Saturday, April 4, 2009

Bed and Breakfast--Dickson Style

One of the many blessings of living in So. Cal. is that we get to have visitors frequently when the rest of the country is shivering and freezing. I like to say my nest is seldom empty. Harmon and his brother Dan stayed for a couple of days when their sister, Karen, had two adopted children sealed to her family that already included 5 children and blessed them. Usually we get Harmon this time of the year for a golf trip, but no time for that this time.

Sunny and Steve had a whole Spring Break week with just Gracie and the twins, Charlie and Sam. So they made the drive to Cali and we had a few days with their "little family." I will do a separate post on them in a couple of days. After we left for Utah they stayed in the Disneyland Hotel and took the little guys to Disneyland for a baby version of seeing the Magic Kingdom. With expectations very low, they had a great time! Bailey joined us here at Irvine Park. Gracie is off camera in her stroller.

We expected Adrienne Smart and friends when we got back from Utah, but her plans changed. To make us feel better, Alex Patterson, my sister Barbara's son and his friend Matt came and spent a few days at our house. They went surfing every day and had a great time. We hardly saw them! It was fun to have them here and get to know Alex better. He will have his mission call soon.

Alex, left, and his friend Matt.

Overlapping with Alex, my sister, Marti's daughter, Hillary came for a short weekend with her bff Kelli. They spent most of their time visiting the local shopping sights and a couple of visits to the pier and beach, but it was a little chilly. They also were more "with us" than the boys. Hillary is such a cute, fun person. It was fun to have her and some of her circle of friends who stopped by. We hope they will use the Dickson B & B again.

Hillary is next to me. Her friend Kelli on the far left.

To finish off this month we had the perfect house guests: Lindsey and three of her Tobler sisters. Unfortunately for me, they came while I was in New York visiting Ashley. It worked out great for them, however, because my car could be left parked at the airport for them and available for their whole visit. They shopped, went walking, sightseeing a little, ate at their favorite restaurants, and finished up each evening in our spa. They hardly ate breakfast, though Alan loves to fix our visitors his specialty breakfasts. They took Alan out to dinner one night, kept him from being too lonely while I was gone, and left all the sheets and towels clean and their rooms spotless. I could not even tell I had visitors while I was gone. Since I had the little camera with me, I have no picture for this event. Maybe Lindsey will send me one to include.