Triple Blog......
I've got a lot to blog about so this will be 3 different subjects.
I want to start out by letting everyone know who reads this blog, including family members that this was intended to let everyone know what we were up to and how we were doing. Since we are so lucky to have such great friends and family who care about us, I thought that rather than repeat ourselves multiple times when something was happening in our lives, I'd put it here and the intention was not to make it "public" but only let friends and family know where the blog site was and if they wanted to keep up with what we were up to, they could. These are people that we most likely would have told all of these things to anyway. We did not intend to leave anyone out of what was happening in our lives. With that being said, Danny and I have been through a lot this past 6 weeks. I don't think some of you can imagine the feeling of going from a nice home and great job to where we are today. This has been extremely difficult and we have not had a full nights sleep since. We are stressed every day and on top of looking for jobs, we are trying to deal with other important family issues that require immediate attention. Needless to say, we don't need anymore stresses. If you feel like you are left out of the loop then you've missed the point of this blog. I'm not talking about most of you because 99% of you have been so awesome over these past weeks that we don't know what we would have done without you. We have learned some very important life lessons about family and friends. You can probably guess by now that this particular blog is intended to send a message to certain people....well, you're right. It is. Danny and I do believe that our lives are more important right now. That might not sound okay to some people but we've spent most of our lives being generous and active in other people's lives. This is a time for us to worry about ourselves. We are excited about being back in Maine and closer to everyone. We will miss the friends we made but hopefully they'll come to visit us and we'll visit them and plan vacations together in the future. We've learned a lot about people, both good and sometimes not so good. Our circle has become much smaller over these past weeks. Remember, you can comment at the end of every blog if you've got a question or if you'd rather things be less "public" I've got an email address: cheryl_engelhardt@hotmail.com

GREAT NEWS!!!
We ARE staying in Maine! Danny has been offered a position at Idexx! We are so happy today and a lot of stress has been lifted off our shoulders. It's a solid job and will be very interesting and rewarding for him. Now I've got to land a job and we'll be off to house hunting again :-( This time will be much better though because we're finally home. It's been a long road but we've met a lot of fantastic people and have seen a lot of places that we might otherwise not have.

Mall of America.....(Deidre is lucky that I can't get any pictures loaded tonight!)Deidre and I went to the Mall of America this past weekend. We had a really great time. The place is certainly something to see. It has an amusement park in the center of it and the stores are endless. Neither of us spent much money. We were happy just going through all of the different stores and hanging out together. No matter how much time goes by, Deidre and I can not see each other for a year and meet up somewhere and it seems like we've never been apart. We just pick up where we left off. We like the same things (except shoes!) and there is never a time when we don't agree on what to do or where to go. She is an awesome person who has been my friend for many many years. She has been very supportive these past weeks and I couldn't have gotten through this without her! She has been my sounding board and my voice of reason. I'm so happy that we'll be able to spend more time together.

Good Times and Good People.....
We had some good times this past weekend. On Saturday night, we went to have dinner at Deidre and Dave's house. It was great to see them and re-hash old times. We've been friends with them longer than any of our other friends and we always have a great time, no matter what we end up doing. We always seem to entertain ourselves. Boy, do we have some interesting and funny stories! As you can see by the picture, Dave continues to be the target of all jokes in our friendship. I'm sure that will change some day but for now, it's fun! We love you Dave!


We've missed hanging out with them a lot but will hopefully be doing a lot more with them now that we are back home in Maine. Deidre and I are off to the Mall of America on Thursday. I'm excited to go and hang out with her and just take a breather from all the chaos!

Sunday At The Beach....


We went to Pine Point with Dan and Tiff. We took the dogs. I wasn't crazy about taking the dogs with us because there are usually people who take their dogs to the beach but leave them unleashed which ends up with my dogs being chased around. Well, this time things turned out great. It was a beautiful day and after we got by the crowd of people at the beginning of the entrance, it was fairly quiet and we were able to relax and enjoy the walk. The dogs loved the walk and got caught by a few waves so ended up being all wet and sandy by the time I got them back to the car. I think we probably only walked about a mile and a half but it made me want to go back and do it again. I'm hoping to sneak back down there before the weather starts getting colder.

These people........... are our neighbors from Rochester, NY. I wanted to wait to write a blog about them because every time I'd get ready to do it, they were doing another favor for us or we were doing something together that I wanted to write about. The picture above was taken on the day that Dan and I moved out of our house. It was a sad day for me and not just because we were moving out of a house that I loved but Bill (or Willy as we call him) and Sharon (The SWINGERS as my kids call them!)are two of the most awesome people anyone could have for friends. They are always willing to help out and go above and beyond whenever they are needed. Things like Sharon going to my house before they did the open house (I was away)and baking cookies in my oven so the house would smell good and people could have cookies! This is just a small example of the types of things that they have done for us. Dan and I have had some of the best times in our lives hanging out with them. We all have the same sense of humor (which is kinda rare when you're married to Willy or Dan!). They have great kids too and are very close to them which reminds me of Dan and I with our own kids. Watching them with their kids used to make me miss mine so much. I've also watched them with other friends and they always go out of their way to help them out in any way possible. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I've never come across friends quite like these and Dan and I appreciate them much more than they'll ever know. They've made being away from home so much easier for me especially. We had the opportunity to eat some awesome food and from that discovered our favorite dessert which Sharon went home and improved upon. It became the norm for us to go over and visit with them or come home after a night out and Sharon and Willy were always ready with warm chocolate chip cookies, ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate or butterscotch toppings. Put it all in a bowl....It's delicious!! Some of you may notice that Dan and I have gained a bit of weight......well, now you see why! Sharon would call sometimes at odd hours and say "Guess what I just made"....then I'd call her a bitch and tell her that I'd be right over :-) These are friends that we will keep for a lifetime. I feel so lucky to have met them and have them in our lives. Thank you Willy and Sharon. We love you guys!
PS - To set the record straight....NO, we are not SWINGERS kids!

26 & Counting......
Today is our 26th wedding anniversary. I can't believe how quickly time flies. We've certainly been through it all as far as I'm concerned and have managed to pull through with flying colors overall. We've experienced many things and have been lucky enough to travel quite a bit in our lives so far. Life has certainly not been boring! Our kids will be taking us to dinner tonight to celebrate. Thanks kids!!

Happy Birthday Dana!!

My brother Dana turns 42 today. He doesn't look a day over 48! HA HA! The first picture above was taken before we went to a family wedding many many years ago. The second picture is obviously old too. Dana was dressed in his snorkel coat. For those of you wondering what the heck that is, don't ask! Just take my word for it....they were very popular back in the 70's. Check out my matching vest and shirt. I think that's a picture of some bridge on the vest. Did my mother just like the color and not pay attention to what the picture was on the vest? Do you notice a color scheme? Anyway......Dana and Ann, thanks for all of your understanding, love and support over the past few weeks!! I hope you have an awesome birthday!

Our Last Trip Home.....
We are currently home in Rochester, packing up the house. It's been pretty crazy and we've been falling into bed at night, exhausted. I really wanted to bring some people here to help us but Dan insisted that this would be "a piece of cake". He's now having issues with his back and is wishing that he'd listened to me so at least I got to say "I told you so". That felt good and he acknowledged that I was right to begin with. That felt good! It's amazing how much stuff we've accumulated in the short time we've lived here. We made a big donation to the Salvation Army and will probably be making a 2nd one later this week. We've gotten rid of so many things in the past 5 years, it's hard to imagine what we did when we had to move out of the house in Gorham. The movers will be here on Saturday morning to load everything and we'll probably leave later that day and drive to Albany which is the 1/2 way point to travel to Maine. The dogs are staying in Maine with Dana and Ann. Dana spent the first night sleeping on the floor beside the dogs. I wish we could have gotten a picture of that one!
The job front is looking a bit more interesting, although not really in Maine. Dan has found several opportunities outside of Maine and we're not ruling them out but are hoping that we can figure something out closer to Maine. We'll give it a couple of months and then we'll have to make a decision. We gotta eat, ya know!
We'll be going out for a last dinner with our awesome neighbors on Friday night. They've been so great to us and have been taking care of the lawn, gathering boxes & newspapers and watching out for the house while we've been gone. I know I talk about how great they are a lot but many of you cannot imagine how good they've been to us over the past 18 months. I doubt that we'll ever find neighbors like this again so it makes me sad to think we're leaving the neighborhood. I'll post again soon!