Oh my, where did time go?   My apologies for taking so long get at least let people know we are still alive and enjoying  our new home!   And this is what greeted us - a tree FULL of pink grapefruit!   It has been wonderful to have fresh, just picked grapefruit for breakfast almost every morning.

Our move started on Dec. 16th - just hours after the previous owner left.  What we found when we arrived that morning were disheartening to say the least.  But the office staff at the park had one of their employees (who also lives in the park) come over and help remove all of the garbage that had been left behind.   He also took all of the extra medical equipment that was left saying that their church could use them for services and for helping parishioners who were recovering, etc.    The previous owner had also left a large container of small appliances which we were happy to donate to the church kitchen.     Then we started cleaning!  

Eventually we started moving things in, first day just food from refrigerator and freezer, bathroom stuff and some clothes.   We rented a cargo van on the second day of the move from U-Haul and I had thought it would take 2 days to get everything from the Park Model moved into the new house.   WRONG!  By 4:30 that afternoon we had the old place completely cleaned out and I returned the van!   Saved us money and we were well on the way to getting a good start.  

Our bedroom on the left, guest room on the right.

We had also had time to load up from the storage room we had rented nearby - boxes and boxes of food, etc.   And we had a purpose, because that weekend Dave’s brother Bob and his SO were coming to town.  So after getting the Van returned and cleaning out the Park Model, washing down everything, we handed over the keys to the new owners, handed in the decals for the car and we were officially MOVED IN.

Bob & Susan’s plane came in late Sunday afternoon and then they spent HOURS getting to the rental car location and getting the pickup they had reserved.   They used the pickup with their golf clubs, etc.    On Monday, we gave them directions to one of our favorite breakfast places, TC Eggington’s and met them there about 10 am.    After a long breakfast and lots of catching up they followed us to our new home.   And disclosed that the purpose of the truck was to help us compete the move!   So we used the truck to completely empty the storage room and the guest room was FULL of boxes.  They played golf on Tuesday and Thursday with our friend Dan, and on Wednesday we visited the Musical Instrument Museum with them.   This picture was taken outside, it was a nice warm day - just what we expect in December in Arizona.    We had planned to go to the Mesa Marketplace on Christmas Eve, but that morning the skies opened up and a deluge came down.   So we decided that would have to wait until their next trip.

Susan mentioned that they hadn’t had Turkey at Thanksgiving, so I said we would do so for Christmas Eve, since their flight back left at 8:00 am on Christmas morning.   I invited Dan and Tina to join us, and we had a wonderful time with it around 10 pm before the party broke up!    

Next up - January and settling in.