Albuquerque Surprise visit

When I returned from Nassau on Sunday, I had a per diem Hawker Captain take my place for the departure that same evening to Vegas. He flew the aircraft to Vegas and took a commercial flight home to Phil. I took a day to get some personal business done and left on Tuesday via Southwest Air to go to Vegas for the return trip to Trenton on Thurs. I couldn't get a non-stop so I booked through Albuquerque(ABQ) to Vegas. My mom who turned 96 in February lives in ABQ with my sister. I haven't seen her in many months and was looking forward to a surprise visit.

I showed up with flowers and rang the bell. When my sister showed up at the door she was on the phone. I put the flowers down and took her picture. She was telling the person on the phone that a man was at the door with a flower delivery. Needless to say, she was surprised. She called into my mom and said Michael is here.
My mom was very surprised.
You would never guess she is 96. She's healthy, happy and independent. I could only spend a day with her because I had to be in Vegas for a 9am takeoff on Thursday. But I had a great visit spent the evening at the home of my niece and her husband-Jamie and Brian and their son Andrew. Dorothy who is a retired flight attendant, and widow of a 747 airline captain, is a selfless loving sister, and a fabulous aunt to Andrew. Dorothy and Andrew both have the good fortune to spend time together when his parents are at work. It also gives him some quality time with his great grandmother.

Pictured left are Dorothy, Nanny, and Andrew and below is My niece and Andrew's mom, Jamie.

It was a fun visit. Jamie and her husband Brian live in a beautiful home in Rio Rancho. I got to feed live crickets to Andrew's 2 bearded dragon lizards, see his desert tortoise and sleep with his Yorkshire Terrier-Scout. I'm not sure when the dog joined me but at 3am he was laying legs up across my neck.