We've Been On A
Frequent readers of this blog are aware that the wife and I have not been able to go away together for a vacation, with a few one day exceptions, for quite some time due to taking care of the mothers and the dogs. One of us always needed to stay home to make sure none of them got into any trouble and frankly the mothers were more of a problem than the dogs. And by mothers, I mean mine.
Anyway, now that we are unencumbered with caregiver duties, we have been taking our freedom on some journey's this summer. We went to see my brother's new place in Las Vegas on our way to Vail to see my sister's family, all trying to escape the heat. Turns out Mother Nature hates us because even Vail was in the 90's while we were there.
Then we decided to spend a couple of days in that always perfect weather Southern California spot, San Diego. It was 97 for two days there. Now we are convinced that if there is a God he hates us too. But we pressed on.
One of the things we have missed out on these past few years is seeing our nieces and nephew's and their kids. Some of the kids have never met me, and while some of you might think that is a good thing for them, we want them to know that we love being in their lives and want to be a part of their childhood. So off we went.
Our first stop on our ten day tour of the Southeast was the beautiful city of Charlotte. Our niece Missy and her husband Dom live outside of town in a beautiful house with their three kids, Mia, Dom, and Leo. They were worried about how to entertain us and we told them we just wanted to do whatever they needed to do with the kids for the weekend we were there. We were greeted by temperatures in the mid 90's, so still no respite.
We watched Leo and his team win their soccer game on Friday night, saw the kids race around an indoor Go Cart track on Saturday, and devoured Dom's twenty hour smoked brisket on Sunday. (I'm not sure it was twenty hours, but it was at least overnight.) We even managed to corral the kids and the two new puppy additions for ten seconds for a picture.
Speaking of the two puppies, Theo on the left and Calliope on the right, are mostly the sweetest dogs ever. Unless you lay on the ground and pretend to be kissing something else with your arms covering your head and then they become the two most jealous dogs on earth. They were digging into my head and arm and sadly they drew blood. Now to be clear this was 100% my fault but it took me two plus days to stop the bleeding since I'm on blood thinners. I was able to score some awesome bandages though.
On our way to Atlanta we were able to stop in Aiken to spend a few hours with my Uncle Bill and take him out to lunch at his club. At 94 he is the last of the Marich elders and of the seven children he and his oldest sister Ann were the only two that made it into their nineties. He was still sharp as a tack, moving well, but his eyesight is going and so he only drives his golf cart down the street to the club now. Like it has been my whole life with the Marich side, plenty of tears upon departure.
After our wonderful side trip it was off to Atlanta where we finally were able to get some relief as the heat and humidity cleared out after one day and cool, dry temps moved in. Ahhh. We had plenty of family to see. Our niece Jennifer and her husband Eddy and son Jacob. Nephew James, wife Madison, and daughter Abigail, along with future son, George who is due on or around Halloween. Finally Linda's brother Gary and his wife Sarah live there also.
Upper left we have Linda, Jennifer, Jake, and Eddy with me at the Atlanta Aquarium getting ready for the dolphin show. Upper middle is Jake petting the stingray's with dad Eddy and mom Jennifer making sure he doesn't take one home. Upper right I am trying to hold onto two wiggle worms until we were able to get them to sit for a half second on the lower left. The brown and white one is Laney and the black and white one is Maxine. Finally, the two looking unhappy because I told them they had to leave our room, are James and Jennifer.
Besides the Aquarium we went to some outlet stores, shopping for things we didn't need at TJ Maxx, a hobby shop where we bought some rocks for Jacob's collection, and lunch at Portillo's! Who knew they had a location in Atlanta? It is always fun to hang around with the kids, and now the kid's kids.
Young James even sprung for tickets to the Braves-Reds game, which we all enjoyed even if the Braves lost. Truist Park is beautiful to be sure. If you decide to make a trip be sure to bring a cannister of oxygen since you will have a three mile walk from the parking lot, uphill about twenty five hundred feet. With stairs tossed in occasionally to make sure you barely survive. I particualrly liked to sixty degree uphill ramp just before entering the park. Even with almost passing out I still appreciate James taking us to the game.
We also found the time to meet one of my high school friends, Jane Murphy, for lunch and a couple hours of story telling and remembering how much fun we had as youngsters. It always amazes me that somehow Jane and I were the only two in the group from back then that still look hot. If we do say so ourselves.
While we had a blast with everyone it all came crashing down on Friday night as Linda came down with what turned out to be the 24 hour flu. The good news is she infected half the group also so we all went to our own places to take care of the infirmed. Later Saturday afternoon James and Jennifer came by our hotel room so we could say goodbye, thus the sad faces when I told them Aunt Linda was delirious and she need to go to bed so we could get her on a plane the next day to go home.
Seeing the kids made us remember how much fun we had with them when they were little and came to visit us every summer. It also made us realize how stinking old we are now that they have kids who are the same age as we remember them. Being a part of their lives in a more involved way going forward will be a treat for us and we look forward to their kids looking forward to see Aunt Linda and Uncle Dan.
I'm not going to lie but we also really enjoyed having the chance to have a dog fix with everyone now having puppies. It also reminded us why we are not going to get another dog, they are exhausting. Family, friends, attractions, and good food made for a fantastic trip. We can't thank the kids enough for their generosity and time. We especially want to thank Eddy and Dom for hauling us all over hell's half acre for a week plus. It was nice to just be passengers for a change.
Hopefully it won't be ten plus years before we get together again.
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