It’s really hard to believe that we’ve already been home for more than 2 weeks. Our flights back from Jacksonville via Dallas and LA were very good – just very long. We stopped down in Auckland on Monday 16th for a short time before heading south to Christchurch.
Our daughter, Dominique and her husband, Daryl were at the airport to meet us, together with our grandson Shaun and our new little granddaughter Jessica. It was wonderful to see them again and to meet Jessica.
Meeting Jessica for the first time
Shaun's 3rd birthday party
We also caught up with our youngest daughter, Shannon (the bride to be) and then a couple of days later, our oldest daughter Leanne arrived with her husband, Shannon and their two little boys Luther and Zeke. You’ll remember Leanne and the two boys as they spent 4 weeks with us in the Bahamas.
Luther
Zeke
As Shannon was getting married on Saturday 21st, the next few days passed in an absolute blur of last minute wedding preparations, Shaun’s 3rd birthday party, the arrival of family and friends from overseas and out of town, the wedding rehearsal and the hen’s night.
A night of pampering & fun at Shannon's Hens' Night
Whew!!!! We were all so busy! But we made it!
Saturday dawned a beautiful, sunny and warm day. It was perfect for the 45 minute horse and carriage ride and the garden ceremony. The wedding all went really well and Shannon and Daniel made a lovely couple.
Shannon & Lance ready for the horse & carriage ride
Shannon & Lance
The bridesmaids - Leanne & Dominique
A very proud moment
Shannon & Daniel
The piper leading the way
Cutting the cake
The Father of the Bride dance
Family photo - Lance, Mary, Shannon, Daniel, Leanne & Dominique
The next day they headed off to the Gold Coast in Australia for their honeymoon and Dominique and Daryl flew off to Raratonga to attend another wedding. So the next few days were spent baby sitting and enjoying more family time.
The last of our overseas visitors left on Sunday and this week Lance and I have begun to make plans for the next few months. We are looking to have a few more weeks off before starting the dreaded four letter word – “Work!”
Since our return we’ve had no time to really even think about our trip to the US and the Bahamas and are looking forward to sorting through all our photos and watching all our videos.
Many thanks to all of you who have followed us on our adventure – it has always been good to know that our family and friends were experiencing our adventure through our blog and were following us every step of the way. Wasn’t our SPOT messenger just fantastic?
But as we all know, all holidays and adventures must come to an end but we can now look forward to settling down again in to our normal lives. And who knows what lies down the track – as the US/Bahamas trip was all Lance’s idea, he says that it’s my turn now to come up with our next adventure. 
Looking back over the last 7 months we can really say that we’ve had an adventure of a lifetime.
We’ve been to some amazing places and have met some wonderful people who are all living their dreams.
So make sure your dreams are big – and don’t be afraid to follow them. — WE DID!
——ooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooo——
For boat folks, you both clean up really well
It was so nice to see you one last time before you departed for home – I’m sure that being back with family has been great. Who knows – maybe you’ll decide to come back to do some more cruising around the US …. Take care – fair winds and following seas – always.
Linda and Steve