I’m Beautiful Like Me.

My father-in-law called at the last minute and invited us to meet him and my sister-in-law, Rebekah at Aunt M’s place in Smyrna, Tennessee. Rebekah has orientation at college today and they had some free time last night and wanted to visit with us. Husband had made other commitments, it’s been a year and a half since he’s seen his dad. Originally, Husband declined to meet his dad and sister. I had tried to finagle and work out some sort of plan so he could see his family and keep his commitment, but it just wasn’t possible to do both. He reluctantly broke his previous commitment, we picked Joy up from school right at 3:15pm and drove the three hours to Smyrna.

Husband drove most of the way. He’s looking a little scruffy. Both kids fell asleep in the car. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I always get excited about the state signs.

 

 

 

 

 

We arrived at around 5:30 (Central Time). Grandpa welcomed us by giving the kids water-weapons.

Lucky us.

Especially Aunt Bekah.

(I threatened to "forget" them there. Unfortunately, Joy was on to my plan and made sure they made it into the car.)

 

 

Aunt M’s two daughters and their respective husbands and children accompanied them. I had met four of the six of them briefly before, three at brother-in-law’s wedding and the fourth when Aunt M visited us with her granddaughter. It was nice to see and meet everyone.

Aunt M and Husband’s cousin prepared quite a feast. Husband cooked the marinated steaks on the grill, there were mushrooms, onions, potato salad, garden salad, pasta salad, cole slaw, green beans, and ice cream cake in honor of the college-bound girl.

Aunt M’s place is really kid-friendly and the kids had great fun ripping through her house and yard with water-weapons and self-propelling cars.

At around 9pm, Husband’s cousins (and families) left and it got pretty quiet. Husband, his dad and Aunt M chatted in the dining room for a bit while I hung out with Bekah and Joy. Buddha was too busy playing with all the new toys to have time for anyone. He really had a blast. We were invited to spend the night, but since Bekah and Father-in-Law had an early morning, we opted to drive home. I admit, I prefer sleeping in my own bed. I got one last (super-great) photo before leaving.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three generations

We made it home safely around 3:30am.

I’m really glad we went.

Yesterday, Husband spent the morning and part of the afternoon at the gun range with a friend. He was so happy to get to do some target practice, as it’s been so long. Unfortunately, my toothache was absolutely horrid. When he called to tell me he was on his way home, he asked what I was doing, to which I replied "Contemplating suicide." The pain was that bad. I tried to distract myself with knitting, television and playing on Facebook, but it just didn’t work. When I tried lying down with Buddha at naptime was the absolute worst. I seriously considered not keeping my commitment for today. I couldn’t imagine traveling 2 hours each way in the car with kids in that condition.

Luckily, I woke up this morning feeling much better. I woke up 30 minutes before the alarm (which, incidentally, Husband forgot to set). I took a quick shower, woke up the rest of the house and we packed up the car to head for Cincinnati to meet up with my mom-in-law, one of my four sis-in-laws and MIL’s friend and daughter. We planned to meet at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens for the day. Our carload arrived at about 10:30am.

However, just before reaching us, their carload was in a minor traffic incident and were delayed. The four of us headed on in to appease the restless baby. We watched the elephants get lunch and got to pet a penguin. 

 

 

Joy ended up taking most of the pictures of the animals at the zoo. She was better at it than I expected. She took gobs of pictures of the creatures in the insect exhibit that didn’t turn out (due to the glass), the big cats and several of the zebras (her long-time favorite).

 

I took many of the gorillas. They were great: the mama and baby, the grumpy old man, the majestic alpha and a few other females. I counted 6 in all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A kind passer-by took a group shot for us. I love it, ‘cept rotten Buddha looked the other way.

After a while, it seemed like we were going in circles. We were tired, thirsty, hungry and Joy was eager to spend more time at the indoor exhibits, which is highly difficult with a party of our size, as well as a stroller weighed down with purses and a diaper bag. Plus, Buddha was having a hard time getting warmed up to his long-distance family members, which I know must be frustrating for Gramma. We decided to head over to McDonald’s, first because it’s cheap and more importantly, we all knew where it was located!

 

Gramma got Buddha to warm up to her by getting him some ice cream.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We haven’t seen ‘em since other sis-in-law’s wedding in December of 2007, so it was really great to see them all again. Hopefully it won’t be as long until we can do it again. We love you all!

With the busy and eventful week and weekend we’ve had, I am very hopeful to just lie around tomorrow doing much of nothing. Maybe I’ll do some knitting and watch some movies, especially since my toothache is right back to kickin’ my ass this evening.

It’s been crazy around here this week! Husband has been busy with work Monday and Tuesday. Yesterday, I helped Big Rob out at the new shop since the people he’s been hiring apparently aren’t familiar with the alphabet. Meanwhile, Husband drove all over the city to straighten out some confusion with the station wagon we bought last month when the truck got sick and then handled the legalities so we’re legit with the whip. We spent a small fortune (that we really didn’t have - had to clean out the emergency savings account) to get much-needed work on the ride: an oil change, brakes and 4 new tires. Finally riding smoothly.

Today was Buddha’s follow-up appointment from his fracture was this morning. We waited two and a half hours for the orthopedist to say "Looks like it was never broke! Hope we don’t see you again." I was very frustrated by the long wait. We had to rush back across town to get Joy from school to get to our appointments by 1pm. I am now seeing her psychiatrist Dr. P. We are already acquainted, I’m very comfortable with him and he’s pretty cute, too. We discussed my history, meds I’ve tried before and even researched a newer drug that he’s never prescribed. He gave me a ’script of Zoloft. I start it tomorrow.

While I was meeting him alone for the first time today, she saw her therapist while Husband dozed and Buddha wreaked havoc in the waiting room. The poor kid was stuck in waiting rooms 75% of the day, with no nap. When our respective hours were up (hers with the therapist, mine with Dr. P), it was her turn with Dr. P. As we are returning to Dr. P’s office from rounding everyone up from the waiting room - we thought it a good idea for Dr. P to meet Husband and Buddha - Buddha rounded the corner too fast and bonked his head good on the door jamb. He grew a sizable goose egg on the right side of his noggin. My poor baby. Needless to say, it made for a very interesting and noisy half hour.

Yesterday, my darling, well-meaning yet evil, evil Husband made an appointment for me to see a dentist. Anyone who knows me knows damn good and well that I am absolutely terrified of the dentist and with good reason. Blissfully, Dr. P listened while I carried on quite animatedly about my anxiety and also gave me a short-term ’script for Xanax to take before my appointment. That coupled with several other outlets for describing and discussing my fear has set me a bit at ease about it. Make no mistake - I’m still very nervous, just less so than I was while listening to Husband make the appointment.

At this time, everyone is asleep and I’m enjoying some much needed peace and quiet without a huge list of chores to do. I think I might go peruse those knitting/crochet books I picked up at the library and catch up on the DVR. The weekend promises to be as busy as the week has been, but do look for an update again soon. I promise!