These last few days at home were a whirlwind of adventure. WOW! Let me try to recap as best I can.
Day 1:
Landed at Dulles 15 minutes early (just as daddy predicted) but turns out I was in so early that my flight wasn't even showing on the arrivals board. Apparently my folks were freaking out cause my flight also wasn't online and at 5:30am they couldn't get a person. But, I was oblivious to all this drama, and made it out to baggage claim and was greeted by Karen and a lovely Santa hat for my head. LOL. She's crazy but you gotta love her. My luggage actually came very quickly and then we were off.
We had breakfast at the Silver Dinner which was nice and yummy and then it was onto the house. The boys were happy to see me but I think they've figured out I'm just a transient in their lives now. They weren't being Velcro dogs with me :-/ Soon after mom and Joe stopped by and we went out to lunch which was fun. Got some nice presents. After that it was back home and me, dad, and Kar did pizza and a movie (Wall Street).
Day 2/3ish:
It was time to go to VA Beach. YAY! We headed down but had a bit of a delay. We were at the McDonald's drive through when dad realized he forgot his meds. I offered to order inside while they went back to get them. So we do that and I figure I'll be in and out no problem. WRONG! This was the most poorly managed McDonald's I'd ever seen. People were "lined" up in bunches cause no one could tell the difference between the waiting for food and waiting to order lines. And since the receipts didn't have a number system, people orders were getting all messed up. Including mine :( To top it off the orange juice machine broke and took a good 15 minutes to get a medium OJ. So, by this time dad and Karen are back and worried about where I'm at. lol. Food was good I guess, but don't know if it was worth all that.
We kept going to Frankie's and made it around lunch time. Dave and Kay were also over and after much running around and excitement from David we opened presents. It was fun and I got a lovely gift card to Bath and Body Works and a candy dish and M&Ms. It was lovely.
They all seemed to love their presents from me as well. Frank was super excited about Grand Torismo 4 and they said David would love Toy Story 3 video game. Jen even liked her Twilight. Then it was time for lunch at Golden Coral. Not sure why Frank loves this place so much, except the all you can eat part, but dad and Karen were being pretty ugggy about it and even wanted to bow out of lunch all together which sucked a lot. After lunch dad and Kar went to hotel and I stayed with Frank, Jen, and David. We stopped by Best Buy cause Frank needed a new sound card for his computer (it was an electronic weekend).
We got back to Frank and Jen's and started working on the sound card. It wasn't going so well at first, but we got it going and his speakers work. SUCCESS! By this time it was time to go to Christine's party. We headed out and David and I got some bonding time in the car. lol. He's such a sweety and even though still hyper, he is calming down a bit.
We got to Christine's and everyone by dad and Karen were there. People were worried about why they hadn't shown up and it was kindof embarrassing. They wound up coming at 8:30 (party started at 6). That was beyond the fashionably late time frame, but whatever. We went about playing an insanely competitive game of Cranium. And when I say insane, I mean screaming, yelling, name calling, etc etc! It was fun, but wow....It was boys v. girls and while we had the lead the whole game, boys came back to win it in the end. Boo :(
We caught the last few minutes countdown to New Years and then had some campaign and then it was time to clean up and head on home. Jen went to put David in bed and stayed upstairs while Frank and I played with setting up the wireless router. We managed to get it accomplished with minimum pain and by 2:30am it was time for bed. lol.
Day 3 cont.:
The morning started again about 7am when I could hear David crying upstairs. Apparently, he wanted to come down to see me but they were trying to let me sleep. But since I was up he came downstairs and Frank and I wanted to get started on setting up his PS3. David was eating breakfast at this point (I helped him make buttered bagel) but he had an accident with his OJ and got soaked. He was not happy at all and went crying upstairs so Jen could change him while Frank and I cleaned up. Then it was back to PS3 and we managed to get it all set up and wi-fi connected and software updated before I had to go :) Dad and Karen were in a hurry to get to the boys :-/
So, I left VA Beach and we drove back up to Fairfax. We arrived and by this time everyone was pretty tired. We wrapped Christmas presents and had out family Christmas opening. I got some lovely stuff I asked for including my Kindle which is my fav! Dad thought we had plans with the Bubba's but Karen insisted no and so we decided to spend the night with Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps (blah movie but had some bright spots in there). Turns out we were supposed to go over to the Bubba's and they got us food and everything, and when dad found out he was not happy with Karen at all.
Day 4:
It was time to go to Philly for the E-A-G-L-E-S. Woot woot. But first, we stopped by grandmom's to say hello and chat. It was wonderful to see her, but then the talk turned to grandpop and it made me really sad, so I was kindof glad we got to leave. We ordered hoagies from Leo's and drove to the stadium.
The parking lot was empty! This was a nothing game. It meant nothing, no starters were actually playing on either the Eagles or Cowboys, and to top it off, a huge and unexpected rainstorm was coming through. We sat in the car as it rained and opened our hoagies. They had got my order wrong and given me all the onions and lettuce and tomato they possessed :-/ So I had to dig everything out to eat it. Very disappointing, but still yummy in the end. After lunch dad took a nap and I watched the rain and listened to the pre-game announcers on the radio. Then it was time to suit up and trudge to the stadium. We got all decked out and started when dad told me to slow down due to his hip hurting. It's been bothering him a lot and this walk to the stadium was a long one. Throw in sitting in the rain and cold for hours and then a walk back and driving, I was worried about him. Since this game was so throw away, there were no fans in sight to make it worth while, I told dad we should just drive home now and we can listen on radio and catch the end on tv. And that is what we did!
Traffic going up was a breeze, but coming home was horrible. We had to contend with the end of New Years congestion, the rain, and the construction. Blah. We made it home though and saw the end of games. Eagles had been winning most of the game but lost in the last few minutes. No one really cared much. lol. Next week is playoffs and we play Greenbay in Philly. Frank and dad a re stoked!
Day 5:
Manic Monday. hehehehe. This day was actually pretty tame compared to the last few ;-p My only obligation that day was to meet the lovely Ms. Emily at Pentagon City so we could have lunch. So, dad dropped me off at the Metro in Vienna and after paying waaaaaaaaaaaay too much for a ticket ($9 all day pass was cheaper then the $10 round trip to Pentagon City fare :-o) I was on my way. So.....yes.....I sit on the train and notice this fairly good looking guy come in and sit opposite me. He looks and me too and we start chatting. Totally flirt like chatting....lol! Oh, I was giddy school girl for sure. And, best part, he's moving to LA in February to relocate his granite business. We changed numbers and I guess I'll see what happens. New Years resolution to date more already ticking ahead ;-p
Got to the mall and met Ms. Em and we had a good lunch at Johnny Rockets complete with chocolate milkshake. YUM! Then we cruised the mall for a bit and caught up. The lunch was over way too soon. Wish I had more time to hang out :(
Back on Metro, and it was getting closer to rush hour as the trains were crowded. Did luck out both ways with coming just in time for my transfers though. First time doing that! Made it back and was picked up by dad who explained we were making the other night up to the Bubba's by taking them to Outback for dinner.
So, after I took a nap, it was off to dinner with the Bubba's we went. We had a lovely dinner (it was Outback, hello!). I even got some presents from Ms. Deb which included a scrapbook of the boys, so stationary, and a photo frame. It was all very nice :) After dinner, Karen went to bed cause she had work in the morning and dad and I stayed up to watch a repeat Saturday Night Live.
Day 6/7ish:
Today was the ultimate lazy-ish day. I did my laundry and strategically packed my suitcase to actually fit everything (that was a feat). I came home with a 24lb. bag and flew home with a 48lb bag.
For lunch, dad and I watched the movie Easy A which was hysterically funny and we both enjoyed it very much. Then dad went back to work and I just chilled out for a while.
Karen got home and cooked us dinner while dad showed me some cool sports stuff he had recorded and then it was time to head to Dulles. It wasn't such a bad drive actually and we made it in plenty of time. Said bye at security and I went down to be checked in. And discovered a new "test" the TSA has decided to spend my money on :-/ After getting ID and boarding pass checked everyone was pulled over to get their hands swapped for explosive residue. They swap you with this chemical sheet that was rather warm and then put it in the machine and you have to wait for your results. Dad said they were probably testing the technology. I think they need to quite it already, but what are you gonna do. It's better then the X-ray machine. I refuse that outright! Dad doesn't get it, but he's also a guy. No one is interested in looking at and doing dirty things with his picture (not girl or guy), but women are "interesting" to both men and women and I refuse to be someones victim, whether I know they're doing anything or not. Too many crazies and bad people out there....no thank you sir.
The flight itself was pretty uneventful except for the screaming baby, but we all made it in one piece. Trying to find Super Shuttle and get home was a whole nother adventure. So, they moved the pickups from the outside curb to the inside curb which was really confusing cause I couldn't find them anywhere. But I managed and even got the same driver who took me to LAX last week. The airport was crazy busy for 1:30am (we were a bit late and bags took forever to come). We wound up with a full van and even had to leave people behind. I was not expecting that one at all. But I made it home, and as I said above, Milo was a very happy kitty :)
Now, for some generic observations about being in Virginia again. First off, it's freakin' freezing!!!!! Second off, with all the construction and changes that have happened since I moved 3 years ago, Virginia itself didn't feel like "home" anymore. It was home because of family being there and I love and miss them, but the area itself was not comforting at all like I thought it would be. That was strange cause I'd never felt that before, Virginia was always the familiar to me. But when I was there I kept thinking about Cali. And mostly about Milo and my job. Which are two big things that make Cali my "home" now. I've never had either before when going back to visit.
And, as for a side note on today. I HATE insurance companies!!!! Why can't I just get my f'ing prescription filled?! Why is this so hard?! Grrrrrrrrr, Medco, Grrrrrrrrrr
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