A Good Weekend

We drove up To see Bob's family Saturday morning, and it was a good visit! We got there after lunch, and his sister Jane and her husband Terry came over soon after. We got to spend some one-on-one time with them and his parents, and it was really nice. Jane and Terry always get big gifts for the kids (as in they take up a lot of physical space), but they really try to think hard about what they get, so the kids always love the gifts. This time they got a Dora ride-on thing for Grace, a Little People house for Anna, a little Thomas "laptop" for Jonathan, a big Magna-doodle plus a golf game for Caleb, a Bionicle for Luke (they actually bought him a game they had already given to Nathan, so they took him to Toys R Us and let him pick out something himself, which he LOVED), and the game Apples to Apples for Nathan, which he had been wanting. Everyone was very happy with all this largesse, and then Bob's mom brought down presents that his sister Rose had left there the previous weekend--things like a doll high chair for Anna, and a huge carton, which contained 4 boxes, each of which had 2 Nerf guns and a ton of ammunition. So . . . 2 Nerf guns for each boy? Wow--it will be like Armageddon around here! I told the boys that we would only open 2 boxes at a time, LOL. Anyhow, by this time, the living room was getting piled high with boxes, and we were all a bit concerned that we wouldn't be able to fit everything in the van for the ride home, which is actually a pretty common concern whenever we go back there for Christmas, LOL. Amazingly, it all fit, but there were things under people's feet, and the back was totally stuffed to the top.

Later Bob's sister Ann and her family came over, including her daughter Christi and her new husband Andres (who got married back in May, with Anna being the flower girl). It was great to see them there! They drove up from Richmond because one of the ski resorts nearby had free skiing. Bob's brother Paul and his wife and son also were there, so the room was quite crowded, but it was good. Lots of people played pinochle, and Luke amazed them all with his hand of 2 straights. It's good for Bob's family to be reassured that we are teaching our kids the essentials of life, such as how to play pinochle.

Speaking of impressing, my one talent that impresses his parents got a mention as well. I try to be modest about this, but I am somewhat of an expert Etch-A-Sketcher. One year I wrote my name in cursive, and one year I drew a Christmas tree. The Christmas tree was what got mentioned on Saturday, with his dad even asking if they still had that. He was sure they had never erased such a masterpiece, but no one could find the Etch-A-Sketch, which was probably just as well, since I don't actually spend much time "etch-a-sketching" these days (we don't even own one), and I'm sure whatever I could do now would only disappoint them, LOL. It's nice to admired for something, you know?

The next day Bob's brother Dennis came over, so we got to see all of his siblings except for Rose. That rarely happens in a weekend! Dennis was fresh off the hunting success of bagging his 5th deer of the season the day before. He brought his laptop so we could all see pictures.

Diabetes-wise, I actually did pretty well over the weekend. I packed a few peanut butter sandwiches so I could have an afternoon and evening snack on Saturday, and I didn't eat much junk at his parents' house. Then on Sunday morning, I ate breakfast with the boys at the hotel, and then I exercised while they swam. This hotel has a nice glassed-in exercise room right in the pool area, so I could keep an eye on them while I was on the treadmill. Bob fed the girls breakfast, and then they came to swim as well. I joined them after my workout was done. The pool was nice and warm, like a bathtub, so everyone had a great time. Even Grace is really coming along. She let me hold her just under the arms while she kicked her legs!

We went back over to his parents' house until 3:00 of Sunday, when we left to head back. Sherry and Brandon were there too, as well as Christi and Andres, and Ann and Wally came over after they had skiied for a few hours. This was when Dennis came over too. Unfortunately, this is just too much interaction and commotion, and his parents were getting edgy by the time we left. As Bob said later, we got out of there just in time, and sure enough, Ann called this afternoon after they got home to tell me she had talked to her dad, who said they were all hogs and not welcome there anymore. Well! Glad we missed the combustion!

I did not do so well on the way home, however, and I snacked on teddy grahams and cheez-its. There is something about not sleeping in my own bed and being around a lot of people that makes me edgy too, LOL. I guess I take it out by snacking. Wednesday is when I go in for my class, so then I'll be able to see what my numbers are, and what we are actually dealing with. Should be interesting!