Mountain Clams

Vacation highlights

I picked up a Halloween mannequin - basically a torso with arms and head that stands up well - from Dana and put it in the back seat of the truck one night. Then I drove home. When I got there, I left it where it was and brought the other stuff into the house. In the morning, I got in, started the truck and waited patiently for it to warm up and defrost. When it was all clear, I put it in gear, turned to back out and JUMPED OUT OF MY SKIN over the person in the back seat!

It was so much fun I had to share. I brought the mannequin into the house that evening and set it in the kitchen facing the front door. Erika and Richard were in the living room. I called Rick over to the front door. At first, he didn't see the mannequin, so I told him "nevermind." That way he would turn towards the kitchen to go back to the living room. He did and SCREAMED LIKE A LITTLE GIRL when he saw it!

When he sat down, I had Erika come to the front door. She didn't know what to expect, but knew to expect something. When she saw it, she jumped a little bit, but nowhere near as good of a reaction.

That was fun.

Christmas Eve, we all went to Ray's for dinner. It went pretty well. We had everyone open one gift each before we went home. Christmas morning, we woke up (the kids woke up first), watched a little TV, opened gifts and hung out a bit. Then we met Ray and her son for dinner and a movie. Que Bueno was overpriced and the food was not very good, but hey, they were open. The roads were pretty bad, but we got through okay in the trucks.

A couple days later, Erika and Rick flew out to Michigan. Rick's there to visit with his mom. Erika moved out there. With the snow, it only took 6 hours at the airport to get them boarded.

With my younger kids in Michigan and Ray's son away for a week, Ray and I found ourselves alone together. We had a second Christmas just with each other. It was really nice.

On the 29th, we went to the Mammoth game with friends. It was fun! The Mammoth seemed to want to give the game away, but after knocking the opposing goalie on his butt with a weird shot, they lit up the replacement goalie and came from behind to win the game. There's something fun about Lacrosse, but the way they put it on here is kindof white-trashy. At least it's not expensive. Maybe those go hand-in-hand.

Cady's baby shower was on the 30th. We showed up a little late to it. There were only a few other people there, though she also got gifts from out-of-state relatives, and some from Erika who had just flown out.

On New Year's Eve, we stopped at Bill & Toni's for a little while and played part of a game. I didn't realize how long of a game it was. I had to leave before it was over, so Bret H took over my spot. Then we went to Lori & Charlie's by way of my house to pick up games, arriving around 10:00. We didn't drink too much, and didn't turn into Mr. and Mrs. Inappropriate, though the antics from the Halloween party were talked about - some of the same folks were at this party.

Midnight arrived, and Ray & I kissed. (Yay!) Not like we weren't kissing all night anyway. Heh heh. After some games there, we slept on the couch in the living room until the younger kids started to wake up and make noise. Then we moved to the camp bed in the basement for a few more hours of sleep. I played a game of (I think it was) Five Crowns. By the time that ended, it was mid-afternoon, and we headed back to Ray's. She wasn't feeling well, and I was recovering from a cold, so we took it easy the rest of the day, watching a few movies and hanging around at her place.

It was back to work this morning. The commute from Longmont was easier than normal, but going in still kindof sucked after having time off. It felt too soon. My next time off is likely to come from Cady going into labor!

Labels: vacation

posted by Brett @ 8:26 PM