Watchin' Bella Bounce

I was out of bed somewhere close to 730am after waking in the middle of the night to choke down a few Advil. I felt pretty good, though perhaps still a little sluggish. But it wasn't anything a three mile run wouldn't cure. I started some coffee then played on the internet. Mindy wanted to leave the house at 1015 to be at Bella's gymnastics meet by 1030am. Her first event was slated for 11am.

I headed out for a run near 830am. It was chilly but nice. Plenty of sunshine that when directly on me made it feel 10 degrees warmer. Mindy was up by my return. Said to expect Bella home by 930am. Jimaken & Jacob were attending the gymnastics event too, but Mindy wanted Bella home first so she could do her hair the correct way. They're fairly persnickety about the way the girls wear their hair during competition.

I'm thinking it was 945am when I emerged from a shower. By then the kids and Jimaken were there, and Bella was already upstairs getting into her leotard, or so we thought. Mindy went to check on her and found her playing around in her room. It was somewhat amusing to hear Mindy giving her an earful from afar.

Mindy packed our Jimindy cooler with healthy snacks and water while I was in the shower. We were all ready to leave the house right at 1015am. Just as we made our way to the front door Gloria called Mindy, who very quickly let out a gasp and then quickly said she was on her way. I knew then that it wasn't good news. Apparently Gloria fell down the stairs and despite telling Mindy she was OK, Mindy wanted to head over anyhow. We altered our plans on the fly. I ran Bella to the gymnastics meet with Jimaken and Jacob following close behind. Mindy headed to her mom's.

Mindy called my cell just as Bella and I were ramping onto 270 from 70. I shared that perhaps she should call 911 and have them check out her mom. My thinking was why else would she have called to tell you that she fell if she wasn't hurt, and as she put it was fine. Mindy did call her sister and brother-in-law Jodie & Larry. They were heading over too. Mindy planned to meet Bella and I at the meet once things were settled.

Not only had I never been to the Galloway Ridge Intermediate school before, I didn't even know it existed. It's a relatively new school located on the NE corner of Galloway Rd & West Broad St. directly across the street from the nice Kroger. Looked like parking was at a premium, the parking lot full and cars lined up along the road circling the entire school. We headed around back and found a spot there. We entered through doors with a sign directing us around front. I walked to the front through the school and paid my $5 entry fee.

From jump, it was painfully obvious that the school's gymnasium was much to small to host such an event. Many were talking/complaining about the accommodations, or perhaps more aptly put, the lack thereof. It was small and cramped for the three main events: trampoline, double-mini, and floor, but they managed. Spectator viewing was lacking but I didn't mind. Bella and I took up refuge near the back at what seemed to be the school's cafeteria tables. Bella soon ran off to find Kelly, her coach.

Not too much time passed before I spotted Jimaken and Jacob in a doorway across the gymnasium. I flailed my arms wildly hoping to capture their attention. Either they didn't see me or chose to ignore me. A few minutes later I spotted nephew Joe. He soon joined me. At the time he was unaware of Gloria's spill. Before he could get too worried, we spotted his dad, b-in-law Larry, out in the hallway. Then we spotted Mindy, Jodie, and Gloria. Was very surprised to see Gloria. They eventually made their way to our table. Gloria said she was fine. The fall left her more scared than anything else. Glad she was OK.

They stuck around long enough to watch Bella's first event, the trampoline. With an hour and one half between all of her events, the extended family members departed leaving just me, Mindy, Jimaken, Jacob, and Bella. It was Larry's 54th birthday. They headed home where they'd be hosting a Buckeye game party for the family later that afternoon.

Not too long after they left, Jimaken and Jacob left to get some lunch. They left for Wendy's and were gone for at least an hour. Mindy texted them after about 45 minutes asking Jimaken to bring her a chicken sandwich. He did so willingly.

The double-mini event was next, and on the far end of the gymnasium/lunch room. I made my way to the other side where I could get a birdseye view of Bella in action. She did great on two of her three passes and eventually took 2nd place. Incidentally, she took 3rd on the trampoline. Her third event wasn't scheduled for another 90 minutes or 230pm. But judging by the start time of the other events, it would almost certainly be later.

Jacob was getting antsy, pacing around and complaining about the long afternoon. I felt bad for Bella because he directed his anger towards her. Bella did her final event - tumbling, around 245pm. It would be another 45 minutes or more before the awards ceremony. We had to wait for that. Having been to four or five of these over the past two years, I've learned to be patient. Jimaken and Jacob had to wait because it was a Jimaken weekend and the plans were for Bella to leave with them. Jacob was angry for one, because they would miss the beginning of the Buckeye/Wisconsin game, which was kicking off at 330pm.

I'm thinking it was 335pm when finally got out of the school and on the road for home. We left in three cars, me by myself, Mindy by herself, and both kids with Jimaken. We missed Wisconsin's first series, a three and out. I took West Broad to Hilliard-Rome Rd to 70 east, exiting on Wilson. Mindy took West Broad all the way to 270 or Phillipi. Not sure why. I beat her home by more than ten minutes.

We talked about heading up to Best Buy to have the screen protector installed on her new phone. Talked about trying the new brewpub at Tuttle Mall, too - BJ's Brewhouse. We ended up watching the entire Buckeye game before doing anything else. The Buckeyes took a 14-0 lead and for a brief moment I wondered if we might run away with the game. That wasn't the case. instead, the momentum seemed to swing Wisconsin's way. They quickly scored a touchdown to make it 14-7. And it remained that way for the next 2.5 quarters until Wisconsin tied the game with something like 20 seconds remaining. Dang it! And that was after a goaline fumble that the Buckeyes recovered. The game went to OT, our second such game in the last three. The Buckeyes won in OT, 21-14 to go to 11-0 heading into the Michigan game next Saturday. Regardless of that outcome, it'll be our last game of the season thanks to the bowl ban.

I walked the pug then freshened up. Mindy freshened up too. We left for Best Buy near 7pm. Best Buy was crowded, especially in the cell phone department. A friendly manager took notice of Mindy and I waiting and walked up to assist. He quickly took Mindy's phone and had the screen protector installed. Said they were short handed after one of their phone guys went home sick. Said he threw up in the store. Nice!

We looked at TVs, including a look at the new 80" LCD from Sharp. Only $4500. Mindy wanted to look at appliances too. We looked only briefly then headed out. We headed just over the freeway bridge to Tuttle Mall and the new BJ's Brewhouse. We could see pulling in that the place was packed. Neither of us was too into fighting a crowd or a long wait. We decided to give it a try anyway. Could leave and head elsewhere if we couldn't get a seat.

There were plenty of folks awaiting for tables, so we opted to try our luck getting seats at the bar. The bar was full too, but a nice couple sitting at one of the bar tables told Mindy they were just about to leave and offered us the opportunity to join them. So we did. Tim and Carol. Tim works at Honda. Not sure where Carol works. She showed Mindy her new phone, which was the same white Galaxy S III. We've run into several people the last two days that said the same thing.

Tim & Carol were quite interesting,. Tim told us that his good buddy just quit Honda to open a new brewpub in the short north called The Bru, scheduled to open this week. Said it was really his idea. We talked with Tim & Carol for about 15 minutes. They soon left leaving their table to us. Cool! David was our youthful server and was very helpful. Without much consideration, I ordered one of their IPAs - the Hop Storm. Mindy sampled both their porter and stout but didn't care for either. She settled for a Great Lakes Xmas ale but they were out of that too. She ended up having a CBC IPA.

I wasn't impressed with the Hop Storm. Tasted more like a English-style pale ale. I ordered a CBC IPA for my 2nd beer. We ordered appetizers and dinner. For an appetizer we ordered avocado egg rolls. For dinner Mindy ordered their ribeye steak dinner. I wasn't that hungry, and went with their mini burgers.
Mindy had a bowl of their clam chowder as one of her sides. She shared that with me. It was good!

Her steak looked really good too. By mini-burgers were scrumptious as well. Bottom line, very good service and food. Beer - just so-so. We left BJ's for home around 915pm. At home we changed into PJs then I poured a White Rajah. We kicked back on the sofa watching the Oregon/Stanford game. Oregon's averaging something like 60 points per game, but so far against Stanford they could manage only 14 points. They lead for most of the game. Mindy & I headed to bed to watch the rest of the game.

The score was 14-7 with 2 minutes left to play. Stanford tied the game with two minutes left then won in OT after Oregon missed a field goal. Both #1 & #2 lost on Saturday. Good night moon!