Day 101 – Easter

As I mentioned last week, my in-laws came back into town rather unexpectedly.  The one thing they were insistent upon was spending Easter together as a family.  They called us from Mexico to tell us to keep Easter open – all day – plans were forth coming.

They are staying with some friends of theirs outside of Portland.  These are people they have been friends with most of their adult lives.  My father-in-law met Bob when they were in the Army together, and the two went through language school studying Japanese.  It was during the Vietnam War, and they discovered that learning Japanese would put them in Japan bailing out drunk GIs instead of in a jungle of Vietnam.  Bob and I have always gotten along.  He is a man of few words, but when he speaks them, he is direct and to the point.  He never beats around the bush.  I think I am one of the few people my age who enjoyed those conversations – even when I was 20 when I first met him.  I would spend hours talking to this guy at my in-laws parties.  I should mention that Bob has always driven Garbanzo crazy for these same reasons.

Carol is Bob’s second wife and is an amazing woman.  She worked in the biochemistry field until Bob became an executive in his company, and there were demands for her to be the hostess for out of town guests.  So, she worked as a consultant off and on – and became a self-taught gourmet cook.  Biochemistry – cooking – lots of similarities.  Carol and I have always gotten along well.  She was born and raised in Southwestern Minnesota near where I grew up in Iowa.  We have always had a lot to talk about, and she understood where I was coming from as a Midwest girl and given my profession.  I think, she probably deserves some credit in getting my mother-in-law to understand me a bit more.

They live in a house with an amazing view of the Columbia River and at least 4 mountains on a clear day – Mt St Helens, Mt Adams, Mt Hood, and Mt Rainier.  And, between my mother-in-law and Carol, dinner was amazing as was the wine.  (How you know you’ve grown up amongst your in-laws friends – you pick better wine than they did! Which is a feat given this audience.)

I think we saw more of my mother-in-law than father-in-law.  Something is really going on with my FIL health wise, and we suspect there are some things they are not telling us.  I’m sure we will get the scoop this week.

Everything was great.  Conversation was good.  The girls, Bob and my MIL played ping-pong after dinner.  It was funny seeing how much fun they all had.  The only downside was the fact we got home an hour and a half after the kids’ bedtime.  Tomorrow could be fun.

So, I leave you with a picture of my MIL and the girls.  Where do you think DJ (on the left) gets her smile from?  We have never noticed before the similarities.  Indigo was teasing Bob which is where she was looking.  That duck was singing – and it had become quite the joke.

Hope everyone had a good Easter – and have a good week!

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