HAPPY SUNDAY EVERYONE - VISIT FROM OUR OVERSEAS FAMILY STARTING AT THE AIRPORT - PART 1

 Hello family and friends, my blog break is over. I will be sharing several posts from our recent visit from our dear niece, her partner and his daughter. I thought they were really nice to say they didn't mind me putting their photos on here. I have always been very close to my niece since the first time I met her when she was a wee baby, and when I met her partner and his daughter, they were as nice as could be, with delightful senses of humor. I grew very fond of them over this holiday. We all had a marvelous time and it went all too quickly, but we have great memories and many photos taken during their visit.

It all started at Washington-Dulles International Airport and we arrived early. It has been quite a while since we were there to pick anyone up. As expected, we found the arrival lounge busy, with many people expecting loved ones off countless planes. Fortunately we found a couple of empty chairs.It was such a happy atmosphere. As each planeload of passengers made their way out of the customs area, the excitement was palpable. We watched as several families/friends greeted each other with such joy and excitement. We waited for their plane to land, and a text finally arrived from our niece to say they were in line at customs and that it would take forever. But at long last they came through the doors, and wouldn't you know it, with all the excitement we didn't think of taking a photo. Our arms were too busy hugging each other. But I did remember to take this on our way back home.

I wasn't sure what they would like for their first meal here, and we thought of taking them out to a nice restaurant but as you might guess, they were very tired after their journey. So, we said we would order in, and everyone unanimously voted for pizza. We picked it up on our way home at a local family-run place. Our son went to the same school with the owner's son. You can visit their website here. I get nothing in return for this, but love giving people a good rating when it is well deserved, and we get consistently excellent food. We can purchase a variety of pizzas by the slice, and they also have wonderful salads.

The new table Gregg put together worked out great, and I meant to take a photo of it all set up but forgot. I will do that down the road somewhere. There were napkins but forgot to take those out of the cupboard and no one seemed to mind the kitchen roll. We were all so happy at being together. Knives and forks were set out and that pizza was thoroughly enjoyed.

My niece holding her glass up as we took one last photo before tucking in.

The first request on their bucket list was to see an American shopping mall (I think the ladies might have had something to say about this).We took them to Tyson's Corner the next day. I am still not able to walk around too much but I sat in one of the food courts and found an empty table and enjoyed people watching. Always a fun pastime for me. Husband and son sent me a few photos...and they came back to keep me company. Neither of them are shoppers for places like this, but once our family had the lay of the land, they left them to enjoy the mall. The Easter Bunny looked very tired...

but perked up as soon as this cute little girl visited.

You're not taking my photo are you son?

Oh, okay!

We sat right outside the Panda Express and Charlie's was a few doors up, but I only felt like a coffee son brought back with him. Great coffee from I forget where. Not one of the regular names you see, a new place.

Our dear daughter-in-law finished work and joined us. Then everyone came back and there was a group photo Gregg took.

There's a lot of American pop culture on German television and the youngest member of the group had heard all about Crumbl Cookies. Fortunately one had opened up not too far away from us, so we were able to stop on the way home one day.

A pose for friends back home.

I was told they change the cookies to a different variety weekly, with the exception of the chocolate chip. The cookies are quite big and some are cake-like.

Mine was this one with small easter eggs on top.

It was excellent!

I may be getting timelines confused as strangely I neglected my journal during the time they were here. I couldn’t keep up truth be told. So we did all of the things in my posts. Just maybe not in the order I put down.

That's all for today but more coming.

Thanks for visiting and I hope your day is a great one.

ANOTHER FROM THE ARCHIVES, TYSON'S CORNER SHOPPING MALL

I wonder if these are still there, the two small bird sculptures on the concrete seating area near the ice-skating rink?  It looks like a crow and a dove.  

We were sitting in a chilly courtyard because there was no room in any of the crowded restaurants we tried inside. The place was swamped!  We found a place outside and ate a quick lunch with tall buildings surrounding us, and fortunately pretty blue skies overhead, but they offered no warmth.

The Zamboni was smoothing out the surface of the ice-skating rink next to us.

I froze and it tickled Gregg to come back to our seat and find me like this.  By that time I had found a table a little further up with no heating lamp unfortunately.

There was a burger place outside he had read about, a small shed-like building not much bigger than a kiosk.  It had no seating by design, and no outside seating available.  Every table was taken and I envied them their tall heating lamps over each.  The burgers were good and I told him I would be happy to go back, in the Spring.  It was colder than I thought it would be.  I didn't bring a coat or gloves, as I didn't know we would be sitting outside.  The weather was mild the last time we went out, only a couple of days before.  We didn't stay long (I have since learned to check the temperature before leaving the house).  Just time enough to eat lunch and then go get a hot chocolate inside the mall, to warm up numb fingers and frosty nose, and ears that by that time were tingling.  This was the last day of the year in 2014. 

I still had a good time watching everyone have fun on the skating rink.  I was also glad we got to see the Christmas Tree before it was taken down.

It was a giant of a tree.

Another sky reflection in one of the glass ornaments and you can just make out Gregg and me.

But it was time to go back inside the mall and I was eager to warm up with a nice mug of hot chocolate.

Isn't this overhead light festive?  It reminds me of art deco and covers a very large part of the ceiling located near the escalators.  They must have changed the lights to red and green for the holiday season.

Another one from the archives.  

Thanks for looking and I hope you have been having a great week so far.