We had a fabulous reunion with our friends from Shanghai at Marty & Irene's crib in Aruba. We left New York City bright and early Saturday morning and arrived into balmy, sunny Aruba early Saturday afternoon. Marty greeted us at the airport and we headed straight to their home. It was great for me to finally see Irene after a year. We picked up as if we never left off. Andrea, Foster, and Tanner were supposed to arrive in Aruba later in the evening. They experienced mechanical problems on their flight from Michigan and were delayed until Sunday afternoon. Not a problem for Zahra and Matthew since they were in the pool the entire afternoon until we had to pull them out of the water for a sunset dinner out on the veranda. 
Marty was kind to take us out on Sunday morning to catch some sights before Andrea's arrival on Sunday afternoon. We went up to the North side of the island to the Alto Vista Chapel. This is the island's oldest church. It dates back to 1750 and it continues to perform masses for the population. Standing at the chapel, you get a spectacular view of the water. We headed over to the California Lighthouse, Fisherman's Hut, and Moomba Beach before Marty had to run out and pick up Andrea.Matthew and Zahra were joined by Andrea and her children on Sunday afternoon. Tanner (age 5) was busy following Matthew around while Matthew being the oldest of the group was busy keeping an eye on all the kids. Being the oldest does have its advantages. We experienced marvelous weather and we were really bummed that Anne couldn't make it in from England. We'll have to find a venue for the next reunion that would be easy for Anne to travel to. She was there with us in spirit.
We visited the Butterfly Farm, the Donkey Sanctuary for retired donkeys, the Ostrich Farm and even got to tour the Aruba Aloe factory and learned about the product. The trip to the Ostrich Farm was quite interesting. We each had a chance to feed the ostriches. It was kind of freaky to have their heads bobbing around you like snakes as they were trying to get their heads into the bucket of feed.
Of course, because gambling is legal in Aruba, no visit would be complete without a trip to the casino. Andrea, Irene, and I ventured off after we put the kids to bed and we each won money at the Stellaris Casino at the Marriott Hotel. Irene had the golden touch and racked up quite bit of cash, Andrea won some money and I walked away with a whopping $22 net. Since we're not professional gamblers, we walked out of the casino after an hour and made our way home. The week went by very quickly and we really had a great time catching up with our hosts and Andrea and the kids. We're anxiously looking to book the next reunion sometime next year. This time, it may only be the ladies sans families.
Ajo Aruba for now until the next trip when we shake the town up again!
