The party of excessive stress
was stressful.
But not overly so until the end with the epi-pen and the hospital visit...
(everyone is fine, Chow's dad is allergic to stinging insects, he's just in overnight for observation.)
My father-in-law and his wife have between them 4 kids, his two boys (Chow and his brother) and her two girls.
Chow's step-sisters have three kids each - the oldest is a boy, followed by two girls. In both families. It's nearly impossible to keep track of which girls belong to which family. Heck, I have to remind myself regularly who is married to whom (the step-sisters have the same leading consonant to their names, and their husbands are John and Joe). Me, I tend to hang with John and Joe and stay the heck away from father-in-law's wife (step-mother-in-law? good grief.) I've written about her before, and of course she hasn't changed a bit.
Anyway, they have a pool, so today there was a pool party with cook-out. Lunch/dinner was served around 3, which is exactly when I can't eat. So I got an Arby's on the way there and didn't eat at the party. C'est la vie. The 6 step-cousins range in age from almost-17 to two days older than N, and they all have a terrific time with each other. They just fold N. in without even thinking about it. There's no blood relation there, but Chow and his brother and the two daughters have been step-siblings for 30-odd years, so they might as well be.
The party started winding down as the families prepared to roll out - one set lives in Wilmington and the other in Richmond. Everyone started packing stuff away and carrying stuff up to the garage etc. when Chow's dad got stung by a yellow jacket. And then another one. This is really bad, since he's allergic to stinging insects. But did he stop cleaning up? No, he kept going. Chow noticed he was having trouble breathing, so he went inside and sicced his step-mother on his dad, to get him to find his epi-pen. That got done, but instead of sitting down to rest, he went back outside and started cleaning up again, right where the nest was. All in all, he got stung SIX times (and it turns out he'd been stung yesterday, too). But he kept insisting he was fine, so we got in our cars and left.
We stopped for dinner in Apex at a cute pizza joint and got home just in time for the boy to get poured in to bed. He had played in the pool for 5 hours, with only 3 or 4 breaks to re-fuel. After I put him to bed, I came out to the living room to Chow talking on the phone. His step-mother had insisted his dad go to the hospital. By the time they got there his throat had started to close up, so they gave him more epinephrine and started a fluid line. They're keeping him overnight for observation (he's 72). So I'm sure we'll hear more tomorrow.
Chow's father is FAMOUS for this kind of boneheadedness - he really should have been dead years ago from all the stunts he's pulled. It's astonishing, really.
But not overly so until the end with the epi-pen and the hospital visit...
(everyone is fine, Chow's dad is allergic to stinging insects, he's just in overnight for observation.)
My father-in-law and his wife have between them 4 kids, his two boys (Chow and his brother) and her two girls.
Chow's step-sisters have three kids each - the oldest is a boy, followed by two girls. In both families. It's nearly impossible to keep track of which girls belong to which family. Heck, I have to remind myself regularly who is married to whom (the step-sisters have the same leading consonant to their names, and their husbands are John and Joe). Me, I tend to hang with John and Joe and stay the heck away from father-in-law's wife (step-mother-in-law? good grief.) I've written about her before, and of course she hasn't changed a bit.
Anyway, they have a pool, so today there was a pool party with cook-out. Lunch/dinner was served around 3, which is exactly when I can't eat. So I got an Arby's on the way there and didn't eat at the party. C'est la vie. The 6 step-cousins range in age from almost-17 to two days older than N, and they all have a terrific time with each other. They just fold N. in without even thinking about it. There's no blood relation there, but Chow and his brother and the two daughters have been step-siblings for 30-odd years, so they might as well be.
The party started winding down as the families prepared to roll out - one set lives in Wilmington and the other in Richmond. Everyone started packing stuff away and carrying stuff up to the garage etc. when Chow's dad got stung by a yellow jacket. And then another one. This is really bad, since he's allergic to stinging insects. But did he stop cleaning up? No, he kept going. Chow noticed he was having trouble breathing, so he went inside and sicced his step-mother on his dad, to get him to find his epi-pen. That got done, but instead of sitting down to rest, he went back outside and started cleaning up again, right where the nest was. All in all, he got stung SIX times (and it turns out he'd been stung yesterday, too). But he kept insisting he was fine, so we got in our cars and left.
We stopped for dinner in Apex at a cute pizza joint and got home just in time for the boy to get poured in to bed. He had played in the pool for 5 hours, with only 3 or 4 breaks to re-fuel. After I put him to bed, I came out to the living room to Chow talking on the phone. His step-mother had insisted his dad go to the hospital. By the time they got there his throat had started to close up, so they gave him more epinephrine and started a fluid line. They're keeping him overnight for observation (he's 72). So I'm sure we'll hear more tomorrow.
Chow's father is FAMOUS for this kind of boneheadedness - he really should have been dead years ago from all the stunts he's pulled. It's astonishing, really.