#001 Winkles Update: Northward Bound
Welcome to the very first Winkles Update. If you are reading this, chances are you are not a stranger to my writing. If you are, you have missed reading http://thailandupdate.blogspot.com. Shame on you. Stop right now and take the next few days to catch up.
If you are all caught up, let me bring you up to speed on where the Winkles Family is now. Our plane touched down in Phoenix at 2:30pm after a multi-hour flight home from Bangkok, Thailand. Our friend Dave Otten was there at the airport to help us collect our ten checked bags, and twenty-two carry on items, and transport them to our house. Dave has a full size F-250 pickup with an extended cab, and I think we just about maxed out the load with all our luggage.
Surprise: It’s Christmas
One thing about arriving just before Christmas is that you do not have time to get things setup for Christmas. Arriving on the 19th only gives us five days to get our house decorated, tree setup, and everything organized so our kids can have a Christmas morning. Rather than fight trying to get all this done in the middle of unpacking, returning to work, and jetlag, we decided to “punt” and have Christmas at my brother’s house.
We arrive at our home and discover that our house has decided to celebrate Christmas whether we were there or not. We drive up to find Christmas lights hung on the house and our bushes. Inside the house, we find our Christmas tree up and decorated, our house clean and tidy, and everything ready for us to start living in it.
What an amazing house!
Even more amazing is the friends we have here in Arizona. It seems a couple of our neighbors teamed up and spent about FIVE HOURS giving our house a royal cleaning. Many, many thanks to Annette and Nadia for doing that for us.
We also discovered that many of our friends decided to have party at our house. Luckily for us, it wasn’t a “normal” party. It was a party with a Christmas theme. The Robinson’s and the Otten’s came over for a decorating party. When they were done, we were all setup for Christmas.
Like I said, our friends are pretty amazing.
My sister came by later that evening with dinner cooked. The bad news is that while she was on her way, Dave and I went out to pick up our dog from my friend Todd’s house. Can you believe he and his family watched Kayly the entire time we were in Thailand? Yep, pretty amazing.
Even with the jetlag, we all managed to stay awake until about 11pm. We crashed relatively hard, and managed to get ourselves turned around well enough for me to return to work on Monday.
Many Thanks
One thing I did learn about writing is that people enjoy it when they like your style. I received many compliments at work when I got back into the office. I know I’ve said it before, but it still amazes me to see how much people have enjoyed the stories. And, as I’ve said before, it gives me more reason to continue. Thanks to everyone for continue to give me such great encouragement. You will see that encouragement paid back here.
Northward Bound
Right now, I am writing to you from the home of my brother Frank. We are in Hillsboro, Oregon right now. We left Arizona two days after arriving from Thailand, and we drove straight through to my brother’s house.
Yes, we are crazy. Thanks for asking.
We had a couple of bumps along the away (flat tire in LA), but otherwise it was a good trip. I would write more about it, but I am at my brother’s house now, and I want to spend time with him and his family while I have the time to do so. Hopefully, you will hear about our adventure here when we get back on the road and head home.
Until next time...
If you are all caught up, let me bring you up to speed on where the Winkles Family is now. Our plane touched down in Phoenix at 2:30pm after a multi-hour flight home from Bangkok, Thailand. Our friend Dave Otten was there at the airport to help us collect our ten checked bags, and twenty-two carry on items, and transport them to our house. Dave has a full size F-250 pickup with an extended cab, and I think we just about maxed out the load with all our luggage.
Surprise: It’s Christmas
One thing about arriving just before Christmas is that you do not have time to get things setup for Christmas. Arriving on the 19th only gives us five days to get our house decorated, tree setup, and everything organized so our kids can have a Christmas morning. Rather than fight trying to get all this done in the middle of unpacking, returning to work, and jetlag, we decided to “punt” and have Christmas at my brother’s house.
We arrive at our home and discover that our house has decided to celebrate Christmas whether we were there or not. We drive up to find Christmas lights hung on the house and our bushes. Inside the house, we find our Christmas tree up and decorated, our house clean and tidy, and everything ready for us to start living in it.
What an amazing house!
Even more amazing is the friends we have here in Arizona. It seems a couple of our neighbors teamed up and spent about FIVE HOURS giving our house a royal cleaning. Many, many thanks to Annette and Nadia for doing that for us.
We also discovered that many of our friends decided to have party at our house. Luckily for us, it wasn’t a “normal” party. It was a party with a Christmas theme. The Robinson’s and the Otten’s came over for a decorating party. When they were done, we were all setup for Christmas.
Like I said, our friends are pretty amazing.
My sister came by later that evening with dinner cooked. The bad news is that while she was on her way, Dave and I went out to pick up our dog from my friend Todd’s house. Can you believe he and his family watched Kayly the entire time we were in Thailand? Yep, pretty amazing.
Even with the jetlag, we all managed to stay awake until about 11pm. We crashed relatively hard, and managed to get ourselves turned around well enough for me to return to work on Monday.
Many Thanks
One thing I did learn about writing is that people enjoy it when they like your style. I received many compliments at work when I got back into the office. I know I’ve said it before, but it still amazes me to see how much people have enjoyed the stories. And, as I’ve said before, it gives me more reason to continue. Thanks to everyone for continue to give me such great encouragement. You will see that encouragement paid back here.
Northward Bound
Right now, I am writing to you from the home of my brother Frank. We are in Hillsboro, Oregon right now. We left Arizona two days after arriving from Thailand, and we drove straight through to my brother’s house.
Yes, we are crazy. Thanks for asking.
We had a couple of bumps along the away (flat tire in LA), but otherwise it was a good trip. I would write more about it, but I am at my brother’s house now, and I want to spend time with him and his family while I have the time to do so. Hopefully, you will hear about our adventure here when we get back on the road and head home.
Until next time...
posted by Roger Winkles | 11:44 AM
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