Home again, home again, jiggedy jig

Sunday, July 5, 2009
It felt good to sleep in until after 9 a.m. again. I told the kids we would head down to the river one more time before loading up and heading for home. So, I packed up most of my things and headed to the main house to see if there was any activity going on in there. Pee Paw and a newcomer named "Mike" were sitting in the rockers on the front porch. Olie called Mike "Grandpa" so I'm guessing maybe he is Doreen's father. Doreen and Olie (I believe that's short for Olita) were up and fixing a bite to eat for breakfast-fruit, a fruit & grain bar, goldfish crackers. Alisa & Aaron came down from the loft. They were ready to eat but not so sure about going back to the water. None of the adults were heading to the water, either. They looked like they were really hurting. Probably had something to do with the 5 empty liters of Vodka lined up by the trash. They had been drinking vodka with gatorade & a squeeze of lime, vodka with iced tea, vodka with vodka, etc. all weekend long. I think it finally caught up with them...they looked a little green around the gills.
The kids decided to go on down to the river for one last hurrah before loading up, so I slipped into my swim suit, slathered myself with sunscreen and accompanied them. Sasha came along, too. We spent the next 40 minutes playing "the Little Mermaid" swimming from the castle to see Prince Eric, etc. At one point I agreed to be Prince Eric so Sasha (aka Ariel) could kiss me. I puckered up my lips and saw her open mouth coming toward me. When her tongue licked my puckered lips, Sasha opened her eyes and was trying to demonstrate the “proper” way to kiss. “You have to do it like this,” she explained drifting toward me with eyes closed and mouth slightly opened. I didn’t remember Ariel and Prince Eric kissing like that! Their cartoon heads tilted opposite one another, and their lips locked…no tongue action whatsoever! Where does this girl get this stuff?! We had a good laugh, although Sasha was a little frustrated with “E” for not cooperating. Then, I was saved by Shawn who had ventured down to the river complete with river shoes, trunks and his bandana. We stayed for a little while longer then crawled back up the bank to the clean up and begin the loading up process.
I warmed some previously cooked hamburger patties, stuck them on buns with ketchup and mustard (mayo & ketchup for PaPa) and wrapped them in foil for the road. We loaded up (down) the car, said our goodbyes and hit the road sometime between 1:30 and 2:00 with just one stop for ice & gas on the way out of town. We listened to the remainder of Superfudge and snacked the whole way home. Papa & I were eating to stay awake which at times wasn’t easy. PaPa had not come to bed until around 5 a.m. after the vodka & ice cream (and probably a beer or two) plus the great debate, so I figured I was in better shape to drive. After about 150 miles, though, I pulled over to a rest stop and PaPa took the wheel with barbecue potato chips, strawberry Twizzlers and Fiddle Faddle all within reach. Tia called somewhere around 4 something to check on our progress and let us know she was fixing us dinner. Food was the farthest thing from my mind for obvious reasons. That and the fact that Superfudge was done and we were listening to “How to Eat Fried Worms” at the time.
We missed the 221 exchange somewhere along the way and ended up coming through Granbury and Bedford (i.e., the scenic route). We must have made it in sometime after 6:00, and Tia fixed our plates as she had promised: baked pork chops with some type of taco seasoned rice and mixed veggies. We ate and ran. Mike was working late, and Missy had been in her “home” (i.e., kennel) since 4 a.m. Poor thing.
I let Missy out and loved on her, unloaded the car and made a long overdue trek to my very own bathroom. Then, I fixed a dip of Blue Bell Barrett had dropped off before we left and called Jamie to catch up.
Mike came in sometime around 11 p.m., ate the plate Tia had fixed for him, drank a beer that happened to make its way from Blanco in my cooler and retired for the night. I managed to stay up piddling on the computer until around 1 a.m. then turned in for the night myself. What a weekend! Good night. Until next time…