visits: past and future

Apr 14, 2005 03:05

Once again, events got away from me.

Coming down off a very busy month. Recovering a bit emotionally, although work is still dragging me down.

deliriumdreams got a new truck (well, a new-to-her "mini-suv": a 2001 Suzuki Grand Vitara) right before driving out with her daughter K to visit for a week. YAY!

Too bad I had to work most of those days. We went to bob_and_natalie's wedding, and had a good time. (Unbeknownst to me, some of my friends were asking questions about our relationship. Huh.)

One of our mutual friends gave me a not-so-subtle nudge about how women appreciate random gifts. His suggestion was diamonds; while I am sure that deliriumdreams would enjoy them, I (1) didn't know which piercing to get them for, and (2) I thought she would enjoy one of these much more. :) She named hers Happy Kitty, and I think she is. (I also got her a pair of really good isolating headphones. I'm amused that she now has a much better iPod rig than I do...)

I still managed to take K swimming one night; I learned that I don't have the knack for teaching kids how to swim. I'll just force deliriumdreams to put her daughter through swimming lessons before they visit again -- K loved playing in the ocean, but I was so paranoid because she's not a strong / confident swimmer that I spent most of my time watching her.

(And before anyone makes any comments, K is a bit young even for me, ok? Besides, she could take me in a fight.)

They did make it to Sea World that Friday; they had a great time, petting the Clydesdales and getting drenched at the Orca show. They also delayed the departure back to NM a few days due to nasty weather in AZ and NM.

Which let them overlap with my friends K & A from Las Cruces, who were out for their spring break. They were kind enough to babysit K on Sunday evening, giving J and I some well-appreciated couple time.

deliriumdreams and I also put a new stereo into her truck for the drive home. We were desperately trying to find the Alpine units with the spiffy iPod integration, but failed ... so a reasonably-cheap Blaupunkt unit was used instead. It works, and I got to show off my Spiffy Soldering Skills (tm), but I'd still like to do the Alpine installation one of these days. The existing install is way too raw for my tastes -- a consequence of not having fitting trim pieces -- but it makes music from the iPod and that makes kitty happy, so. :)

K & A's stay was uneventful. They went to Sea World on Monday, which was when deliriumdreams and K finally left on their long but problem-free trip home. A is legally blind, but I suspect that getting drenched by an orca doing a belly-flop transcends that particular disability. :)

Later that day, they took me to Anthony's Fish Grotto, which was very yummy -- and had a serious wait at 8p on a Monday night. Granted, it's a tourist trap, but ... phreow. K was amused that I'd never been there, as apparently it's a bit of a local staple for tourists and new arrivals. (Which reminds me more than a bit of La Posta back in Las Cruces; a hit with tourists, but the natives never think to go there.)

Tuesday, K wandered up north to visit with jinglechelle and her husband L. I had to work a fair bit that week as well, but I still managed to meet up with A at our favorite pub for a few drinks most nights.

That Saturday, bob_and_natalie had a gaming afternoon (after a poker night on Friday) to try to exhaust the kegs of delicious Stone Beer they'd purchased for their reception. We tried to convince K to join us, but he declined. Oh well.

That Sunday, they left to drive back to LC after a hearty breakfast at Rancho's. From there I left to help Bob's friend Carl move from Encinitas to ... Encinitas. A fair bit of heavy lifting, some yummy lunch and beer, and a lot of cursing and wedging and tool-using later, the bulk of his stuff was moved. I suspect I managed to shock Bob and a few of his friends, though; I was tired and made some off-the-cuff remarks that should have stayed on the cuff. Oh well.

The weekend after that, my sister-in-law-in-law got married to her partner of 10+ years in Denver. I ended up flying to Albuquerque to meet up with deliriumdreams Thursday night, then leaving Friday afternoon with her two older kiddos. We didn't get into Denver until nearly midnight, but the rooms were clean and quiet and adjoining. It worked out.

Saturday we mostly loafed until it was time to get ready for the wedding. The ceremony itself was very nice, with some interesting cultural references and very toungue-in-cheek vows. Very touching all the way through -- and as J pointed out, her oldest K took it all in stride, but her middle child A had a never-ending list of questions. They all got to meet some of my siblings after the ceremony, and nobody hit anyone else, so I think they all got along. :)

We had some friends over that evening; J & S (who got married last year), and nirik (a.k.a. nirikrss). Yummy beers were drunk, Apples to Apples and Fluxx were played, and a good time was had by all. :)

J and I were thragged the next day, so we slept in as much as we could, then took the kids to a neat park that my sister had told me about. I was already kinda "done" at this point, otherwise we'd've tried to meet up with my sister and her two kids again, and maybe even tried to rouse elusis. But we just tried to tire them out a bit, then headed soth. This was a tactical error; we should have tired them out much more, and not headed south until at least the younger one was asleep. Oh well.

Without much drama we made it back -- and I'm /so/ glad it was that weekend, and not the weekend after where people were trapped at DIA for days and they were closing interstates left and right -- and I had to fly back and be human that Monday morning. Unfair!

Since then, just picking up the pieces and trying to keep up. Work is dragging me down a little bit, but I suppose that's why they pay me so well.

I'm looking forward to having some fabulous visitors soon: jinglechelle will be down sometime in May; J will likely be here on May 13th; J & S will be here over Memorial Day weekend; A might also be here then; I will hopefully visit with jettdelirium May 15th or so (oops, overbooked, time to clarify!)... and more.

One of my coworkers is getting married in mid-June, and one of my LJ friends two weeks later. (In Chicago! Be scared, oh windy city!) So those are two more events that I need to scheme for...

I hope all my friends' lives are as full as mine is. :)

visits, diary, deliriumdreams, denver, family

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