MONDAY - Goodbye

I got up at 06:36AM feeling warm and restless. I shaved and practiced the "5 Tibetans". James was already up and playing with an iPad. Sophia already ate breakfast (early risers today!). I fixed my tea and drank it while I visited with Steve. James and John appeared for their Birthday breakfast, while Sophia practiced piano and Marc exercised on Jackie's Elliptical machine. Steve fixed the boys bacon and eggs, which they loved, while the boys toasted their own bread. James kept the butter plate too close to the counter edge and knocked it on the floor. While they were eating their breakfast I joyfully sang for the boys, which surprisingly enough they did not appreciate. They even said that my singing was worse than Jackie's! The Ingratitude!

After breakfast James played piano, while John and Sophia played more NINTENDO. I took my shower after Marc showered, and then we both finished packing. Then we watched James and John open more Birthday gifts: more LEGO toys and 2 back supporters (red for James and blue for John).

Then I brought my suitcases to the front door, and we said our goodbyes. The traffic going to the airport was surprisingly light, and we arrived at the airport in 25 minutes (fast). We got through ticketing and security equally quickly and arrived at our boarding gate with 35 minutes to spare.

The long Journey home

Our plane was late arriving, and we took off about 15 minutes behind schedule. Fortunately, we had a tail wind and arrived in Phoenix on time. Our luggage was a little slow getting to the baggage carousel. Then we missed our shuttle by 30 seconds. Fortunately, another shuttle arrived 5 minutes later. and dropped us off at the parking lot 1st. Sweet! A 1st for me!!!

After retrieving Marc's car, we drove to TCR Photo Imaging Center, where I dropped off my exposed film. Very fast.

Then we hopped on Highway 143 North and merged onto I10 West, where the traffic slowed to a crawl :-( 45 minutes later (normally a 10 minute drive in light traffic) we finally arrived at PAPPADEAUX'S, where we enjoyed a delicious meal. I got a salad, broccolini, and my beloved Crawfish ½ and ½ Dinner. I loved it :-) The rest of our drive home was peaceful and easy. And such was our Christmas trip to Portland for 2014.