That special kind of friend

You know how there are some friends that are just easy to be around? You don't have to constantly try to think of things to talk about; the conversation comes naturally. And if there does come a point of silence, it doesn't feel uncomfortable. That's the way it is when we get together with Dean & Mary. We just have fun together no matter what we decide to do--even if we decide to do nothing but hang out at home.

They arrived Friday night and we all stayed up late--even the kids. Their kids, Michael and Allison, are close in age to Caleb and Elisa, so everybody had a playmate. The kids got along wonderfully, without a single disagreement, arguement, or tattle the entire weekend.

On Sunday we decided to go to Gold Beach for church. The guys figured out that we could remove the captain's chairs from our van and replace them with the bench seat of Dean & Mary's van, converting our 7-passenger van into an 8-passenger van. So the eight of us rode to Gold Beach together.

After church we had lunch at Mom & Dad's house, then went to the beach for a little while. On the way back from the beach, Elisa suddenly became sick (believe me, you don't want the details!) so we hurried back to get her (and the van) cleaned up. She layed around watching movies for the rest of the afternoon.

Mom & Dad offered to stay with the kids while Dean, Mary, Brad, and I went to dinner with Mark & Susan (more of those comfortable kind of friends). Good friends, good food, and lots of laughter--the makings of a perfect evening.