Geneva on the Lake 2012
Check in this year I guess was a little later than in years previous, so we weren't slated to leave until early afternoon. After excitedly waiting and packing all week, it was even more of a bummer to keep waiting all day just to leave. Beth & Marty came by in the morning to pack our things into their van, and then we still had a few more hours to wait after that. And then, as it was getting close to go time, we had to wait for Liam to wake up from his nap and eat, so I actually held us up for a bit. But finally - finally! - we were on our way.
Liam and I drove up with Marty & Beth in a van packed to the brim with their things and ours. It was a pleasant hour and a halfish drive up to Lake Erie, and after a very brief nap, Liam stayed awake and alert for the rest of the drive, quietly looking around from his hidey hole. As we were both surrounded by stuff, I had a hard time even seeing him in the seat next to me, but I spent some time reflecting light off my phone onto the ceiling, which amused him. Shortly after leaving, after months of knowing which houses we were renting, and a week or two of making 'what should we bring' lists, Marty asks if I brought my checkbook, as rent was going to be due that day. I had no idea how much it was going to cost, that it was due immediately, or that I should have brought my checkbook. Luckily our portion of the rent after splitting the cost of the whole week with Jess & James was only $246, and I had $300 in cash on me. I told Steve he might want to bring a couple hundred more when he came up on Wednesday.
We arrived at the Kramer Cottages a little behind Jess & James, who met us there. It was warm and sunny. We took some time to unload the van, and sort our belongings into our separate areas. Steve, Liam and I were to be in the room on the left, Jess & James in the room on the right, and Aurora on the pull out bed in the front room. The rooms were so small, so I started off by just setting all of my packs on the bed to be dealt with later. After a short bit we heard a frantic meowing and determined there was a kitten trapped in the crawlspace underneath the house. Apparently, the owner had been bricking in some holes around the outside foundation and didn't know the kitten was in there. We didn't have time to deal with it just then, though, as we had a surprise retirement party to attend for Judy Migliore.
So we all drove down to the Lakehouse Winery gathering room and waited with baited breath for Judy, who had no idea this was coming. The room was PACKED with several round tables full of people & kids. It was tough to keep everyone quiet and there were several false alarms. When Judy walked through the door and saw everyone she loved gathered there for her, she was overcome with tears of joy and I almost cried myself at the sentiment shown. Hot dogs, hamburgers and potato salad was catered, and I watched as my son traveled around the room in various arms, sleeping off and on against all odds. The room was small, and there weren't even enough chairs for everyone. The cacophony was overwhelming and I found myself spending most of my attention trying to block out the roaring din. The rest of the DeVores and Nessles felt the same way I did and after eating dinner and exchanging initial hello's, we left before cake to escape the crush of people and noise.
After returning to the cottages, we set to unpacking and settling in. The trapdoor to get to the crawlspace under the house was in my room, so James put on some raggy clothes, moved the bed to the other side and started his quest to save the kitten. It was difficult at first because the kitten wouldn't come, and was hiding in one of probably hundreds of possible cinder-block holes. We knew it was down there because it kept crying, but until it showed itself there wasn't much he could do. Eventually though, he cornered it, brought it out and set it free near where he saw an older cat with similar coloring. I'm glad he was able to help it.
Not much happened after that. James went out on the strip. I had to utilize my organizational skills to fit all the things we brought into the tiny room we were staying in. Instead of setting up Liam's small pea-pod bed, which would have fit only with difficulty, I decided to just have him sleep in the bed with me, which while rickety and crinkly, was big enough for the both of us. I wasn't sure what we'd do when Steve came up, but I decided we could figure it out then.