What a Week I’m Having!

That’s actually my favorite line from that old movie “Splash” starring Daryl Hannah and Tom Hanks. The dentist who is trying to get proof that mermaids actually do exist has just been stabbed in the leg with the Novocain needle and is wobbling around with his arm in a cast and I think his neck in a brace even. Anyway, it’s a cute line.

In my case, it would be more descriptive to say “What a Weekend I Had!” but that didn’t really fit the movie reference.

Saturday morning, I was supposed to give the Discovery Tour at the zoo, but just couldn’t face dealing with tourists so was not looking forward to it. Thankfully, just as I got to the parking lot, I got a call from Rob who invited me to join them for a late breakfast.

After helping Rob cook biscuits and gravy for 4, we gathered up a few of the neighbor’s kids and headed out to the go-carts. The kids had a great time racing around the tracks while Rob and I had fun watching them from the sidelines. Boy, it was expensive, though! It’s only $5.00 a ride – but each ride is only about 10 minutes long, and there were 4 kids. They each went 3 times, so that was $60.00 for about half an hour’s entertainment.

But then it got REAL fun! We dropped the neighbor kids off back at their house and took off for a hike on one of my favorite trails: South Fork Eagle River! It was raining, so the parking lot actually had a few spaces open, and there weren’t that many people on the trail itself. I had forgotten to bring my rain coat, but since I tend to overheat when I hike anyway I was just fine with the waffle-weave Henley I had on and was able to give my button-down shirt to Trey, who was shivering in his t-shirt.

I had such a good time up there! My head was feeling good, my legs had just the right amount of burn to them, and the rain was just a light continuous misting. It was awesome!

We even made it all the way to the bridge finally! I’ve been on the trail numerous times over the past few years, but have never actually made it that far before. Although, truth be told, just the kids and I made it – Rob and his friend Dustin took a side trip up the mountain to see how far they could get in that direction.

On the way home, we all stopped off at a Japanese restaurant for some sushi and saki (okay, the kids did NOT get any of the saki – just Rob and I) then we stopped off at Freddy’s to get some movies and ice cream.

To end our day we all plopped down on various chairs & couches, ate our ice cream, and watched “The Adjustment Bureau” starring Matt Damon.

On Sunday, I got another phone call from Rob inviting me over for breakfast – this time we had sourdough pancakes with pecans and caramel cooked into them. Yum! The sourdough starter he uses is taken from my Mother’s starter, which is taken from my Sister’s starter, which is apparently taken from somebody else’s starter, and so on – and is supposedly a very old sourdough starter.

While they were getting things ready for the day, I borrowed Rob’s computer and downloaded the latest software update for my Kindle (my computer at home didn’t want to do it, for some strange reason) and even managed to buy some more gear (boots and shoes) for my Peruvian Expedition!

Once everybody was showered and organized and all that, we took off for downtown. Rob and Trey and the neighbor’s boy walked down to the Delany Park Strip to see the car show (over 300 cars expected to be entered this year!) while I took off to the 5th Avenue Mall with Sierra and the neighbor’s girl for some shopping. Two hours later, we regrouped in the Town Square Park to compare stories and make plans for the rest of the day.

This is where I threw in the towel. I really don’t enjoy shopping so had been rather worn out after two hours of it, and I knew that Rob really needed to spend these last few days with his kids by himself (no tag-alongs needed) – so I went home and they took off for dinner somewhere.

At home, I got laundry done, cooked up a batch of soup for my lunches, snuggled with my girls for a bit, and relaxed with a glass of wine and a so-so movie before going to bed for the night.

All in all, it really was a great weekend.