Wonderful weekend...
This weekend was pretty spectacular - but not in that way where you go do awesome crazy things, ride roller coasters, take a trip, nothing like that. More in the way of just absolutely loving the little things and enjoying to the fullest those people you get to spend time with.
Let's do this in reverse, shall we?
Sunday was the most relaxed day of all. Slept in a little, watched YouTube with my sister and nieces, then went swimming with my nieces while their parents were out. After we had lunch, we went to see a house in Clinton with my sister - which was pretty nice, but not what they wanted. And then we capped the evening of by getting Pita Pit with my dad and husband and coming home to watch the Olympics closing ceremony and going to bed early.
Saturday was family day. Got up in the morning (too early) STARVING from the night before. So I forced everyone out of the house quickly. We went and had breakfast / brunch at Village in (Renee, Chuck, girls, Tim and kids) - super yummy. After that we came back to the house so the kids could swim. We currently have an air mattress that has a hole in it. Best thing to do with it? Inflate it and throw it in the pool, of course! Kiddos thought that was the coolest thing they could ever do! Played King of the raft, wrestled, surfed it. All kinds of fun and games. After a few hours we finally pulled them out of the pool. They were pretty upset, until they found out there was sugar involved. Went to Lagomarcino's - an old fashioned soda fountain / candy / ice cream shop where we all enjoyed sundaes and shakes and bought some candy to bring home with us. Afterwards we invented "dry swimming" - which was floating around on the inflated air mattress in dry clothes - again, the coolest thing ever. After actually getting wet again and swimming longer, we fed the kids and sent Tim home with his and the other 2 to bed. Then we had adult time - which was just Taco Bell and Cards against humanity with Parker, Dad, Renee, and Chuck. As always - the game was hilarious. But after that I was exhausted, and it was bed time.
Which brings up back to Friday. Parker ditched work and went to Comic-con with Chuck, which left me with an evening free. Friday is normally poker night anyways, so I decided to drag Trent out to dinner beforehand. We went to Olive Tree cafe - super yummy - and spent a couple of hours chatting and catching up, which is always enjoyable. From there, we went to poker night. Jory, Ryan, Mexi, Cody, Trent, Jon, and Jon brought a new friend of his (another girl, which is unusual), named Emily. Poker was good. The others partook in some fun times, and we all had a lot of good laughs.
I very much enjoy our poker nights and it is something I look forward to all week. Love it.
After poker, "my boys" who were on a bit of a stronger form of "fun times" decided they really needed to go walking - in the rain - and that I would make good adult supervision. So off we went. We walked through the college campus and over to park. Mind you, it's about 2:30am by the time we left the house. So it was dark and quiet (aside from them). We talked about all the colors around, and the wind, and the lightning, and the lighting, and how things felt and glowed and moved. We got to the park and walked around, petting the wolf statues, layed on the bridge just to listen, sat, talked. The boys decided it was a really good idea to climb a tree in the pouring rain - that was interesting. And at that point, it was just torrential rain, plenty of lightning, loud thunder. Clearly the best time to be up in a tree. When we started walking back out of the park, the water type decided he really needed to be IN the fountain, in the rain, swimming around. And then later decided to "swim" in the rushing water on the side of the road, too.
We did finally get chilly and head back, though we took a nice meandering way.
But it's times like this I truly wish I was artistic. Because it was raining, I left my phone in my car. Which meant I didn't have a camera for our adventures. But I have these perfectly burned images in my mind... for now. I wish I had the skill / talent / ability to get them down on paper and keep them forever.
3 guys walking ahead of me, side by side, up a sidewalk path in the rain, yellow lamps lighting their way. I can see their clothes, their sopping wet shoes, and the toss of their heads as they laugh and laugh and laugh.
Looking down at them all, lying on the bridge, staring up at the sky and the trees and the rain. Eyes open sometimes, eyes peacefully closed at others.
Sitting on the bridge, leaning against the wall, looking left to see my friend looking back, smiling. His glasses are foggy and splattered with rain, but it doesn't really seem to be a concern - he just keeps talking, and smiling, and musing about the trees and how they turn up their leaves to the rain from above.
The 3 of them balanced in a tree, all looking down at me from their different positions. One in a power pose, one like a tree frog, the other like a cat. And the lightning strikes and I can see their faces, and then it fades and all I can see is their shapes.
One of them swimming through the fountain, smiling up at the other two who lean over and laugh at him, all while egging him on about some imaginary Pokemon battle.
All these images that are so clear right now, so vivid in my mind, such happy memories. I wish I could put them on paper and keep them forever, framed in all their happiness.
We did finally get back to the house. Dried off a little and headed home. Gave Mc/El a ride home so he wouldn't have to ride his motorcycle in the rain, and got to spend time talking to him, too, which I also miss.
It might not seem like an exciting night, but it was wonderful. Even not getting home until 4:30am and being very tired the next morning, I certainly wouldn't have changed a thing. It was relaxing, soothing for my soul, heart-warming, and I'm thankful to have been included.
Life changes, things move forward, and I know that is inevitable. But I very much hope that my guys are always around, even if there is time between the visits. I have certainly missed them in those times when they were not, and I am so glad to be back into a period where I get to spend time with them regularly.
Let's do this in reverse, shall we?
Sunday was the most relaxed day of all. Slept in a little, watched YouTube with my sister and nieces, then went swimming with my nieces while their parents were out. After we had lunch, we went to see a house in Clinton with my sister - which was pretty nice, but not what they wanted. And then we capped the evening of by getting Pita Pit with my dad and husband and coming home to watch the Olympics closing ceremony and going to bed early.
Saturday was family day. Got up in the morning (too early) STARVING from the night before. So I forced everyone out of the house quickly. We went and had breakfast / brunch at Village in (Renee, Chuck, girls, Tim and kids) - super yummy. After that we came back to the house so the kids could swim. We currently have an air mattress that has a hole in it. Best thing to do with it? Inflate it and throw it in the pool, of course! Kiddos thought that was the coolest thing they could ever do! Played King of the raft, wrestled, surfed it. All kinds of fun and games. After a few hours we finally pulled them out of the pool. They were pretty upset, until they found out there was sugar involved. Went to Lagomarcino's - an old fashioned soda fountain / candy / ice cream shop where we all enjoyed sundaes and shakes and bought some candy to bring home with us. Afterwards we invented "dry swimming" - which was floating around on the inflated air mattress in dry clothes - again, the coolest thing ever. After actually getting wet again and swimming longer, we fed the kids and sent Tim home with his and the other 2 to bed. Then we had adult time - which was just Taco Bell and Cards against humanity with Parker, Dad, Renee, and Chuck. As always - the game was hilarious. But after that I was exhausted, and it was bed time.
Which brings up back to Friday. Parker ditched work and went to Comic-con with Chuck, which left me with an evening free. Friday is normally poker night anyways, so I decided to drag Trent out to dinner beforehand. We went to Olive Tree cafe - super yummy - and spent a couple of hours chatting and catching up, which is always enjoyable. From there, we went to poker night. Jory, Ryan, Mexi, Cody, Trent, Jon, and Jon brought a new friend of his (another girl, which is unusual), named Emily. Poker was good. The others partook in some fun times, and we all had a lot of good laughs.
I very much enjoy our poker nights and it is something I look forward to all week. Love it.
After poker, "my boys" who were on a bit of a stronger form of "fun times" decided they really needed to go walking - in the rain - and that I would make good adult supervision. So off we went. We walked through the college campus and over to park. Mind you, it's about 2:30am by the time we left the house. So it was dark and quiet (aside from them). We talked about all the colors around, and the wind, and the lightning, and the lighting, and how things felt and glowed and moved. We got to the park and walked around, petting the wolf statues, layed on the bridge just to listen, sat, talked. The boys decided it was a really good idea to climb a tree in the pouring rain - that was interesting. And at that point, it was just torrential rain, plenty of lightning, loud thunder. Clearly the best time to be up in a tree. When we started walking back out of the park, the water type decided he really needed to be IN the fountain, in the rain, swimming around. And then later decided to "swim" in the rushing water on the side of the road, too.
We did finally get chilly and head back, though we took a nice meandering way.
But it's times like this I truly wish I was artistic. Because it was raining, I left my phone in my car. Which meant I didn't have a camera for our adventures. But I have these perfectly burned images in my mind... for now. I wish I had the skill / talent / ability to get them down on paper and keep them forever.
3 guys walking ahead of me, side by side, up a sidewalk path in the rain, yellow lamps lighting their way. I can see their clothes, their sopping wet shoes, and the toss of their heads as they laugh and laugh and laugh.
Looking down at them all, lying on the bridge, staring up at the sky and the trees and the rain. Eyes open sometimes, eyes peacefully closed at others.
Sitting on the bridge, leaning against the wall, looking left to see my friend looking back, smiling. His glasses are foggy and splattered with rain, but it doesn't really seem to be a concern - he just keeps talking, and smiling, and musing about the trees and how they turn up their leaves to the rain from above.
The 3 of them balanced in a tree, all looking down at me from their different positions. One in a power pose, one like a tree frog, the other like a cat. And the lightning strikes and I can see their faces, and then it fades and all I can see is their shapes.
One of them swimming through the fountain, smiling up at the other two who lean over and laugh at him, all while egging him on about some imaginary Pokemon battle.
All these images that are so clear right now, so vivid in my mind, such happy memories. I wish I could put them on paper and keep them forever, framed in all their happiness.
We did finally get back to the house. Dried off a little and headed home. Gave Mc/El a ride home so he wouldn't have to ride his motorcycle in the rain, and got to spend time talking to him, too, which I also miss.
It might not seem like an exciting night, but it was wonderful. Even not getting home until 4:30am and being very tired the next morning, I certainly wouldn't have changed a thing. It was relaxing, soothing for my soul, heart-warming, and I'm thankful to have been included.
Life changes, things move forward, and I know that is inevitable. But I very much hope that my guys are always around, even if there is time between the visits. I have certainly missed them in those times when they were not, and I am so glad to be back into a period where I get to spend time with them regularly.