Golden Anniversary

Ben and Lauriece 50 years ago

In late August, we traveled to San Antonio, TX to attend the 50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration for our good friends, Benigno & Lauriece Aguirre.

We met 49 years ago in New Orleans, and fortunately have been able stay in touch

Their Wedding Day

We weren't there for the wedding...sorry to have missed it, but happy we were able to help them celebrate 50 years together, along with many family and friends.

John, Lois and Martin with us at the Celebration

Together with our friends, John Cunningham and Lois and Martin Simpson.

Carlos and Benny Aguirre

Lauriece & Ben's sons--Carlos and Beny--hosted the party.  It was so great to see them and have the opportunity to spend some time with them.

Adelina and Papa

Full of life 

The star of the party was Adelina, the Aguirre's granddaughter, and Carlos's daughter,

Lauriece and Ben beginning their "First Dance"

The honorees, Lauriece & Ben, beginning their anniversary dance.

Laauriece and BFFs

Lauriece with her best friends whom she has known since they met in First Grade--just a couple of years ago!

On a River Walk tour:  Sue, Martin, John and Lois

After the celebration, we took the opportunity to tour San Antonio and its famous River Walk.  Unfortunately, it was incredibly hot and humid   --98 degrees with matching humidity.

We had a wonderful time with our long time friends from our NOLA days (49 years and counting) whom we call "The LAS-ers: met taking the Latin American Studies program.

We even got them to commit to visit us in San Miguel de Allende in April.  Can hardly wait !!

John & Bonnie Visit Us in Denver

High Tea at The Brown Palace celebrating both couples' Wedding Anniversary

Our November started off with a great visit from John and Bonnie.  We had long since wanted them to visit us here in Denver (now we need to get them to Mexico).

But anyway we are so happy that they traveled all this way to share some time with us.

It was not easy for them--they originally started off for Denver on Tuesday, October 29th, but after a long and frustrating day at BWI, their flight to Denver was cancelled because of an early and unseasonable snow storm here in Colorado.  But ever game, they returned to their motel and waited for the weather to clear...finally getting here late on Wednesday.  We were happy to meet them at DIA and shepherd them back to our apartment.  We love showing people the Train to Plane and how convenient it is to get to and from DIA.

Witches of Halloween (a tradition at The Brown Palace)

On Thursday, we took them to the Byers-Evans House, a 19th century mansion located downtown, a few blocks from us.

We also took them to one of our favorite museums, The Kirkland, that is filled with 20th and 21st century decorative arts and featuring the art of Vance Kirkand. We finished up the day with a formal tea at the Brown Palace; we shared the Dining Room with a number of "witches."

Martha Birney, Sue and Larry

During the weekend, we took a three hour drive to Salida, a 19th century mining town now home to lots of galleries and restaurants.


We were joined by Martha and John Birney.  We had a lot of fun exploring the town and eating at some of those restaurants.

During the evenings we all enjoyed playing Wizard, a new to us card game, and Mexican Train dominoes.

John and Larry manuevering snow street of St, Elmo, CO 

One of the activities we enjoyed most was touring St Elmo, a ghost town, set high in the mountains outside of Salida.

 It was once one of the richest towns in Colorado; today there are no permanent residents. A couple of days before our arrival, a snow storm had covered the town--making driving there and then exploring the town a challenge, but John and Bonnie were really up to the challenge.

One of Monet's famous Water Lily paintings

Upon our return to Denver, we finished the week with a Monet Exhibition at the Denver Art Museum.

A really wonderful exhibit featuring 110 of Monet's paintings and outlining Monet's long career.

The visit was over all too soon; we were so sorry to see John & Bonnie return home & hope they will come back soon--perhaps when the weather is a little bit warmer.  We still want them to  see San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

John, Sue and Bonnie leaving The Denver Art Museum