Visits From Family

Living so far from family has it's pros and cons.  Pro: We've gotten the chance to be super independent and figure out our own new lives here in South Carolina.   Con: Visits are definitely more complicated and further between.  One such complication is that we live in a one bedroom apartment.  Difficult to be a good host when in such tiny quarters;  But, we hope to house as many of our guests as possible.  So, we bought an air mattress in preparation for all our upcoming visitors.

First, my parents came to visit the last weekend in August.

We didn't do anything too crazy exciting but it was nice to just spend time together and relax.

 We took them to see the downtown area, went for a walk in Falls Park and showed them the waterfall.

 We took them to eat at The Mellow Mushroom- a yummy pizza place we discovered the first couple of weeks we were here.

But mostly we just relaxed at the house.  I made a couple of meals: the stuffed peppers and this meal- Sesame Chicken (with a big help from Sarina and Tanya for the Asian asparagus and gyoza recipes and directions).  

It was a short stay but we had a lot of fun.  We ate at Don Pablos, played some dominoes and skip-bo and walked down to the ice cream place across the street.  Overall it was just nice to catch up and spend some quality time with Mom and Dad.

Thanks for driving all the way to see us! We love you!!

A couple of weeks after their visit, Simon's sister Lea came to see us.  

I felt very special because she took a weekend, out of her long awaited trip to visit friends in Searcy, to stop in and spend some time with us.

Lea arrived friday night and spent all day Saturday with us and headed out early Sunday afternoon.

Saturday we enjoyed a relaxing morning and then went to Frankie's Fun House (yes it is for adults) and played mini golf.  

We all were kind of awful but by the end of it had gotten the hang of it.  

We went to church on Sunday and then Lea left for Searcy to spend 4 weeks with her friends.  

Thanks again Lea for making time for us! It was great to see you and to catch up!! 

We love you!