Tag: family

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One Time at Band Camp

I got up this morning and had to get ready for Autumn’s band camp concert. I hadn’t been to one since my sister played the flute, so this was a bit of nostalgia mixed with a whole lot of anxiety. I made it out alive though, and we celebrated with La Huerta.

Summer insisted on mowing the lawn in the middle of the day, so I went to get her some Powerade, then went home to take care of my own house. I was so drowsy all afternoon that I had trouble staying awake, but I managed to get some stuff done. Summer and Eaddie came over once they were done, and I snooped around my breaker box for a bit to try and find the doorbell chime. I couldn’t ever get it to power down, so I’ll probably just kill the whole house tomorrow so I can install my Nest Hello.

They watched more of The Flash while I played some Overwatch with Clint and Jack until bedtime. Eaddie’s completely obsessed with the show, and I’m a little sad I didn’t get in on it with them, but there are plenty of other shows for me to watch.

Take two Advil and wake up in the morning.

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Won’t you take me to Junkytown?

Today had me beat. We spent all day taking down projectors and SMART boards from the high school, and almost every single room was really hot with no air circulation. The heat, plus lots of boards mounted to drywall instead of brick made for a difficult and sweaty time. We filled up two truck beds before lunch and had to unload them into an already full graveyard. Someone got wise and asked if we could take the projectors and mounting booms to the scrap metal yard, and we got a little over 30 bucks for it all. For technology that really probably wasn’t all that bad, I found that to be pretty frustrating.

After a quick lunch at Quiznos, we jumped right back into it at the high school. The guys at the scrapyard indicated to our guys with the first load that there needed to be more metal than what they got, so Zach and I drove to a different scrap yard in the afternoon. They didn’t want to pay anything at all, but they offered to let us throw them into a junk pile. It kind of broke me a little inside to be throwing that stuff away when presumably it could be sold or donated to someone in need. Summer gears are turning, though, and we have to move the merchandise.

When we got back to the shop, we were told we had a truck coming with several pallets of stuff for us, so we all had to wait outside and clean out more room in the graveyard to store the new stuff. That took us the rest of the work day, so there was no hope of going home early for most of us. Somehow Jason managed to disappear somewhere, and Dale waved goodbye as he drove off.

I went straight to my parents’ house to have a swim in the pool for a while. Summer and Eaddie came over to join me eventually. I left for a bit to get cheap Kroger gas with Dad and Julie, and then it was back to swim. Mom made pork and shrimp spring rolls for dinner, so we stayed for that. Everyone else was pretty tired by then, so we came back to my house to crash.

Where the heck did I put that box fan?

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Phở Real?

More heavy lifting today. This morning we managed to install three touch panels before 10AM. We were on such a roll that we went to CJ’s for lunch on the way back out to drop off four more panels and remove a whole bunch more. We ran out of mounting hardware, which makes the 50 TVs and touch panels in our warehouse completely useless until we get more, which had Dale reeling all afternoon. Removing old setups in the afternoon at least served to let the painters in between hardware to patch up the walls.

After work, Summer and Eaddie came over to go to my parents’ for phở. They both really liked it, and the spaghetti squash salad, and the avocado dessert drink. Eaddie even managed to make it through the whole meal with chopsticks.

We picked Noah up on the way back to my house, and we landed on watching the Get Smart movie remake from 2008. None of them had ever heard of it before, and I had never seen the new movie. I didn’t love it compared to the original, but I also haven’t seen the original since I was a kid. After showing them a compilation of the old show on YouTube, I was proud that Summer at least identified the voice of Inspector Gadget.

Sorry about that, Chief!

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ANT-onio Banderas

I tried not to sleep in too late today so I wouldn’t ruin my first morning back to work tomorrow. I guess it worked, because I’m exhausted now after a day in Conway.

I went to Summer’s to pick everyone up, and we headed to the movie. We picked up some cheap snacks first, and then grabbed our best seats for Ant-Man and the Wasp. I was a little worried at first, because the guy sitting next to me seemed to have negative comments for every single commercial that played before the trailers. He calmed down by the time the lights came down though, so all was well. The movie was great, and it really stoked everyone for the next Infinity War.

After the movie we went to Sam’s Club to try and exchange my succulent that rotted. They didn’t have any more, but they gave me a refund for half of the two plants, which was perfectly fine. We roamed around for a while, and I ended up picking up a super cheap mini fridge like the ones I’ve been eyeing for a while. It was about 25% cheaper than what I’d been watching on sale, so I couldn’t turn away.

We came straight back home where Summer grilled some brats and fried some potatoes for dinner. The Sam’s salsa we picked up was a disappointment, but everything else was awesome. Then we watched a couple episodes of The Office before I had to head home.

Aaron came online shortly after I got home, so we played one round of PUBG before bed. I didn’t die without at least one kill, so I call it a successful return.

You can do it. You can do anything. You’re the world’s greatest grandma.

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Rollin’ with the Stars

I made sausage, eggs, and hashbrowns for breakfast this morning that turned out pretty good. Summer went to pick up the girls and work out while I mostly lazed around the house. When they all came back over, we went to my parents’ house for beef spring rolls. Eaddie seemed to like them pretty well. Autumn met every expectation of not particularly enjoying anything at all. Even the seven layer dip wasn’t too big of a hit with her. Julie eventually came over to eat too, but she was mostly there to eat and run after just returning from Florida.

After we ate, the girls and I went out to swim, and Dad got out his telescope to see what he could find for them. We got a pretty good look at Jupiter and four of his moons. Everyone was pretty tired by the end of it all, and I’m blaming it all on jetlag and time zones. Ant Man tomorrow though.

At least my bed is cold.

Adventure Time!

Homeward Bound

I successfully canceled our hotel in Branson for tonight, and we got everything packed back up for the trip home. After a whole lot of sweating, I managed to get everything to fit into the trunk so I could strap my new Aeron chair to the hitch cargo rack. It felt solid enough that I called the guy back and met his wife to pick up his other chair as well. Why buy one when you can have two for twice the price? Even better, I got it for half what I paid for the first one due to a couple lines in the fabric of the seat.

From there we started our six and a half hour drive back home. We finally stopped at a Jack in the Box just outside of town after talking about it for a few days. It was about what I expected, but I just had to try it after all these years of seeing commercials.

We got back home around 9:00 and went to my house first to drop some things off and check on my plants and animals. It could have been worse, but I’ll have plenty to clean up this weekend. The worst was another ant infestation in the cat food. One of my succulents also seems to have melted away somehow. I think that was probably the most upsetting thing, because it was supposed to be hardy and able to not completely wither away in just two weeks.

From there, I took the girls home and got unpacked. Summer warmed up the last of my leftover egg rolls, then we watched a few episodes of The Office before bed.

How is it possible that so much house cleaning is necessary after two weeks of being gone?

Adventure Time!

What Are Traditions: Independence Day 2018

Even I slept in too late today. Everyone has been more and more tired every day, so we decided to try and cut the trip a day short. It’s our last day here, so we decided to spend it all at Fair St. Louis by the Gateway Arch.

We got there around 1:30 in the afternoon and made the walk to the arch. I made a big enough deal out of nobody touching the bean in Chicago that we all went up and leaned on the arch for a while. It was really hot out, but even with a relatively good amount of shade from the sun, we decided it best to spend most of the afternoon in the underground museum and visitor center. We ended up taking the tram to the top of the arch and spent a bit of time looking down over the city. They cart people up and down regularly, and you can just leave whenever you want, which I thought was interesting. It was super crowded, and the windows were way smaller than I expected.

After some pretty decent burgers in the underground restaurant and killing a couple extra hours in the museum, we went back up to the lawn to pick a place to watch the air show and fireworks. Summer and Eaddie went back to the car to pick up some snacks we brought, but ultimately had to give them away to someone outside the gates because they didn’t allow outside food to be brought in.

The air show was pretty good, and I was surprised to hear that one of the powered paragliders I follow on YouTube was actually a part of the act. After that, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra got Summer all riled up, and then the fireworks filled all the viewing space under the arch, which was pretty neat to experience. But I think the most impressive part of the evening was how quickly we got back out of the city after the show. There were so many people, and we just hopped on the freeway and made it back to the hotel without too much trouble.

Seriously, why the hell wasn’t it a McDonald’s under the arch?

Adventure Time!

It’ll put Aeron your chest!

September 2, 2010

Everyone slept in today after such a long day yesterday. I didn’t get to bed until around 3AM, but I was still the first up. I went downstairs to make some breakfast to bring back up since this hotel’s breakfast only runs through 9AM.

When everyone finally got up and around, we decided to go to LemonGrass, a Vietnamese restaurant I visited with my family almost eight years ago when we passed through to pick up my R1. I remembered the hotpot being so good that I just had to go again, even in our sudden downpour of rain. We all got something different, so everyone got a chance to try everything else. My vermicelli with lamb and an eggroll was pretty great. Afterward, the rain let up so we could walk a couple blocks down the road to Gelateria Del Leone for an icy dessert.

July 3, 2018

We left there and headed back toward the hotel, stopping at a Sam’s Club right up the road. We had picked up just a few things when I got a call back from the guy in town with the Herman Miller Aeron chairs. We ran back to the hotel to drop everything off and load up the cargo carrier, and headed back through the city to get a chair.

It’s going to be tough packing everything up. I’m definitely in charge of choosing what goes and what stays for any future adventures. It’s been more frustrating than necessary simply due to how much crap we’ve been lugging from hotel to hotel. It’s all a lesson in planning and minimalism.

Eat the leftovers!

Adventure Time!

Bean There, Done That

We slept in a bit longer than I had hoped after being out late for the movie. We eventually made the trip into the city for another couple shows at the Adler Planetarium and to check out the rest of the exhibits. This time I ignored the full parking signs and went straight to the planetarium parking, and a guy let me in for the same $25 rate I paid a couple days ago in a parking structure over half a mile away.

When we finished there, we went outside and ate some leftovers on the beach. Lake Michigan was a pretty spectacular sight, and there were sailboats everywhere. I even spotted the Tall Ship Windy on a tour. I’d love to go out on it sometime in the future. The weather was nice for sitting around, and I’m sure it would have been even better out on the water.

After that spot of lunch, we decided to walk the two miles to Millennium Park to see the Cloud Gate bean sculpture. It was pretty impressive, and completely surrounded by people. None of the girls wanted to get close enough to touch it, so I didn’t bother myself either, though I immediately regretted walking that far and not taking the extra few steps to see how it felt.

Two miles back to the car and we were off toward St. Louis. We stopped at an A&W/Long John Silver’s on the way because I wanted some home brewed root beer. We finally got into the hotel around midnight, and my first impression was that this hotel was completely built out of parts and pieces that were stolen from other area hotels. It’s like the owner kept booking rooms and would walk out with a hand full of room number plaques and elevator buttons, and then come back to use them in his hotel. We’ll have to see how things look in the morning when we’re not all dead tired from a four mile walk and a five hour drive.

Seriously bruh? Follow the speed limit!

Adventure Time!

Relatively Prehistoric

Today started off particularly slow and late. My Aunt Diane called after she got out of church so we could set up an early dinner. We left the hotel in the early afternoon to go shopping at an Old Navy that offered less of a deal than I expected, and then killed the rest of the afternoon there until we met my Aunt Diane and Uncle Rich at Greek Islands for dinner.

It was nice to visit with them, but they insisted on paying and the place wasn’t particularly cheap. It was probably the fanciest and most different meal we’ve had our entire trip though. I had a roasted suckling pig, Summer got lamb, Autumn had some kind of chicken spaghetti, and Eaddie had something with spinach and a flaky crust. The flaming cheese appetizer seemed to be pretty popular with other tables as well, and it was really good with the bread they had. None of my cousins could make it, but we managed to keep a conversation going.

After dinner, we separated and went our different ways. Summer spent the evening trying to prepack things to load in the morning so we could go catch Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom at an IMAX just a few blocks away. It was a super late showing for the girls at 10:20. The theater was a full-service dining experience, which was new to all of us I think. I don’t think I’d do it again except for a movie I’m really not interested in seeing. It was too distracting for my taste, and the screen wasn’t a traditional IMAX size. The girls had fun though, and we all got to experience a Dyson bathroom faucet with built-in hand dryers.

Life, uh, finds a way to pay.