And I of course on the spot at age 44 felt so terrible and apologized profusely for being such a little brat. But you see it's all of these family members that make you who you are today. We were all together recently in Croatia, Cynthia and her family, and her mom Joy and her husband Bob. We had the most wonderful dinner and we talked about our grandmother and what an impact she had on our lives. Our grandmother was a teacher and all of the cousins spent the summers together at her house in New Jersey. She taught all of us to read, she taught all of us to swim, and she tried to teach all of us to knit. Some of us are better than others at knitting. Most of all she taught us to be kind. We have a cousin with a mental handicap and Brynn was just like every other cousin. We learned to treat everyone as equal. My grandmother wanted to continue teaching past the allowed age in New Jersey which was either 65 or 70 and they wouldn't let her. She sued the state. So I think she also taught us a lot about being strong women, and not giving up on something you really want.

We will be spending a week over Halloween at Cynthia's house in London. Lucy and her cousin Grace are already fast friends and talking, just like Cynthia and I used to, about spending time in the summers together.

The photo I attached is the summer of 1976 when we drove our camper from Colorado to Washington with our little dog Sunshine. I'm the tomboy in the front in the green shirt and Cynthia is the cute one in pink holding the dog.