It's blistering hot out today which is awesome because we are home and the water in the pool is the perfect temperature, cool but not cold. I had my first outdoor shower of the summer! Hurrah! It maybe wasn't so great for Carm as he started to tackle mowing the long grass… he got the front done, muscling the hand mower for over one and a half hours.
The last few days of the rally have melded into one reel of scattered memories. Tuesday night we joined everyone at a Bavarian restaurant for schnitzel and borscht - both were delicious. I think I skipped the campfire that night - I was mentally done!
Wednesday morning we did the normal coffee gathering and from there I joined Candi, Fran, and Hazel for a little shopping trip to the outlet stores. It was a lot of fun! It was great having a few extra eyes to give feedback - Carm always says everything looks great - which I know is not true - so it's not the most helpful. These ladies gave awesome feedback!
I tend to not join in to group activies… I'm not sure why, maybe slight shyness or awkwardness. Maybe slightly low self-esteem and the fear that I won't fit in. You'd think that with a childhood of moving schools every 2 years that I'd be good at developing friendships but I never learned that skill. I remember many times as a child standing at the edge of groups but being too anxious to join in. It's strange because in general I'm fairly self confident (or at least I think I am). I stepped outside my comfort zone more this trip and I'm so glad that I did. I got to know a few more people better which left me feeling that I'd missed out on knowing them all these years! It's a lesson to be learned!
I even joined the ‘games’ afternoon and had a blast! John had organized 5 games: bocci, corn hole (such a strange name!), ladder ball, ping pong into cups, and finally kicking a soccer ball through a maze. It was lots of fun even without alcohol and even though I was pathetic!
The crazy thing is, everyone is lovely and so inclusive!
Finally at the end of the day Wednesday, everyone piled into trucks for the farewell dinner at the Mandarin restaurant. It was a huge ‘Chinese’ food buffet - of course they had the regular stuff like chicken balls and fried rice (hard pass on both), but there were tons of stir fry type dishes, a decent General Tao chicken, and a myriad of shrimp dishes. There was also freshly carved roast beef. Oh, and a bit of sushi. I went up THREE times! We sat with Mark & Marilyn, and Terry & Hazel. We know Mark & Marilyn quite well but this was the first year that we'd spent much time with Terry & Hazel - they are so much fun!
Thursday we got up early and after a walk and a coffee started packing up. After our good-byes we were on the road towards Kirsten's at about 10:20, arriving there around 11:30. Carm backed the trailer into the driveway like a pro and then drove straight into our ‘spot’ hitting the exact place that puts us level! Even the satellite dish was easy. It's great to be there - it feels like home and I LOVE our coffee mornings with Kirsten! Mom, Dad, and Aunty Kristine arrived a few hours later for a visit, and then at dinner time we got together with Kirsten, Shawn, and Nissa for pizza before retiring for an early night.
Both Shawn and Carm picked up a tick somewhere on the laneway 😞 Freaked out a bit by that!
Now that we are home, it's time to get back on track with eating! We ate like crazy, and nothing particularly healthy - there was barely a vegetable to be seen!
Awesome!
“shopping with the girls”
“getting to Kirsten & Shawn's”
“seeing Aunt Kristine”
“a great slice of pizza”
“getting home”
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