Farewell to Lori

Lori tried Vegemite toast - Good on ya Lor!

This morning we got up at 5 am to take Lori to the airport. It was a small miracle I didn't fall asleep in the car driving b/c I was exhausted from Olivia keeping me up all night. She's coming down with something. Anyway, we got Lori to the airport safely and sent her off. There was minimal crying, so that was good. I guess it helps to know that I will see her in just two months.



(Jacqui, Mum, Monica and Ashley)

Yesterday we had a goodbye luncheon for her at the Burleigh Surf Club. It was a fun opportunity to get all of the family members together, since that doesn't happen too often. It was me, Lori, Mum, Monica (Mum's sister), Jacqui (Mum's late cousin's wife), Elise (Monica's daughter), Caroline and Chelsea (Monica's daughters in law), Katherine (my sister in law) and Candi (Elise's mother in law from America). Olivia, Courtney and Fyn were there too. It was a cold day so there was no one on the beach and we were a bit chilly sitting on the deck but it was very enjoyable.







Katherine surprised Lori with a bag full of Australian goodies like Cadbury chocolates, a map of Queensland beach towel, an Aussie flag beach ball, Aussie flag tattoos and pens, etc. The funniest thing was the Pavlova egg. I guess it's a mix to make Pavlova, which is a light dessert made of egg whites kind of like a meringue. Lori will have to let us know how that turns out.



After the lunch Lori and I took off b/c Chelsea had offered to babysit the girls so we could go do something fun. We had pedicures at the Spring Day Spa. I surprised Lori as a birthday present since we hadn't gotten to do anything exciting on Friday. I had no idea but Lori had never had a pedicure before. She said she was a "Pedi Virgin". That made it all the more enjoyable. I just love pedicures. I almost wished it was summer and my feet were really thrashed to make it more worth it, but it's still nice sitting in a massaging chair getting a scrub and foot massage, paint, etc. I didn't want to leave the chair!



We had dinner at Don and Elise's that night (which is just 4 houses up the street), along with most of the people mentioned from the lunch but in addition to their spouses. It was a great Mexican feast made by Don's mother visiting from the States. You hardly see ANY Mexican food here, so it was quite a treat. It is actually one of the things Lori says she really missed while here. Candi made taco soup, Mexican lasagne, tacos, salsa, etc. We came back home and Lori packed (quite expertly, I must say) and ended up with extra room! Tell me, how does that happen? I NEVER end up with more room than I came with. She even left one of her small suitcases here for me to bring back. So weird. That like defies all laws of travel. Can't wrap my head around that one (Lori, that was for you).



It's now 10pm and I am going to pass out b/c my nap plan today didn't go as planned so I am exhausted. Sigh. Anyway, I am going to miss Lori so much but at least we had a nice, long visit and got to do TONS of fun things. She is such a cute person and I just love talking with her and hanging out. The good news is that Jared gets back tomorrow and won't travel for like 6 weeks. WOW, what will I do with him? It'll be weird having a husband around all the time. I hope this doesn't mean I have to cook every night...