It was a great week this past week. It was Spring Break. Now, normally, I wouldn't be very happy because that means that everyone is home with me. This year, however, was different.
The move of Stewie from one room to the other was pretty good, except we had a lot of prep work (okay, cleaning) to do in Beenie's room. But he worked really hard, and was really excited to have his brother move in. It took a couple of days, but everything got sorted out and we moved Beenie's bed to make room for Stewie. We have decided to build lofts for each of the boys, and we plan to start with Stewie. Unfortunately, I didn't get out to buy the lumber during the week, so it's on hold for a little bit longer. We did manage to buy Stewie a new mattress in preparation for the loft move, so at least he has a nice, comfortable place to sleep (I daresay the most comfortable mattress in the house). Even if it is on the floor right now.
With the icky boys out of their room, the girls were excited to do some reorganizing of their sleeping arrangements. We took down Muchkin's crib, and moved her into the bottom bunk. She has a new sheet set of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, so she now calls it "my capiller bed".
Of course, this meant that Keke got moved to the top bunk, a move that she has been begging for for a long time. Never mind the fact that she used to be in the top bunk, and switched at some point with Stewie so he was in the top bunk and she was in the bottom. She certainly has "the grass is greener" syndrome. She is so my kid sometimes.
As much as I enjoyed the cleaning and moving (I did. No sarcasm there. Okay, I wasn't a big fan of the process, but I love the results.), the best day of the week had to be Wednesday. We decided to take the day and drive up to see Ellen's folks. Stew has just recently had a hip replacement (to correct the unsuccessful hip surgery that he had to have after he fell off his bike in October and broke his hip), and this was our first time seeing him since the surgery. He is doing really well, and the doctor wants to try to get him back on his bike by early summer. Jo is doing well, too, considering that her husband has been basically home-bound since October.
This visit by us coincided with a visit from Jo's sister Judy and her husband Art (whom we call Uncle Bunky - I don't know why). They live in Maine, and came out to visit over Easter week. They are great - I love going up to Maine to visit them, although we don't do it very often. That might have something to do with my assertion that the next time I set foot in Maine, I'm not leaving. Anyway it was great to get to see them.
The kids got to play with their cousins, as they usually do on visits to Grammy and Grampy's. Although I'm sure that it wasn't enough time for any of them. One unintended consequence was that it didn't take a big chunk out of our week, so we got to visit with everyone and still got things done around our house. Sometimes we have to make that choice.
My favorite part of Wednesday was that I got to see my old college buddy, Eric. I actually have two old college buddies named Eric. One of them lives in Texas, and one is on the road with The Lion King (he's the Props Master). Well, The Lion King was in Toledo for the last few weeks, and Toledo is only a hop, skip, and jump from Ellen's folks house. I was kind of hoping for a trip of a couple of days so we could go up to Toledo to see Eric and maybe the theatre, but our one day in and out trip precluded that excursion. I offered to ditch the family and drive up myself, but Eric was gracious enough to offer to drive down to us. So, Eric got to experience Ellen's family in one big group! And he still managed to survive!
It was so good to see Eric. We were really good friends in college, in a lot of the same classes together and working on theatre productions and various projects together. We lost track of each other for a while, then (and I can't remember how) re-connected about 5 or 6 years ago. Eric was in Cleveland with the show in 2003, and came down to visit us a couple of times during the run. The last day he visited was the day of the 2003 Northeast Blackout. He had just left to head back to Cleveland when the power went out. We managed to get together the next summer on Cape Cod, when TLK was in Boston. Since then we have sort of lost contact again (except for the occasional email), so it was good to see him again. He'll be in DC for most of the summer, and I'd really like to get there for a couple of days to see him, the show, and our old stomping grounds. If not, he's scheduled to be in Columbus in the fall, so we'll hook up then.
The week ended on a good note, as we went out (at the kid's suggestion) to Olive Garden. I think that is their favorite restaurant (except for McDonald's - or as Stewie says, "Mitnonals") And I'm always up for a good Italian meal and a bottle of San Pelligrino!
So, all in all, a good Spring Break. Now only 9 weeks of school left. I don't know if that's a good thing or not. :)
The move of Stewie from one room to the other was pretty good, except we had a lot of prep work (okay, cleaning) to do in Beenie's room. But he worked really hard, and was really excited to have his brother move in. It took a couple of days, but everything got sorted out and we moved Beenie's bed to make room for Stewie. We have decided to build lofts for each of the boys, and we plan to start with Stewie. Unfortunately, I didn't get out to buy the lumber during the week, so it's on hold for a little bit longer. We did manage to buy Stewie a new mattress in preparation for the loft move, so at least he has a nice, comfortable place to sleep (I daresay the most comfortable mattress in the house). Even if it is on the floor right now.
With the icky boys out of their room, the girls were excited to do some reorganizing of their sleeping arrangements. We took down Muchkin's crib, and moved her into the bottom bunk. She has a new sheet set of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, so she now calls it "my capiller bed".
Of course, this meant that Keke got moved to the top bunk, a move that she has been begging for for a long time. Never mind the fact that she used to be in the top bunk, and switched at some point with Stewie so he was in the top bunk and she was in the bottom. She certainly has "the grass is greener" syndrome. She is so my kid sometimes.
As much as I enjoyed the cleaning and moving (I did. No sarcasm there. Okay, I wasn't a big fan of the process, but I love the results.), the best day of the week had to be Wednesday. We decided to take the day and drive up to see Ellen's folks. Stew has just recently had a hip replacement (to correct the unsuccessful hip surgery that he had to have after he fell off his bike in October and broke his hip), and this was our first time seeing him since the surgery. He is doing really well, and the doctor wants to try to get him back on his bike by early summer. Jo is doing well, too, considering that her husband has been basically home-bound since October.
This visit by us coincided with a visit from Jo's sister Judy and her husband Art (whom we call Uncle Bunky - I don't know why). They live in Maine, and came out to visit over Easter week. They are great - I love going up to Maine to visit them, although we don't do it very often. That might have something to do with my assertion that the next time I set foot in Maine, I'm not leaving. Anyway it was great to get to see them.
The kids got to play with their cousins, as they usually do on visits to Grammy and Grampy's. Although I'm sure that it wasn't enough time for any of them. One unintended consequence was that it didn't take a big chunk out of our week, so we got to visit with everyone and still got things done around our house. Sometimes we have to make that choice.
My favorite part of Wednesday was that I got to see my old college buddy, Eric. I actually have two old college buddies named Eric. One of them lives in Texas, and one is on the road with The Lion King (he's the Props Master). Well, The Lion King was in Toledo for the last few weeks, and Toledo is only a hop, skip, and jump from Ellen's folks house. I was kind of hoping for a trip of a couple of days so we could go up to Toledo to see Eric and maybe the theatre, but our one day in and out trip precluded that excursion. I offered to ditch the family and drive up myself, but Eric was gracious enough to offer to drive down to us. So, Eric got to experience Ellen's family in one big group! And he still managed to survive!
It was so good to see Eric. We were really good friends in college, in a lot of the same classes together and working on theatre productions and various projects together. We lost track of each other for a while, then (and I can't remember how) re-connected about 5 or 6 years ago. Eric was in Cleveland with the show in 2003, and came down to visit us a couple of times during the run. The last day he visited was the day of the 2003 Northeast Blackout. He had just left to head back to Cleveland when the power went out. We managed to get together the next summer on Cape Cod, when TLK was in Boston. Since then we have sort of lost contact again (except for the occasional email), so it was good to see him again. He'll be in DC for most of the summer, and I'd really like to get there for a couple of days to see him, the show, and our old stomping grounds. If not, he's scheduled to be in Columbus in the fall, so we'll hook up then.
The week ended on a good note, as we went out (at the kid's suggestion) to Olive Garden. I think that is their favorite restaurant (except for McDonald's - or as Stewie says, "Mitnonals") And I'm always up for a good Italian meal and a bottle of San Pelligrino!
So, all in all, a good Spring Break. Now only 9 weeks of school left. I don't know if that's a good thing or not. :)
