Mesa & Ahwatukee

Monday we drove down to Mesa, which was about an hour from Surprise.  We had a full day planned visiting some former Lustre residents in the area.  First was Dennis & Evonne Brown who have a home in Sunland Springs Village in Mesa.  http://www.sunlandsprings.com/   Evonne fixed us a great lunch, we got a tour of their home and yard, and then a tour of Sunland Springs Village.  Talk about a lot of nice amenities!  Everything you would want to do is right close by - pools, golf, activity center with crafts and work shops, pickle ball, tennis and much more.  We walked through the model homes before getting in the car and heading out to see the area around the retirement community.  Nearby is a large shopping mall and grocery stores.  They are very close to the Mesa Market Place Swap Meet, which we would be seeing in a few days. 

The Phoenix area offeres many options for retirement communities or "snow birds" wanting a warmer winter than northern climates.  They range from planned communities with all the amenities with single family homes and condos like Sunland Springs Village, Sun City, and many more, to communities with park models - trailer house type homes with Arizona rooms, to communities where you can bring your motor home and park for as long as you like.  Our next visit was at the latter, where we saw Harold & Lois Dyck from Wolf Point, Mt.  They have come down for the winter many years and live in their motor home.  Harold has a little shed where he does woodworking. The people visit each other often, sitting in motor homes or in front visiting away. 

Dennis Brown, Harold & Lois Dyck in front of Dyck's motor home.



Klessens family - Michael, Carly, Sophia & Brayden

Soon it was time to get our car from Brown's and head to nearby Ahwatukee to see the Klessens family.  Carly and Cade Reddig grew up just a few miles from us.  Carly and her husband, Michael, moved there a few years ago.  They have two adorable kids who loved Warren!  Sophia greeted us at the door with hugs and a picture she had colored.  So sweet.  Brayden loved having Warren to play with, and Warren loved it too.  :)  Carly's brother, Cade, also lives in the area and joined us for supper.  He was working on a road project in Surprse that we had driven by often, not knowing he was there.  We had a delicious meal and a great visit with them all.  Fun day!

Cade with Sophia and Brayden