Time marches on . . .

just got back from a full week in Northern Illinois where we stayed with the in-laws who are proud residents in Spider Webb's Sunset City -- an immaculate and very symetrical retirement community of ~5800 homes that seem to have about six different styles and four different paint schemes. Their oldest son is also a resident here and lives conveniently close (only about 400 homes away). Since he is roughly my age, I'm still amazed that he meets the minimum qualifying age to be a resident.

During our visit, my BBL had her 50umpth birthday (she qualifies for residency too) which was reason enough to bring the family together. All BBL's siblings (with the exception of sister JoCaliforniAnn) showed up with a nice smattering of nieces & nephews - a testament to the attractiveness of good weather, cake, ice cream and a mystery libation served by sister/hostess JR.

We had forgotten how early the summer sun rises when you're this close to the top of the world. The birds start "going off" about 4:30am (no snooze buttons) and if you're on the East side of the house you can start working on your tan around 5:00am. And if nature doesn't wake you up early, the paramedics visit across the street will.

The weather was, for the most part, delightful. Still, the l0w 70 degree temps were a shock to our system and we came home "wid a duesy of a code." On the way to O'Hare, we filled up the rental car with $4.22 a gallon gas (providing another shock to our system). Now that we are somewhat acclimated, we look forward to our return in August for the Really Really Big Family Reunion that they are having for my birthday!