Charlie Stag Weekend - April 2018

We had planned a weekend for Keith's parents to visit us in mid-April, but the announcement of Charlie's stag weekend was intriguing enough for us to push the parent visit and have Keith hoof it to Oxford for a weekend.

Keith and Charlie at Charlie's Childhood Home

With a short week at work Keith had a lot to wrap up by Thursday afternoon.  The BA flight was at 7:45pm.  Keith had booked 3 hours to get to the airport so he could have a shot at getting an upgrade - sadly a couple of meetings were added to the calendar so he was a bit more "just in time" for the flight, so no upgrade  First world problem.  Keith said goodnight to Shawna as he took off, got about 6 hours of sleep on the 10 hour flight, and landed as Shawna woke up the next morning - though it was 2pm in London.  While Keith was prepared to take the bus to Oxford, Charlie sent Keith a message that he'd be picked up by the groom himself!  So with only a short wait, Keith and Charlie were in the car on the way to Oxford.  On the way to the hotel it was a quick stop at Charlie's childhood house - which his parents had only sold 6 years before.  It's for sale again.  We arrived at the Hotel De Vere Oxford Thames for an evening just the two boys.  The first activity was 45 minutes at the hotel gym followed by a swim in the indoor pool and 10 minutes in the sauna.  After showers the evening began, with stops at the Bear Inn (where Shawna and Keith had been a year earlier), Browns Restaurant for dinner, followed by the Turf Tavern and the Kings Arms after last call at the Turf.

Keith and Charlie at The Bear

Saturday morning we slept in, had breakfast in the hotel, and went for a walk to the Sandford Lock and then along the Thames.  It was then back to the hotel to meet the rest of the crew as they arrived.  Lunch was at the hotel - we had all pre-ordered our courses so it was quite efficient.  After lunch we all changed and drove 30 minutes to XX to do some 4 wheeling.  The first event was ATVs, which because of the rains we were ensured to be covered in mud. The next event was driving a 4 wheel drive blindfolded, with the steering wheel made to go backward (so a left turn made the car go right).  The drive was through different pylons, each crew getting a point for every pylon knocked over.  The final even was Charlie going in a rally car with an instructor driving.  We got back to the hotel at about 6pm, which gave us enough time for a beer outside (the weather was incredible), some people had a swim, then we all met at 7:45pm to leave for the evening.

The Gang at Dinner

The evening's events were all at the Varsity Club.  The 15 of us started with a plated diner, then had a few drinks, and then a few more drinks.  We danced until 4am - which was fine for Keith as he was focused on staying on Phoenix time zone the whole trip.  The night wrapped up with Bamboleo by the Gypsy Kings - Charlie's memory of Keith's bachelor party in South Beach.

A Few Drinks After

Sunday morning we all slept in, had a quick breakfast, and then Keith took a cab to Heathrow for his long flight home!   

Raleigh Weekend - April 2018

Quegrass Festival Raleigh

Keith had to be on the East Coast for property tours so we decided to make a weekend of it to see the NC Gang.  Our flight left after work on the Wednesday, getting in to Raleigh at 12:30am Thursday.  John, gracious as ever, picked us up at the airport and brought us back to the house.  Keith was feeling crappy so it was immediately to bed.

The next day we both worked remotely from John's house: Keith downstairs and Shawna in the bedroom.  It was that setup for the whole day until Keith left to drive to Norfolk at 6pm.  That evening, Shawna, John, and Jo all walked to trivia night at House of Hops and had burgers from the food truck.  Shawna was no help with the trivia!

Suppa Club Ladies

On Friday, Shawna worked from the house, and Keith had his meeting and drove back early...getting back to John's house at 4:30pm.  Keith had a small nap, then we all drove the rental car to the airport for a drop off - then ubered the rest of the way to Julie's wine bar Bottle Rev.  It was great to see her, have some beers, and "order in" Indian from the restaurant next door.  The beers were great, the Indian a bit less than average.

On Saturday, Keith was still feeling rough so he stayed in bed while the rest Ubered to the ALS walk in downtown Raleigh.  We donated $80 and walked 2 miles.  Keith then met the rest at Taverna Agora for some beers, hummus, and greek salads with gyro.  We all walked from there to the 'Cuegrasss Festival' where we met Annie, Adam, and their kids and listened to music for a couple of hours.  After that it was home for a nap before walking over to the community clubhouse for Suppa Club, hosted by Larry and Laura, with Joyce/Phil, Keith/Kate, and Kim.  The theme was Whole30 with every dish made by Larry and Laura (they didn't quite get the fact that they are supposed to assign dishes). We had chicken and noodles with shrimp with a salad.  It was great to see everyone and we stayed out past midnight much to Keith's pride.

Suppa Club Guys

Sunday morning came with Shawna now feeling poorly - likely Keith's fault!  So we took it very easy! We slept in, drove out for lunch at Relish, relaxed the afternoon in the house, and were dropped at the airport at 5pm so we could head our separate ways: Shawna home to Phoenix and Keith up to Providence for a week of property tours.

Mom (Honny) Visit - April 2018

 

Lon's at Hermosa Inn for Dinner

Shawna's mom (Honny) finally decided to come visit us for a long weekend.  She had been hesitant for a while as she was concerned about her blood pressure.  She arrived on Thursday afternoon with no issues - Shawna met her at the airport and they went to the house to do the tour and get settled.  That evening, Shawna cooked lemon chicken with cauliflower.  Keith had been out of town so he arrived later that evening as well.  Since Honny had been up quite early that day to get to the airport, we all went to bed rather early.

On Friday, we had a leisurely breakfast outside on the patio and then ran a few errands in the morning.  We then had lunch at home and went shopping in the afternoon at Talbots where Honny bought several items, including a few things for Shawna.  That evening, we met Keith at Lon's at The Hermosa Inn where we sat outside for dinner.  It was a beautiful evening and Honny was ecstatic to see all of the flowers!  For dinner, we shared a salad and seared tuna for appetizer and duck breast for an entree.  Dinner was delicious!

Lon's at Hermosa Inn

On Saturday, we had breakfast again outside and then spent most of the day doing a home garden tour  that was arranged by Phoenix Home and Garden magazine. We went to four different houses and saw a variety of styles of homes and landscaping.  During the tour, we were only allowed in the gardens.  The first house (up near Carefree) was our favorite as it had mostly cactus/succulent landscaping - it was beautiful!  The other homes had more traditional landscaping.  In between visiting the houses, we stopped at La Grande Orange for lunch where we had salads and were finally able to use some of the gift card that Graham had sent to us two years ago!  We returned home to relax a bit before heading out that evening for dinner at Sassi (which sadly is closing in the Summer).  We shared the prosciutto and squash blossoms for an appetizer and the veal for an entree.  Unfortunately, Honny was not feeling well so we took our entrees home and ate them there.  Before bed, we watched a Disney documentary on pandas, monkeys and snow leopards in China.

Lon's at Hermosa Inn for Dinner

On Sunday, we had breakfast again outside (yes, this was a tradition of the weekend) and then went to the Musical Instrument Museum.  We were amazed at how many displays they had from every country - it took us about 3 hours and even then we rushed through several of the displays.  It was very interesting but as Keith said, it was also "too much".  We had a late lunch back at home and then relaxed that afternoon.  For dinner, Shawna made a Moroccan stew with meatballs, chickpeas and spinach served over cous cous and then we watched The Second Best Marigold Hotel - we had both seen it but Honny had not yet seen it (she had seen the first one). 

Musical Instrument Museum

On Monday, we had breakfast outside and then went to Dillards to pick up a few things for Honny and to one of the nurseries to see if we could buy a replacement ocotillo.  The nursery was very large and catered more to landscapers - the ocotillos did not look any better than the one we had so Shawna decided not to get anything.  We stopped at Whole Foods to show Honny what a real gourmet grocery store is like (her options in LA are very limited) and then returned home to have lunch.  After lunch, we ventured out again to an upholstery place to try to get estimates to re-upholster our living room furniture and to pick out some fabric samples.  However, they were just about to close so she asked that we send in pictures to get the estimate.  We returned home and did a little gardening (or rather Honny did the gardening while Shawna watched) and then Shawna cooked a fish curry for dinner. 

Home Garden Tour

On Tuesday morning, we got up early and Shawna drove her mom to the airport.  After seeing her off safely, she returned home to get back to the grind stone!  We had a great time and are already planning on her return visit next Spring!

Stephanie Visit - March 2018

 

Old Town Scottsdale

We were excited to have Stephanie fly in from North Carolina for a weekend.  She arrived on the Wednesday night.  Keith was in Vegas for work so Shawna picked her up at the airport.  Steph stayed one night and then borrowed the 4Runner to visit Leah in Tucson for a couple of days.  She arrived back at Chez Dodds on Saturday day so we could start the weekend. 

Lost Dog Wash Hike

Steph got to the house at about 10:30 or so on Saturday.  We chatted a bit, then Shawna made a salad with shrimp for lunch which we ate with a bottle of wine on the patio - it was a beautiful day.  That afternoon we drove to the Royal Palms for an afternoon treat.  First stop was a dip in their pool with a glass of wine, followed by massages for all three of us.  Very relaxing afternoon!  Dinner that evening was at Citizen Public House, where we shared burrata, bacon jam and smoked salmon salad for appetizers and then shared the short ribs for an entree.  It was early to bed after all that wine!

Dinner at Citizen Public House

On Sunday, we relaxed at home with coffee and Shawna's breakfast of chorizo and egg tostadas.  It was then off to do a 3 mile hike at Lost Dog Wash - pretty but just undulating.  We came back to the house for a shower and an amazing lunch of cheese and wine on the patio - quite elegant!  The afternoon event was Top Golf which Steph had not done before.  We got in a couple of rounds.  The original plan was to go out for dinner but we were all total stuffed, so we bagged the dinner, ordered in PF Changs, and rented Justice League on apple TV!

Keith had to be at the airport early Monday am to fly to NorCal, so Shawna was able to drop her off Monday between calls.  It was super to see Steph!