Vikings on Vacation

I woke at 7:15am still believing that we’d be doing the 9am family breakfast at Perkins. More often than not, I wake no later than 6:30am for such an event. Even still, I thought I had enough time to exercise, walk Ykraps, run, and get ready. More than anything, I’d have to cut out the peripheral stuff, like PC & coffee time. I was done exercising and back from walking Ykraps by 7:40am. Before hurrying through my run and shower, I went to check on Mindy who I already knew was under the weather. I asked if she was still up for breakfast. She was not. She asked how I felt about not going. I was fine with it, and quickly proceeded to head back downstairs and phone my dad to let him know our intentions. He was already up nursing a sore knee, but still set on meeting us. He took the news in stride and wished Mindy well. I was excited to have my morning back, and poured a cup of coffee and took to the internet. It wasn’t long before Rocky was up. Right away, he wanted some food then wanted to play Mario Kart. Of course I disallowed the Wii playing, knowing full well that it would inevitably turn into a noise fest ultimately waking Landon. After discouraging the video games, Rocky then insisted on watching TV from his room. Again, my answer was no. I gave him a couple other options but he rejected them all. Eventually, Landon’s early morning cooing morphed into calls for action. It was after 830am, I went to fetch him with Rocky at my heels. Landon was very happy to see me, and showed his appreciation by gifting me with an incredibly dirty diaper. We finally headed downstairs leaving Mindy to get as much rest as she wanted. I made both kids waffles and got them some juice. At the same time, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted some dried dog urine on the tile right by the corner of the sofa. What the … Ever since nephew Joe brought his two young schnauzers over last Sunday, Ykraps has pee’d there a few times. My guess is that one of them pee’d there, and now he’s marking his territory. It never ends! No sooner had I turned around from cleaning up the mess did I spot Mindy standing at the island pouring/prepping her first cup of coffee. Didn’t even hear her come down. She was surprised that the kids were just now getting their breakfast. Landon slept in, too, I explained. He’s getting much better about entertaining himself after he wakes. It’s rare to hear him cry as soon as he wakes these days. As for the day’s agenda, beyond doing my run, I only planned to watch the Vikings playoff game against the Eagles. It was raining outside, taking down the Xmas lights was definitely out the window. Mindy, on the other hand, planned to grocery shop and then pay a visit to Camilla who was heading back home to Denmark around 4pm. I left for a run slightly after 10am. If nothing else, the rain had stopped making it just another winter day in the mid 30’s. My run was comfortable/enjoyable. I wasn’t home but a few minutes when I began making my breakfast. I fried eggs and warmed leftover polish sausage. I ended up frying some leftover mashed potatoes too. I know I said I wouldn’t do fried eggs for Rocky again anytime soon, but he insisted he’d eat it today if I would. I bit. And once again, he did little more than play in it. Said something about not liking the skin. I guess he only likes to dip toast into the yoke. Meanwhile, Landon helped eat my breakfast. He absolutely loved the polish sausage, and even enjoyed the potatoes. Mindy headed off to the shower soon after I finished my meal. Rocky, Landon and I headed to the basement to play. We stayed down there for about 45 minutes. Rocky got to playing a little too rough. I hated to do it, but I had to smack his behind and send him to his room. That got his attention. By the time that I headed back upstairs, Mindy was down and ready to go grocery shopping. She was going alone, of course. By then , it was after noon. I made the kids lunch around 12:30pm. They both wanted peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. They ate only sparingly. Neither of them finished. At our house, not finishing means no treat. I held tightly to the rule. We hung out for a couple of hours after lunch. I was mindful of Mindy’s return and did my level best to keep Landon awake until around 2:30pm or just before Mindy returned, that way she could reap the benefits of his nap, too. Waiting worked well, although, he was demonstratably tired when I finally carried him up. He only cried for about 20 seconds before drifting off to sleep. With Landon now asleep, I got the sofa cover out of the dryer and began to reinstall it. At the same time, the door bell rang. It was Jimaken returning Jacob & Bella. He didn’t stay too long. A few minutes later, Mindy returned from the grocery store. Jacob and I helped Mindy carry in our weekly haul. While she put away groceries, I did some blogging. After Mindy got the groceries put away, she got Jacob, Bella, and Rocky ready for a visit to her sister’s. The plan was to leave Landon asleep at home with me. I was down with that. With my alone time, I did some additional blogging and spruced up the downstairs. They were only gone for about 1.5 hours. Mindy started making her chili almost as soon as she hit the door. Meanwhile, Landon was still sleeping. Mindy fetched him just before the Viking game started. He was in good spirits. She said that Rocky was a little wild at her sister’s even after being warned against such antics ahead of time. He’s like that at times – not bad, just wild. Mindy planned for dinner to be ready at halftime. The Vikings allowed the Eagles to score the first 6 points but answered those points with a long touchdown run by Adrian Peterson. The crowd went wild. Our lead didn’t last long, however. Soon the Eagles intercepted a T-Jack pass and ran it all the way back for a score. But there was no quit in my team. They rebounded with a long drive of their own scoring again to make it 16-14 at halftime. I felt good about the score. In fact, we outplayed them. Plus, we’d receive the second half kick off. At halftime I walked Ykraps and ate dinner. The chili was fantastic. My compliments to the chef. The second half (3rd quarter) was uneventful – no points scored. The fourth quarter was nip and tuck until about the 7 minute mark. After the Vikings pinned the Eagles back deep in their own territory, they allowed them to begin a scoring march. Just when it looked like one of our tackles would cream McNabb, he fell to the ground allowing McNabb to complete a seemingly harmless screen pass that turned into a long touchdown. It felt like a dagger to the heart. That proved to be the proverbial nail in the coffin. We couldn’t muster anything after that. We were done. All in all, a good year, and an improvement over last. Perhaps next year! I was fine once it was over. After the game, Mindy got the kids ready for bed. Rocky was still testing Mindy’s patience. I later learned that he told a lie about why he was sneaking off downstairs. She sent him to his room once again, and threatened to spank him if he lies again. He definitely needs to see/feel consequences for his actions – something we both know he was lacking at home. Late evening, I talked with daughter Courtney. Among other things, we talked about transitioning the minivan to her ownership. There were several things I wanted to make sure she understood. Number one, the minivan is fragile – it’s on its last leg and won’t last that much longer. Two, it leaks oil very slowly. Do not park it on anyone’s driveway. Three, she has to have insurance and be prepared to title and tag the car on her own before we sign it over. She shared how her evening out with her mother and Lindsey went. Of all things, they went to play bingo. According to Courtney, the evening was chalked full of dysfunction. While Mindy played on her laptop, I played Wii Mario Kart. I’ll bet I played for nearly an hour. We headed for bed at 10:20pm.