Once a year we plan to travel back to Naperville to see our daughter, friends and of course – Doctors! We were very busy so hold on!

Our Anniversary!

Our 33rd anniversary was on April 27 and we met  our daughter Tori and her best friend, Katy, for dinner. It was a great time and we were so happy to see the girls again. Katy is always part of the family and she is getting married in September! Tori is her maid of honor and working hard to make Katy’s wedding special. We plan to make a special trip to Naperville to be at the wedding.

Seeing Tori

We spent a lot of time with our daughter, Tori. She works for KPMG and does a lot of traveling (domestic and international) for the company. She works hard and we are always proud of her.

She has a new boyfriend, Chris who is a great guy and it is obvious he enjoys treating Tori like the special girl she is. He also did something that was very special; he sent Patti flowers! Very impressive. We got to meet him and he seems to be very smart and hard working. Again, very impressive. He also helped us move keepsake items from storage to Tori’s apartment. He then cooked us ribs and chicken for lunch. It was awesome!

Tori also has some “roommates”:

Luke is a Corgi who had a tough time when Tori got him last year. He became very ill and we weren’t sure if he was going to make it. Tori didn’t give up and eventually the vets determined he had a very rare autoimmune disease and created a good drug combination, and slowly he started to feel better. He now is a very happy dog and is doing very well.

Lilly is well…. Lilly. A typical cat with attitude. Tori got her when she was in college and has been a great companion.  Lily “tolerates” Luke (although we think she secretly enjoys having him around).  I enjoy playing with her and we have a special bond.

We loved seeing Tori’s new apartment and enjoyed helping her hang pictures and organize closets and the keepsake items she is holding for us.  We enjoyed having Tori visit us at the RV too.  She came bearing many gifts for Patti’s Mother’s Day, which were awesome, but really, she was the best gift!

Overall our visit with Tori was awesome and she plans to visit us throughout the next year and we can’t wait!

Chris and Amy Schultz’s Wedding

Another reason we came home was to attend Chris and Amy’s wedding. The Schultz’s have been long time neighbors and great people who raised 3 sons. Chris is a big strong guy and a Batavia, IL police officer. Whenever our daughter was going to a party or get together with friends and we knew Chris was going to be around, we didn’t worry! The wedding was a blast and we had a great time! Since we had been on the road for almost a year, it was great seeing everyone!

Doctors

We made the rounds to see our physicians and dentist. Always a blast (kidding) and got good bills of health!  I enjoy seeing our dentist, Dr. Lulinski too. We have been with him for over 20 years and he is excellent. He always takes a minute to ask how we are doing and always asks about Tori. He is especially intrigued with our new lifestyle and takes great interest. I always enjoy our chats!

Lake Geneva

Patti and I love to ride the motorcycle out to Lake Geneva, WI. The ride is great and the town is awesome to walk around and shop. We especially like to just sit on a bench and look over the lake. It is very peaceful!

Patti’s Birthday!

Tori came up with a great idea for Patti on her birthday. Patti has always enjoyed playing guiter but the one she had was simply too big. Tori wanted to get her a guitar that was slightly smaller so she would play more often.

On Patti’s birthday, we planned to move  our stuff from our storage unit to Tori’s apartment. Chris went to the storage unit early and set up the new guitar with a big card and balloons. Patti opened the unit and at first did not notice the guitar. Finally after a couple of minutes of looking around she sees the card and guitar and immediately broke out in tears. It was a great moment that Patti will never forget! I can report that Patti will go outside and play her guitar every chance she gets.

Other folks we got to visit!

• Ashley Mooney – Ashley and I have a long standing professional relationship during the time I was a consultant. She would help me with obtaining contracts and was always a straight shooter. She finally got to meet Patti and of course they hit it off! Ashley’s kids are adorable and they are doing well. It was great to see her again and we plan to keep in touch!
• Sandy and Steve Mazur – Sandy and Steve are great neighbors who lived across the street from us. They have two daughters who are doing well and working hard. Sandy works hard as a Nurse Practitioner for Edwards and Steve is in IT and is working for Hollywood Casino. He is a hard worker and customer centric and has won awards working for the casino. It is hard work but he seems to be doing well!  They both work long hours so we were glad to be able to meet them for dinner.
• Christine and Ron Purves – Christine is a long time childhood friend with Patti. She and Ron are newlyweds and they came to see us from Madison, WI. Ron is a great guy.  Ron and Christine are looking to possibly full time in an RV one day too. He had a lot of great questions and I showed him around our rig. He is doing a lot of research and he is already very knowledgeable. They seem to be very happy and we are happy for Christine!
• Pam and Kevin Seibold – I met Pam in 2005 while I was contracting at HCSC (Blue Cross Blue Shield IL) and we worked well together and became great friends. While working with Pam, I understood how knowledgeable she was and worked hard to garner her trust and relationship. It proved to be a major success factor in the projects we worked on. She and Kevin have a terrific family and Pam is now retired and spending all her time with her granddaughter. It was great catching up with them and talking about the glory days at HCSC.
• Linda Heller – she is a special neighbor.  She and Patti love to meet at Baker’s Square for pie and long talks!  She and Don have a terrific son Eric who is autistic but works hard at the Brookfield zoo. It is obvious that Linda and Don have worked very hard with Eric and he enjoys living on his own and being responsible.
• Betsy Heath – Patti had lunch with Betsy who worked with Patti in the HR department at UNITE-HERE Health. Patti could always count on Betsy who works so hard and always knew what Patti needed. During the times when Patti had health issues, Betsy always came thru and I could count on her to ensure Patti was doing the “right thing” for her health.
• The UNITE-HERE Health (UHH) gang – Patti had drinks/dinner get-togethers  with some of her special friends from UHH (Alicia, Susan, Michele, Tom, Bryan, Peggy, Ecaterina, and Sandy!). She had so much fun catching up on their personal and professional lives. She really appreciated them coming out to see her. She misses them a lot!
• Deb and Don Noens – Deb Noens is a great friend who worked with Patti at UHH in the Accounting & Payroll dept for 25 years! They worked together through many changes and challenges as UHH grew. And they especially enjoyed staying in touch on family life as the kids grew up. Deb & Don invited us over for a delicious steak dinner and I got to know them better.
• Sylvia and John Boese – On a very sad note, Patti attended the funeral of Sylvia and John’s son, Clay. Patti and Sylvia worked together at UHH for 25 years and always enjoyed staying in touch as the kids grew up. Our hearts and prayers go out to Sylvia and John. As is often the case, weddings and funerals tend to be the events that bring people together. Patti was blessed to see many long-time UHH colleagues and friends at the funeral and we hope Sylvia was equally blessed by the suport of so many wonderful UHH folks.
• Our special neighbors! – we had dinner with the Schultz’s (Tom and Robin) and the Nelson’s (Dale and Gina). They are special friends and we miss them in our adventures. When Patti’s health was in jeopardy, these folks were there for us and I won’t forget that. Their kids grew up with Tori and there were special events we shared with them along with the kids.

As you can see we were very busy in Naperville and unfortunately, we didn’t get to see everyone we wanted to. But it was a great visit – we already miss everyone and can’t wait to do it again next year!