OK, OK, I remember this view. I remember where I am at. I’m at Mindy’s. And what’s more, I’m ready to get up despite having stayed up till 130am. I rolled out of bed to pee and brush my teeth at 700am. Unfortunately, I had a small headache. But what headache is ever small? Dull might have been a better description.
Mindy woke soon after I, and we both we eagerly looking forward to another quiet Saturday morning sipping coffee on the couch against the warmth of her fireplace. But as much as we desired it, it just wasn’t meant to be. Both of her children were calling out for their mommy and permission to get out of bed. I tell you what, when I was their age I just did what I saw fit. If I wanted up, I got up. There was no seeking permission or validation. Nope – not me!
Mindy went about making our coffee. It still turned out to be a pleasant morning, just not too quiet of one. Bella saw to that. She was fairly demanding of her mother’s attention. She wanted to watch a movie (Stuart Little) and also play with Play-Doe. I hadn’t played with Play-Doe in an awfully long time and enjoyed the opportunity that presented itself. I couldn’t help but notice that each of the colors had been morphed into one. In other words, the kids weren’t very discriminating about putting the red with the red, the blue with the blue, and the yellow with the yellow. Bella didn’t care for my eating her Play-Doe, either. I’ve always excelled at tormenting children, including my own!
By 10am I had to head home to relieve Ykraps as I was certain his walnut was about to explode. On my way, however, I sized up a potential running route through Mindy’s sub-division. It looks like a very inviting run given the proximity to Heritage Estates Golf Club and all the beautiful homes.
Once home I immediately took Ykraps out to relieve himself. He seemed most thankful for my caring ways! J I had a busy day planned so it was paramount that I got things going right away.
My first order of business was cleaning my home which included cleaning the floors (vacuuming and mopping), laundry, unloading the dishwasher, and decorating a little more. All of this and more was in advance of having my granddaughter Kaileigh spend the night as well as having Mindy and her children over. We were planning to meet at my house for pizza and then head to the zoo to see the “wildlights”. But before any of that I had some shopping to do. By the time I left my house it was approaching 2pm.
My first stop was Home Depot. I wanted some colored spot lights to festively illuminate my back yard trees. I couldn’t find them last week but I did find them on this occasion. In addition, I wanted to pick-up two new poinsettia plants – one for me and one for Mindy. They had some very beautiful ones in large 10” pots. While there I picked up a bag of sidewalk salt too. With a north facing drive and walk, ice lingers for days on end since there’s never any sunlight to help melt it away. My next stop was Walmart to do a little more Xmas shopping. Hilliard Cemetery is always a disaster during the Xmas season and Saturday was no exception. I stopped in Old Navy first thinking I’d pick-up a couple gifts on the list but the line for check-out looked to be about 25 people deep – ridiculous, I thought to myself. I opted to return late one evening to avoid the line. Walmart was just as crowded, but I was on a mission and sorely needed to get some of these gifts on my list. Is it just me, or what? Where do these people at Walmart come from? Good Lord!! This is never an easy, pleasant experience. I battled through the frustration and repeated a peaceful mantra as I perused the store trying to look beyond the flaws of others. I’m sure that mine bother others too! Happily, I found everything I sought and went to the check out. That was an experience in and of itself. But I’ll spare you the details though. Most of you know what that’s like!
My timing was good. It was time (345pm) to head to Joey’s to pick-up Kaileigh. I was looking forward to having time with her. We hadn’t spent time together in about 6 weeks. I called Joey to give him a heads up. When I arrived at Kaileigh’s, she was eagerly waiting. Joey’s fiancée had her dressed really pretty and her hair in lovely braids. I’m telling you, she is one beautiful little girl – sweet, smart, and polite too! We called Mindy once on the road to determine our timing. Turns out Mindy was on her way to my home. I went ahead and called Minelli’;s and ordered a couple of pizzas that I could pick-up on our way back to my home (Minelli’s north is only a minute from my home). That went without incident, and before we knew it, we were back home.
Mindy and her children were already at play inside. Kaileigh hadn’t met Mindy or her children yet so we quickly got that out of the way. Kaileigh typically does fairly well with meet and greets. Saturday was no different. She warmed quickly. Mindy reported that Bella, who had only been at my house for maybe 5-10 minutes, had already taken a spill down the stairs. Yikes!!! Luckily, she wasn’t hurt. Sorta glad I wasn’t there. I would’ve freaked! We all sat at the table for some pizza and fun. And as usual, the Minelli’s Pizza was superb! Soon it was time to ready ourselves for a night at the zoo. We bundled the children as well as ourselves, then loaded our provisions and ourselves in Mindy’s mini-van.
The ride up was fun as Xmas music played over the radio and the kids sang a few songs. As the drive progressed, there were many “are we there yet’ questions brought forward form the back. I thought that only happened in the movies! Alas we were there! To my amazement, the line to enter the parking lot was extremely long. Once in the parking area it was obvious that this event was quite the draw. It was packed! I remember thinking that this must be an even better event than I had thought. Mindy and I were both a little surprised at how cold it seemed. I don’t think that either of us were prepared for the bitter chill of the cold winter like wind blowing from the north. The weather bug said it was 27 degrees when we left my house but at the zoo it felt like 27 below! We made our way to the entry line where after a five or ten minute wait we were given the opportunity to contribute $33 to the Jack Hanna retire fund. I remember thinking to myself, Wow, this must really be good!
Once inside the park Mindy directed our stroll. She seemed like a zoo veteran. Probably all the school field trips. We decided to tour the east side first. At first the lights were interesting to look at despite the bitter cold. And the kids seemed OK for the first 5 minutes. Me, however, I was becoming just a little discouraged as I wielded Mindy’s double stroller through the maze of people. There’s always a fat ass in every crowd that seems to insist on walking as slowly as possible right in front of me. If you want to breed with the manatee’s why don’t you just jump in for Christ’s sake! Oops – did I say that? Soon the whimpers began to rise from our children. As I mentioned, we had brought Mindy’s double stroller despite both Jacob and Kaileigh insisting that they’d be walking on their own. Jacob was getting frustrated with walking and the girls in the stroller were cold and had to pee. Plus, they were insistent on getting some hot cocoa. After a little whining, Mindy forked out another $15 contribution to Jack Hanna’s retirement fund, and in return received two commemorative cups of hot cocoa flavored water and a dough stick (pretzel). OK, now we were set! Bella had a bout had it with the stroller and wanted carried. Mindy and I switched roles. I carried Bella, she pushed Jacob and Kaileigh in the stroller. Adding Jacob in lieu of Bella changed the stroller dynamics considerably. I was now like pushing a baby manatee around. For just a moment I thought that that fat ass might have snuck into our stroller! No, just the two older kids! Like a glowing Oasis the petting barn looked to offer a warm reprieve and perhaps even an opportunity to rest our tired arms: Mindy’s from pushing the stroller and mine from carrying Bella. Onto the petting barn, I say!. Yes, I saw the signs that discouraged food or drink in the barn but, hey, our kids were small and sweet. They each took part in brushing and stroking the sheep & goats. As we tried to keep an eye on each of them, we were approached by a barn attendant (a drain on Jack Hanna’s retire fund) and reminded that having food in the barn was probably not a good idea because that’s how Ecoli gets transferred to humans. Great! Let’s recap. We drove fifteen miles; waited in line to park; stood in line in the bitter cold; contributed $50 or so to Jack’s retirement. We, in turn, received two commemorative cups and Ecoli for the kids! All of this and we’d only been in the park for 20 minutes – tops! Boy, were we having a good time! I looked frantically for a stick so Mindy could poke me in the eye but couldn’t find one – damn! That would have been the capper!!!
We let the barn with the whiny kids in tow with the idea that we needed to get to the other side of the zoo so that we’d be even further away from the warmth of our parked car. But before we’d head over there, we had to visit the caged reindeer that seemed to be drawing quite a crowd. Up till that point the only wild animals I had seen aside from that manatee was what Mindy reported a swan on the frozen pond. Looked like a lump of snow to me. If it was a swan, it was dead! Come to think of it, I’ll bet that manatee sat on it. Oh joy. The reindeer was nothing more than a dog that resembled Max from The Grinch with a tree branch tied to his little head. Fun-fun! Onward!
As we moved on towards the west side of the park we faced a tough decision. Do we stay for the exciting second half or do we make a run for it now? The kids chimed in with their preference. Bella and Kaileigh wanted to go home. Jacob, on the other hand, insisted on heading to the other side. I think he knew right where I could find a stick for my eye on the other side. To temper his desire, Mindy told him that the other side was closed. It was obvious what her vote was! And BTW, when is a lie not a lie? In the end leaving won. Mindy and I both were just giddy with the anticipation of being back in her warm van heading home. As we departed the park new arrivals continued pouring in. In fact, they were lined a mile down Riverside Dr. waiting for their opportunity to contribute to Jack’s retirement.
And as we were happily heading south I pointed at each vehicle still in line and shouted, SUCKER!!!!!
Back at my house we threw in a movie, The Grinch, and relaxed to the warmth of a fire. Very nice!
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OK, OK, I remember this view. I remember where I am at. I’m at Mindy’s. And what’s more, I’m ready to get up despite having stayed up till 130am. I rolled out of bed to pee and brush my teeth at 700am. Unfortunately, I had a small headache. But what headache is ever small? Dull might have been a better description.
Mindy woke soon after I, and we both we eagerly looking forward to another quiet Saturday morning sipping coffee on the couch against the warmth of her fireplace. But as much as we desired it, it just wasn’t meant to be. Both of her children were calling out for their mommy and permission to get out of bed. I tell you what, when I was their age I just did what I saw fit. If I wanted up, I got up. There was no seeking permission or validation. Nope – not me!
Mindy went about making our coffee. It still turned out to be a pleasant morning, just not too quiet of one. Bella saw to that. She was fairly demanding of her mother’s attention. She wanted to watch a movie (Stuart Little) and also play with Play-Doe. I hadn’t played with Play-Doe in an awfully long time and enjoyed the opportunity that presented itself. I couldn’t help but notice that each of the colors had been morphed into one. In other words, the kids weren’t very discriminating about putting the red with the red, the blue with the blue, and the yellow with the yellow. Bella didn’t care for my eating her Play-Doe, either. I’ve always excelled at tormenting children, including my own!
By 10am I had to head home to relieve Ykraps as I was certain his walnut was about to explode. On my way, however, I sized up a potential running route through Mindy’s sub-division. It looks like a very inviting run given the proximity to Heritage Estates Golf Club and all the beautiful homes.
Once home I immediately took Ykraps out to relieve himself. He seemed most thankful for my caring ways! J I had a busy day planned so it was paramount that I got things going right away.
My first order of business was cleaning my home which included cleaning the floors (vacuuming and mopping), laundry, unloading the dishwasher, and decorating a little more. All of this and more was in advance of having my granddaughter Kaileigh spend the night as well as having Mindy and her children over. We were planning to meet at my house for pizza and then head to the zoo to see the “wildlights”. But before any of that I had some shopping to do. By the time I left my house it was approaching 2pm.
My first stop was Home Depot. I wanted some colored spot lights to festively illuminate my back yard trees. I couldn’t find them last week but I did find them on this occasion. In addition, I wanted to pick-up two new poinsettia plants – one for me and one for Mindy. They had some very beautiful ones in large 10” pots. While there I picked up a bag of sidewalk salt too. With a north facing drive and walk, ice lingers for days on end since there’s never any sunlight to help melt it away. My next stop was Walmart to do a little more Xmas shopping. Hilliard Cemetery is always a disaster during the Xmas season and Saturday was no exception. I stopped in Old Navy first thinking I’d pick-up a couple gifts on the list but the line for check-out looked to be about 25 people deep – ridiculous, I thought to myself. I opted to return late one evening to avoid the line. Walmart was just as crowded, but I was on a mission and sorely needed to get some of these gifts on my list. Is it just me, or what? Where do these people at Walmart come from? Good Lord!! This is never an easy, pleasant experience. I battled through the frustration and repeated a peaceful mantra as I perused the store trying to look beyond the flaws of others. I’m sure that mine bother others too! Happily, I found everything I sought and went to the check out. That was an experience in and of itself. But I’ll spare you the details though. Most of you know what that’s like!
My timing was good. It was time (345pm) to head to Joey’s to pick-up Kaileigh. I was looking forward to having time with her. We hadn’t spent time together in about 6 weeks. I called Joey to give him a heads up. When I arrived at Kaileigh’s, she was eagerly waiting. Joey’s fiancée had her dressed really pretty and her hair in lovely braids. I’m telling you, she is one beautiful little girl – sweet, smart, and polite too! We called Mindy once on the road to determine our timing. Turns out Mindy was on her way to my home. I went ahead and called Minelli’;s and ordered a couple of pizzas that I could pick-up on our way back to my home (Minelli’s north is only a minute from my home). That went without incident, and before we knew it, we were back home.
Mindy and her children were already at play inside. Kaileigh hadn’t met Mindy or her children yet so we quickly got that out of the way. Kaileigh typically does fairly well with meet and greets. Saturday was no different. She warmed quickly. Mindy reported that Bella, who had only been at my house for maybe 5-10 minutes, had already taken a spill down the stairs. Yikes!!! Luckily, she wasn’t hurt. Sorta glad I wasn’t there. I would’ve freaked! We all sat at the table for some pizza and fun. And as usual, the Minelli’s Pizza was superb! Soon it was time to ready ourselves for a night at the zoo. We bundled the children as well as ourselves, then loaded our provisions and ourselves in Mindy’s mini-van.
The ride up was fun as Xmas music played over the radio and the kids sang a few songs. As the drive progressed, there were many “are we there yet’ questions brought forward form the back. I thought that only happened in the movies! Alas we were there! To my amazement, the line to enter the parking lot was extremely long. Once in the parking area it was obvious that this event was quite the draw. It was packed! I remember thinking that this must be an even better event than I had thought. Mindy and I were both a little surprised at how cold it seemed. I don’t think that either of us were prepared for the bitter chill of the cold winter like wind blowing from the north. The weather bug said it was 27 degrees when we left my house but at the zoo it felt like 27 below! We made our way to the entry line where after a five or ten minute wait we were given the opportunity to contribute $33 to the Jack Hanna retire fund. I remember thinking to myself, Wow, this must really be good!
Once inside the park Mindy directed our stroll. She seemed like a zoo veteran. Probably all the school field trips. We decided to tour the east side first. At first the lights were interesting to look at despite the bitter cold. And the kids seemed OK for the first 5 minutes. Me, however, I was becoming just a little discouraged as I wielded Mindy’s double stroller through the maze of people. There’s always a fat ass in every crowd that seems to insist on walking as slowly as possible right in front of me. If you want to breed with the manatee’s why don’t you just jump in for Christ’s sake! Oops – did I say that? Soon the whimpers began to rise from our children. As I mentioned, we had brought Mindy’s double stroller despite both Jacob and Kaileigh insisting that they’d be walking on their own. Jacob was getting frustrated with walking and the girls in the stroller were cold and had to pee. Plus, they were insistent on getting some hot cocoa. After a little whining, Mindy forked out another $15 contribution to Jack Hanna’s retirement fund, and in return received two commemorative cups of hot cocoa flavored water and a dough stick (pretzel). OK, now we were set! Bella had a bout had it with the stroller and wanted carried. Mindy and I switched roles. I carried Bella, she pushed Jacob and Kaileigh in the stroller. Adding Jacob in lieu of Bella changed the stroller dynamics considerably. I was now like pushing a baby manatee around. For just a moment I thought that that fat ass might have snuck into our stroller! No, just the two older kids! Like a glowing Oasis the petting barn looked to offer a warm reprieve and perhaps even an opportunity to rest our tired arms: Mindy’s from pushing the stroller and mine from carrying Bella. Onto the petting barn, I say!. Yes, I saw the signs that discouraged food or drink in the barn but, hey, our kids were small and sweet. They each took part in brushing and stroking the sheep & goats. As we tried to keep an eye on each of them, we were approached by a barn attendant (a drain on Jack Hanna’s retire fund) and reminded that having food in the barn was probably not a good idea because that’s how Ecoli gets transferred to humans. Great! Let’s recap. We drove fifteen miles; waited in line to park; stood in line in the bitter cold; contributed $50 or so to Jack’s retirement. We, in turn, received two commemorative cups and Ecoli for the kids! All of this and we’d only been in the park for 20 minutes – tops! Boy, were we having a good time! I looked frantically for a stick so Mindy could poke me in the eye but couldn’t find one – damn! That would have been the capper!!!
We let the barn with the whiny kids in tow with the idea that we needed to get to the other side of the zoo so that we’d be even further away from the warmth of our parked car. But before we’d head over there, we had to visit the caged reindeer that seemed to be drawing quite a crowd. Up till that point the only wild animals I had seen aside from that manatee was what Mindy reported a swan on the frozen pond. Looked like a lump of snow to me. If it was a swan, it was dead! Come to think of it, I’ll bet that manatee sat on it. Oh joy. The reindeer was nothing more than a dog that resembled Max from The Grinch with a tree branch tied to his little head. Fun-fun! Onward!
As we moved on towards the west side of the park we faced a tough decision. Do we stay for the exciting second half or do we make a run for it now? The kids chimed in with their preference. Bella and Kaileigh wanted to go home. Jacob, on the other hand, insisted on heading to the other side. I think he knew right where I could find a stick for my eye on the other side. To temper his desire, Mindy told him that the other side was closed. It was obvious what her vote was! And BTW, when is a lie not a lie? In the end leaving won. Mindy and I both were just giddy with the anticipation of being back in her warm van heading home. As we departed the park new arrivals continued pouring in. In fact, they were lined a mile down Riverside Dr. waiting for their opportunity to contribute to Jack’s retirement.
And as we were happily heading south I pointed at each vehicle still in line and shouted, SUCKER!!!!!
Back at my house we threw in a movie, The Grinch, and relaxed to the warmth of a fire. Very nice!
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