Golf - Grown Ups

Friday was a vacation day, so I didn’t get out of bed until 715a. Last I knew, Mindy planned to head into work (school) despite having a head cold since she hadn’t received notification that a sub picked up her class. However, she stumbled back to bed around 630a, which I assumed meant someone must’ve claimed it overnight. The kids still had school, however, so they were already awake when I got up, although Bella still looked half asleep. I did my calisthenics before enjoying any coffee, and then took Frankie outside around 740a. It was partly cloudy, frosty and cold – about 30 degrees. I still hoped to golf provided the weather cooperated with the forecast, which called for sunshine and low 50’s. I played on the computer while the kids did their thing ahead of bus time. Mindy played on her laptop at the same time. I took the kids to the bus stop at the usual time – 757a. Kenny was out with the girls. I asked if he wanted to golf. He planned to work only until 11a or so and said he wanted to. We agreed to golf at Raymond due to its close proximity. Inside, Mindy wanted to talk at length about whether or not we should intervene in Lindsey’s latest issue, and more importantly take the boys. No doubt, it’s a huge undertaking, and one that we’d both need to be on the exact same page with. Without question, our near term future would be shaken to its core. According to Mindy, her gut says now’s not the time, and certainly not on anyone’s terms but our own. I understood her position fully but also don’t want my grand kids subjected to homelessness. Come 945a, I was chomping at the bit. I needed to run. I quickly dressed in my running attire and headed out. It was sunny but still chilly. I ran the full 4.1 miles feeling pretty good. I was back home near 1030am I warmed and enjoyed a breakfast burrito then headed off to the shower. Kenny and I left for golf around 1120a. I drove. By the time we got to the course the sunshine had faded to mostly cloudy conditions, and the temperature hovered somewhere in the 40’s. It was much chillier than expected. The course, overall wasn’t that crowded. But in true Raymond fashion, it was backed up considerably on the first few holes. Yet another reason why we’re always so willing to drive 25 miles to play elsewhere. And the thing is, crowd issue aside, Raymond is in exceptional condition, and the greens as nice as anywhere this time of year (no core aeration). We were behind two groups playing particularly slow from the outset, so slow in fact, we went back and played number 2 a second time. Unfortunately, we caught up with them again at hole # 7. To end the frustration, we skipped 7 & 8, moving from hole #6 to #9. It was fairly open after that. We kept an eye out for them on the back. They were four or five holes behind us. It was seemingly getting colder, not warmer. Mid-round, my non-gloved hand was something short of numb from the cold biting wind. We were completely socked in under thick cloud cover, too. Where the hell was the sunshine they promised? Save for one triple bogey on #6 par 5, I played bogey golf shooting a 92. Kenny shot an 87. We finished around 250p and were home less than 10 minutes later. Mindy was on the sofa napping. I wasn’t quite sure what to do with myself for the remainder of the afternoon. I had no immediate plans. I ended up spending considerable time on the PC. Mindy left for the grocery store around 330p. She planned to bring home a rotisserie chicken for dinner. I was out back with Frankie when the kids got off the bus. Jacob wasn’t happy when I shared that we didn’t plan to have dinner at Barley’s but instead hang around at home. Mindy was home by 430-500p. Bella and I helped carry in the haul. It took Mindy a little while to get everything put away before she readied our dinner, rotisserie chicken. She planned to boil down the leftovers to make chicken & noodles for our OSU game party on Saturday. After dinner, Jacob and I searched for available pay-per-view movies. We chose Grown Ups. Mindy called the neighbors, Kenny & Chrissy, to see if they wanted to come down after dinner and watch the movie with us. Chrissy said not to buy the PPV movie. They just bought the Blu-Ray/DVD. Said they’d bring it down after eating their pizza. I’m guessing they showed up around 7-730p. Didn’t have too close an eye on the clock. I started drinking Great Lakes Xmas ale right after dinner. Mindy joined the fun too, but chose an Edmund Fitzgerald instead. The neighbors brought the kids, Woody, pizza, and the movie. I put the movie in right away. Great movie if you like sophomoric humor. And you really don’t have to be a big Adam Sandler fan because there are so many other popular funny guys with equally funny roles. We laughed beginning to end, and then watched it a second time. The movie’s rated PG-13, so the kids were able to enjoy it too. Nothing too off limits for the kids. The neighbors left shortly after the first run of the movie. Mindy and I found more laughs that we missed the first time around. We stayed up until almost 11pm.