Family--Just What the Doctor Ordered

Thank you so much, dear friends, for all of your comments on my last post.

I believe they were the most heartfelt and thoughtful comments I've ever received and I have read them over and over, trying to fully absorb all the wisdom in them. 

Last weekend R.H. and I had just what the doctor ordered -- visits from dear family. 

Two of my sisters and their husbands, Floridians themselves, came to spend the weekend with us and with our daughter and son-in-law. 

My sister Deb and her husband were our house guests, along with their darling Carly, a beautiful Havanese.

She and Don and R.H. and I met the rest of the party at Aqua Grill, Christy and Bryan's favorite where-everyone-knows-your-name place.

I wasn't able to capture the water coming down like rain in this large wall inside but it was lovely.

Here's Deb and Don.....

We four had good late night talks before bed.

Sometimes a heart-to-heart talk with a sister does wonders.

Here's my sister Jenn with my brother-in-law Jeff, who were house guests of Christy and Bryan for the weekend......

That's our son-in-law Bryan across the table from them, and these two men--Bryan and Jeff--flew to Nashville when we moved, helped load the trucks and drove them to Florida for us--my knights in shining armor, along with Zack who drove me and Otis and Milo, our dachshunds, in my car. 

I never told you about our convoy, did I? We could not have made it safely here without their help.

Back to the Aqua Grill, Christy was hidden behind Bryan in the above picture so I got her to pose for the camera, which left Bryan in one of those weird poses. (He doesn't read my blog anyway so will never see this!)

Here's a few of our dinner plates....

Boneless short ribs for a few of the men.

Scallops and crab for Deb.

Wild sockeye salmon and orzo for me.

And I guess I have to include a picture of me and R.H. even though I definitely look like I imbibed too much of the champagne that Zack and Courtney had there as a surprise for all of us.

On to Saturday...there were bike rides for some of the men early and the ladies, minus me, did two miles on the beach early.

Then there was a pool party at Christy and Bryan's...

Recognize any of us? I think that's R.H. in the blue one-piece suit.

Christy grilled filets out that evening and a simple but delicious meal was had by all, including Bryan's mother and father, Barbara and Don, who joined us.

They're the couple squeezed in on the patio sofa at Christy and Bryan's, between R.H. and Don, and they are two fascinating people. And Don, Bryan's father, carved the large tenderloin into the filets for Christy to grill. That impressed me as I'd never seen anyone do it.

That's all the pictures I have even though the whole gang gathered at our house the next morning for a waffle, bacon, pork chops, eggs and fruit salad breakfast.

We ladies went shopping afterwards and came home to a clean kitchen, courtesy of R.H.

And then it was time for our weekend to end, our house guests went home, carrying big pots of lavender with them from the Ace Hardware here, which is one cool store.

A generous dose of family--just what the doctor ordered.