Mom and Dad Arrive

So, after surviving the full day of travel from Phx to Newark, delayed further by bad weather here in NJ in the morning, Mom and Dad finally arrived only about an hour behind schedule. We got their bags, loaded them into the car, blasted the heater and headed the hour-plus home to the estate.

Where we opened the door from the garage into the kitchen to discover brown powdery stuff strewn from one end of the kitchen to the other. I should mention that our beautiful Christmas tree is positioned between the kitchen and living room - and when we leave, we gate Carrie into the kitchen, but with access to the tree. Where one of the packages contained a nice tin of hot chocolate mix that Kura had left last weekend - just waiting to be opened on Christmas morning --- or while we were away, whichever occurred first.

So within minutes of arriving home, mom and dad and I were all on our hands and knees scrubbing up the chocolate powder and gunk. Welcome to New Jersey!

As if that wasn't enough, before we came down this morning (and, coincidentally, before we disarmed the burglar alarm) Mom decided to take Carrie out for her morning constitutional - thereby setting off the alarm (which I didn't hear because I was in the bathroom which is a long way from the alarm)... Both parents ended up outside, locked out of the house, with the dog, and with the alarm blaring at full volume. Did I mention that it was only about 12 degrees out? Did I say - Welcome to New Jersey!!

We hope that the rest of mom and dad's stay with us is uneventful. Does anyone want a collie, slightly used???