Our holiday in New York was wonderful but brief. We enjoyed visiting with my family, and Finn is now at the age where we spend less time trying to physically stop her from getting into things she shouldn’t and more time telling her. But overall, she was really well-behaved and polite. Unfortunately, she also started out with a viral infection that worked its way down into her lungs, becoming bacterial bronchitis (or something like that). She spent a good portion of the ride home mercifully passed out in the carseat.
The weather was very mild and sunny up there, which was a real pleasure; usually there’s a howling frosty wind sweeping down from Canada to chill the bones. We took a couple of walks to work off our Thanksgiving dinner and enjoy the sun while it lasted.
Returning home, we scrapped a lot of our plans for Sunday to get Finn to the doctor, pick up medicine, and relax before the week caught up to us. I got the pumpkin ale bottled while the girls napped, and sorted out some early Christmas planning while watching football in bed. Finn was up and down a few times before going to sleep, and woke us at 1 with a bad dream. I slept in the guest bedroom after we installed her in the big bed to sleep next to Mama.
Thanks to the Redmans, who hosted a birthday party for Finn’s neighbor on the bench above. There was splashing in the pool, swinging on the swing, and a reluctant pinata that took some fatherly persuasion to give up the goods before it began raining.
This morning we took in the farmer’s market for the first time this year, scoring corn, tomatoes, eggplant and peaches. After Finn’s nap, she and I ran some errands to beautiful downtown Glen Burnie, which is sort of the bizarro Columbia—the stores are all the same, but the missing-tooth/tattoo/mullet frequency in the citizenry goes off the charts. Then it was back home to make dinner, read books, and sample some guacamole before bedtime.
After a long weekend of driving and family and friends and swimming and wrenching, we’re all safely back home. Mama and Finn spent the day home from life in their PJ’s catching up on naps and rest after a total of about three centuries in the car, and I expect they’ll need at least another month of recuperation before they’ve caught up on sleep. My trip across the bridge was awesome, documented elsewhere on the web. I’d have pulled in through syndication from the other weblog, but for some reason it’s throwing errors and I’m too tired to troubleshoot it right now.
It’s funny how the rhythms of our little family unit morph organically over time. Lately, Finn has been sleeping later in the mornings (thank GOD), usually stirring between 6:30 and 7:30. For the last couple of weeks, she’s been opening the door to our bedroom around 7 or so, clutching an armful of her stuffed animals. I usually scoot over to the center of the bed, lift the covers, and she climbs up to lay next to me. Mama touches my back and I nestle my nose into the tangle of her hair, and we doze like that for as long as possible before we have to get up to start the day. I try not to sleep, enjoying the nearness of my family, but usually it’s too peaceful to resist falling back asleep, knowing everything is right in the world with my girls.
I cracked open the first bottle of hefeweizen this weekend and sampled the brew; the verdict is that it’s pretty heavy. The recipe I had didn’t come with the extract kit, so the taste comes off like the extract was in the pot and cooking for about 15 minutes too long. It’s heavy up front and finishes off pretty light but there’s a definite extract tang in the taste that’s going to take some getting used to. Tonight I’m going to pour some in a clear glass to look at the color, but I suspect it’s going to be dark and muddy.
Meanwhile, we hit the IKEA on Saturday to look for some furniture for Finn’s room. The bookshelf we wanted was out of stock. The bench we bought for the new bathroom was too wide and too long. But the lamp we bought for her room was just right… oh, well. Later in the day we met up with Jen’s family to get fitted for seersucker suits at Jos. A Bank in Columbia; All went swimmingly until we learned that their tan seersucker suits don’t come without pleated pants—no matter what size they are.
We chose some hardware for the new bathroom on Sunday and I spent some time installing a towel bar, TP holder, and toilet pull, which makes the room look better. We’re waiting on a special-order sink faucet which should arrive sometime this week.
The Lockardugans had a busy, busy Memorial Day weekend. First up on our dance card was Aunt Christi’s graduation and celebration dinner. I could not make the ceremony but caught up with everyone later at Sascha’s for the celebration dinner. As we were eating, we recognized the girl in charge of our wedding, who came over to say hi right about the same time I was going to get up to say hello to her.
After the main course, I took the restless girl out for a walk to the Washington Monument, where we made friends with a kennel’s worth of dogs and ran around the empty fountains while couples strolled and chatted in the evening breeze.
Saturday we worked to clean the house up for more guests; my old college pal Chris and his family stopped over for a crab feast at the dining room table, and we shared parenting tips and home renovation stories. Who would have thought that twenty years ago, wandering back buzzed from the jazz clubs downtown at two in the morning, that we’d one day be comparing families and kids and jobs?
We had a bunch of crabs left over on Sunday, so Mama and I made short work of them after a long day in the den and chasing after the girl. Note to the Internets: To reheat crabs, throw them in a covered roasting pan and cook it at 350° for about 15 minutes. Delicious!
Meanwhile, the den is ever so much closer to being finished. All of the small molding is in place, the fireplace is surrounded with clean quarter-round, and the threshold over the bathroom door is in place. Mama rolled the first coat of wall paint over the primer, and I followed behind cutting in with a brush.
We also put a coat of yellow paint on the bathroom wall to see how it looks. At first we were a bit dubious, but I think it’s growing on us. We have some minor stuff to do in order to finish up:
- Putting a second coat of eggshell on the walls, and cutting it in
- Fixing the tape and spackle behind the radiator
- Cutting the toe molding around the back door threshold
- Fixing imperfections in the polyurethane on the floor
- Touch-up on the trim paint
- Replacing the switchplates and covers, and adding a timer to the porch light
We’re back from our trek northward to pay respects to Uncle Neil and visit with family, and I’d say it whupped all three of our butts. The drive up was great, but long, and Finn did really well in the car. Friday morning we got up super-early, put on our church clothes, and drove another hour and a half northward to attend a warm, at times humorous, and solemn service. Afterwards there was a reception at a local restaurant and later still a party at a house I only recall from snapshots and dust-covered memories. It was great to catch up with relatives and friends, and Finn was so incredibly well-behaved, it made my heart hurt.
Saturday was filled with more family, starting with an invitation to meet cows and ride a tractor under a deep blue sky. Later my sister hosted a spaghetti dinner for a gaggle of aunts and uncles, and we toasted my uncle Neil once again. As always, Finn was the life of the party.
Speaking for myself, the trip was tiring but very, very good, even if the reason sucked.
Digging through my limited archives, I found this photo among other posed shots around summer pools, crowded farmhouse tables, and outdoor picnics. There are other, more traditional photos of the man (He’s on the right), but this one is how I’ll remember him. Goodbye, Uncle Neil.