The Kids Are Alright, In Fact, Better Than Alright

The main reason Paulette and I decided to come down to Palm Springs in early November and stay for 5 months was that three of our daughters promised to come down for a week at Christmas.  Even though they all claimed poverty, Carrie, Maggie and Hayley all managed to get down here to Palm Springs for a week as promised and we were very happy about that.

Carrie and a co-worker attending a conference in Montreal, Quebec last week

Naturally, we were quite worried about how much it had cost and hoped it didn’t leave them too strapped for any summer vacations they might want to take.  Boy, were we ever living in la-la land.  As you might remember, I mentioned our youngest daughter Hayley just returned from a week’s vacation in Cuba.  Carrie just got back from Montreal after spending a few days there at a work convention.  Now, as I write this, Maggie is in Cancun, Mexico for a week at a 5 star all-inclusive resort.

This is the Cancun resort where Maggie is staying with friends

Not to be outdone, Jessica, our 20 year old granddaughter is also on the move only to a much less exotic location than Cancun or Cuba.  Jessica called us a few weeks ago to tell us she was moving, temporarily, to a place called High Level, Alberta which is only 3 hours from the Northwest Territories!

What?  We couldn’t believe it at first but after hearing Jessica’s story we’re 100% behind her decision.  First, she’ll be living with her Aunt and Uncle in High Level – so that was a relief. 

High Level, Alberta is smack in the middle of ‘no-whereville’

Her Uncle works in the oil fields in northern Alberta and he heard a local hotel was looking for front desk help.  Jessica is in her 3rd year of college and is studying Hotel Management so when she heard about this opportunity and the chance to make some ‘good money’ she jumped at it.

Seems like yesterday when Jess was tooling around our backyard on the John Deere

Jessica isn’t planning on staying in High Level, Alberta forever.  She is taking a few semesters off from her studies to earn some much needed money and then plans to return to school in the Fall.  She also told us she is planning a new ‘career choice’ when she goes back to school next September.  Luckily for us, Jessica is very computer literate has an iPhone 4S, Facebook and Google+ accounts and is a lightning fast ‘texter’, so we’ll be able to keep in touch.

The golf course felt like being out in the dry, hot, dusty desert!

Meanwhile, back at the Sands, we had a blistering hot day with temperatures reaching up into the 90’s.  We’re not complaining even though I had to turn the A/C on at 11am to get the rig cooled down a bit.  Even though it gets quite hot here, we seldom ever have to use our A/C as it cools down to around 55F at night.  Even with the heat, I did manage to get out on the course for a game of golf yesterday.  There was a very slight breeze which I’m sure is all that kept me from collapsing in a heap around the 7th hole!

Have a great Friday, and thanks again for visiting!