A Good Visit

We had a good visit with Bob's family this weekend. Bob's 80 year old dad had the quadruple bypass back in early November, and he is doing really well! He's back home and getting around with a cane, and he's able to get up and down the stairs with no problem, a good thing considering that's where the bathroom is! He also seems to be a lot softer--not quite so vinegar-y--and he also is showing a lot more appreciation for Bob's mom, which is always a great thing. Nathan and Luke enjoyed playing pinochle and learning hearts with him.

Before we left, Bob's sister Ann had emailed me that she was planning on bringing up all the fixings for Christmas dinner to cook for them when she comes up in a few weeks. I thought that was a great idea and decided that I would also bring up a meal for them. So Friday night I made up a huge stockpot full of beef barley soup, a big pan of cornbread, and Nathan made oatmeal cookies. We also brought a bag of salad. I put the soup in 2 gallon ziploc bags in our cooler and just heated it up there for dinner. It was a big hit! Two of BOb's brothers and their familes also were there to eat, and there was only a small tupperware tub left by the end of the evening. I can't believe I haven't come up with this idea before! It solves all our problems--it's a lot of work for Bob's mom to cook for all of us, and there often is not much that Caleb can eat. So now my plan is to always bring up a meal when we come.

This weekend between Thanksgiving and Christmas turned out to be a great time to go traveling. The roads were empty, as was the hotel! I guess everyone was Christmas shopping. We exchanged gifts with Bob's family this weekend, requiring me to be really organized and get it all done early. The good thing is that now I am pretty much done with shopping! Yay! I actually like breaking up the gift-giving, at least for the boys. They are having a really fun day playing the games they got--Sorry, Operation, and Battletank (like Battleship but with tanks). Caleb and Jonathan got up early to play with a little pirate set they received.

Needless to say, we aren't doing school today. I was really tired last night when we got home, and I knew I was behind on stuff like laundry. Then when Anna woke up, she had spit up all over her crib sometime during the night, so her laundry got moved to the front of the queue. She continued increasing my laundry load by blowing out 2 outfits. Grr. I got to thinking, however, and realized that it probably is all my fault. I gave her some waffle yesterday at the Comfort Inn, and I think she is actually reacting a little. Her face is all sort of blotchy, which clued me in. So now I will move to "Caleb" protocols regarding food in strange places, and hopefully we won't have any more problems.

And before I go switch out laundry loads, here's a random thought to ponder. There are several different ways for us to go to Bob's parents' house, and this weekend we went on a portion of US 40 through south PA both going and coming. This leads us right by a big resort called Nemacolin . Now I ask you--what does that name conjure up to you? An upscale woodlands resort, complete with a polo field? Or intestinal worms? As it turns out, "Nemacolin" was an Indian chief who blazed a trial through the Laurel Mountains many, many years ago, but all I can think of are nematodes, which are roundworms, many of which infect humans, such as pinworms, hookworms, and trichinella (you know, the ones in pork). Put that with "colin", albeit spelled differently, but it doesn't make me much want to visit, much less eat their food. I should bring my own soup, LOL.