Well, we experienced another first. Although we lived in the US for seventeen years, we never participated in Black Friday, preferring to stick needles in our eyes instead. That, however, all changed yesterday, when Keenan announced that we were all going shopping. Needless to say, all Elaine's protests fell on deaf ears. Getting all of us into the car with a stroller and room to spare for any purchase was definitely a challenge. Once we arrived at San Tan Mall and everyone scattered in different directions to make their purchase, Elaine found a spot in Starbucks and looked after all the children instead. Far more enjoyable.

Once that was done, it was a mad dash home to get packed and then ready for our night out with our friends, Lisa and Joe and what a treat it was; dinner at the Orange Sky restaurant, with a sunset view, overlooking Camelback Mountain. It turned into a very long night with all the catching up that we had to do, but with great food, wine and company, the hours simply slipped by. A great big THANK YOU to them for spoiling us at this fabulous venue.

This morning we were up bright and early to collect our hired car and commence the first stage of our long journey back to Australia and Paw Paw, but not before a very difficult and tearful goodbye to all our sweethearts. Since we had to move our international flight earlier by a day due to the loads and all the internal flights were full, there's nothing like a road trip to Los Angeles in bumper to bumper traffic. Fortunately we've got just under 100 miles still to go with plenty of time to spare before our flight tonight.

Thank you to Keenan, Brooke and the grandchildren for a fabulous three weeks. We're looking forward to March already!