Saturday on Clearwater Beach, CMH, & Barley's

Up at 4am to ready for trip home
crystal clear under a full moon
Run along inter coastal waterway through the lovely residential neighborhood
Mindy up preparing to depart upon my return
Search for rental car documents – Mindy finds in carry-on
Shower, final packing
Depart for airport – fill tank at Hess – barely takes one gallon.
At ticket counter by 5:35am – everything went smoothly
Through security and at gate by 6:10am
Get subs at Quizno’s across from gate C40
Depart at 6:55am
Take off towards Gulf – can see Clearwater beach as we bank northward towards home – take photos
Read & sleep during flight
Land in CMH at 8:50am (10 minutes early)
p/u luggage, head to Blue lot 40B by 9:30am
Home before 10am.
Unpacked, luggage stowed, kids home by 10:40am
Mindy starts laundry – I downloaded vacation photos

... It’s very hot & humid – As lush as the lawn was when we left, it was fading fast. I could tell that we had our first hot & dry week of the summer. Despite my Dad watering the flowers, things were looking mighty thirsty. Also, as predicted, the beaver-damaged maple tree along the pond was beginning to shed its leaves. L

After putting away vacation it was time to get back on the horse. The first order of business was addressing my fledging lawn. I wacked, edged, cut, and blew. Afterwards, I left the tractor out with the trailer attached after picking up on Jacob’s earlier request for a tractor ride. However, he never came calling. I spent the next two hours trimming/pruning shrubs and ivy. At the same time, I hooked up my pond pump and began watering the thirsty lawn.

I kept and eye on Jacob and Jake while Mindy & Bella went grocery shopping. Jake’s mom went shopping, too. Collectively, we elected to visit Barley’s for dinner. Jacob and I were craving hot wings, not to mention some homespun IPA.

After showering up, we left for Barley’s around 6:45pm. And just as expected, there wasn’t much of a crowd at all - probably ten cars in the lot. We selected our own table in the dining area, yet still within eye shot of the bar. I was happy to see that lots of the IPA-Looza guest drafts were still on tap along with Barley’s own Centennial IPA on the tower. I ordered one of those first. Mindy ordered wine, and the kids Sierra Mist and water. Soon, we placed our dinner order. Jacob and I shared 20 wings – ten Gates of Hell and ten K.C. Bar-BQ. Mindy ordered a Barely burger, and Bella, grilled cheese.

We were there just about 1.5 hrs. The kids suggested a bike ride when we got home. We all went. Bella rode neighbor Makayla’s bike complete with training wheels. Neighbor Jake joined us too. Bella did great with the training wheels. However, that’s not to say that she didn’t have a couple of meltdowns along the way. It’s hard to blame her though. She’s never done anything quite like that before. We rode to the neighborhood park and then back home, making a large loop. We got back home just before dark. Mindy and I agreed that it’s time to get Bella her own bike.

The kids informed Mindy that Jimaken hadn’t bathed them the entire time they were with him. Their last bath was on Tuesday, although they had been swimming a time or two. Still, Mindy was appalled and started a bath for Bella soon after we headed inside. At the same time, I got Jacob going in our shower. Soon the kids were tucked into their own beds for the first time since last Thursday, or July 10th. They were both happy about that.

Since this was my last vacation night, I decided to make myself a rum punch. Mindy was tired and subsequently denied herself the pleasure of joining me. She headed up to bed instead near 10:30pm. I stayed up for while sipping my drink and watching some mindless TV. In fact, I can’t remember what I watched. I fell asleep in the chair, but eventually woke and headed up to bed around 11:15pm.