So, it was another late night for the Hardin boys, but a good end to our vacation week. We've got all day to recuperate, before our friends the Stovers stop by for dinner (they're in town from Dallas and we haven't seen them in ages.) Sadly, with all of our spur-of-moment vacation plans, I forgot Amy Hollyfield was in Dallas this week to care for her mom, Shirley. I was supposed to drive up and meet her for a few days. That's what you get for not writing things down in your calendar. It will probably be another year before I see her. Gut-wrenching, but I can't change it now.
Now for those still paying attention, here's a whirlwind tour through our week at Medina Lake:
THURS: I started doing laundry and packing clothes. Somehow managed to wash, fold and put away 8 loads and then pack 6 laundry baskets for 6 people for 8 days. And it only took until 2am. And then I stayed up until 3am watching a DVR'd episode of So You Think You Can Dance. Common sense had obviously vacated the premises around 1:30am.
FRI: Continued to pack all other needed things (besides clothes) in the remaining 9 laundry baskets and totes. For those counting, that's 15 baskets and totes. Horrifying. Which is why we had to borrow Aunt Barbara's TRAILER. I also insisted on cleaning the entire house. I (along with my sweet sister) am absolutely passionate about coming home to a clean house. Otherwise, you straggle in, unload all your junk (say, 15 totes and baskets) and it instantly mixes in with all your other house junk. It may take 87 days to sort it all out and get things back to normal. So, with common sense still not being present, I frantically worked to the point of delirium until Brad got home at 3pm. We loaded up and set off by 4:30. Not bad. We made it to the lake house around 7pm, just about the same time as my mom. She was going to spend the weekend with us.
SAT: Having gotten all settled in the night before, we set off for the 4th of July parade in town. I think we went two years ago, as well, and it's a cute little small town parade. Mostly all the VFD trucks from Lake Hills and surrounding areas. And the occasional shirtless teenage boy on an undecorated dirt bike. And some alarmingly young boys in a dune buggy. And all of them throwing candy at the crowd. Lots and lots of candy. Like we filled up the back pack. Luke was in heaven.
We then walked over to the VFW hall and had a BBQ chicken lunch. Aside from the 45 minute wait in line, everyone had fun and we returned to the house for naptime. Brad spent the afternoon working on the boat and suffered heat exhaustion (it was only about 105 degrees out there.) Gray and I went to Helotes to go grocery shopping, and my mom took the other boys swimming. We had our standard lake house fare of Taco Cabana rotisserie chicken, rice and beans for dinner. The neighbor set off an incredible array of fireworks and we all watched from the front porch. The only thing missing was Sarah's friend Kelly Hern - she sang the Star Spangled Banner one 4th of July when they were in school, and I still get a bit misty thinking about it. I need to have her record a version so we can keep it down there and play it each year. If you've heard Kelly sing, you'd totally understand. (and yes, I'm a bit goose-bumpy now, just writing about it.)
SUN: Our second full day, we finally settled into a routine. I slept a little late (Gray did NOT sleep well at night - unfortunate combination of upset tummy from just starting solid food and a little cough from drainage), the boys watched an early morning movie, Brad made breakfast, and then down to the lake for swimming. I stayed inside most of the time, as it was too hot for Gray at the water. I started the massive job of polishing/oiling all the wood paneling downstairs, which I worked on a little bit (or a lot) for the next 5 days. Luke finally got to go fishing, and caught quite a few fish, including a catfish. After I went down and inspected the bounty, everyone got dumped out of the basket and back in the lake to be caught again. The fish, not the children.
MON: Second verse, same as the first. Swimming, fishing, napping, movies.
TUES: We all loaded up and went to San Antonio. I dropped Brad, Reid & Luke off at Sea World (we had our season passes from when we went with Sarah et. al. in April - 14 of us in the pouring rain. Good times.) I took Cole and Gray with me to run a few errands, and spent the day at Aunt Margie's house. Gray napped, Cole did great without one, I got stopped in Balcones for going 40 in a 30, (but mercifully got a warning) and went back to pick up the boys at Sea World at 5pm. Everyone was hot and tired and HAPPY.
WED: Back to the routine during the day. It's starting to feel like a vacation. We finally put the boat in the water (one of my errands on Tues was to get a new marine battery), and we toodled around the lake. I think there was more fishing. That evening we took Reid into Boerne to meet Freda. He was going to the Gilmore family reunion in Ruidoso and they were leaving on Thursday morning with Grand Pink and Aunt Barbara in tow. We miscalculated dinner time and had to stop at "Cheesy Janes" for a burger. Delicious, but not remotely close to the chicken and green veggies I had planned for home. I was still trying to make up for the back pack full of candy from the parade. Oh well.
THURS: We all went out in the boat in the morning. Drove all the way to the dam and went swimming off the boat. Gray didn't get in the water, but had a good time nonetheless. His first boat ride, and he promptly fell asleep in my lap on the way home (like his brothers before him.) I continued to work on the paneling and organized the big book shelves around the TV, and Brad and boys went swimming at the house.
THURS: We all went out in the boat in the morning. Drove all the way to the dam and went swimming off the boat. Gray didn't get in the water, but had a good time nonetheless. His first boat ride, and he promptly fell asleep in my lap on the way home (like his brothers before him.) I continued to work on the paneling and organized the big book shelves around the TV, and Brad and boys went swimming at the house.
FRI: Brad took Luke back to Sea World, just the two of them. Surprisingly, Luke didn't get a lot of say in the itinerary on Tuesday, so Brad wanted to take him back and let him choose what to do ALL DAY. I think they did the exact same things. Except they made it to the Pirate movie, which I'm pretty sure was Luke's only motivation for returning. I stayed home with the littles (Reid was well on his way to Ruidoso, having spent the previous night in Lovington), and finished up the walls and hanging of paintings and photos. I had picked up a few more of my grandmother's paintings when I was in SA (they've been in a tote at the Fite family office) and had also printed and framed some old family photos before we left. My uncle Eddie has been working on a massive remodel/update of the interior, and the house just needed a bit of tweaking to be fully put back together. It seems a bit homier with the photos, and reminds me of all the countless weekends we spent there as an extended family. For years and years, all 14 of us (grandparents, aunt, uncles, cousins) would spend 3 out of 4 weekends there during the summer. I had no idea at the time (what kid does?) of how blessed we were to have a place like that. Only now, with my boys, do I see how incredible it is.
SAT: My mom came back up Fri night to help us pack and clean, and spend a bit more time with the boys. We intended to start cleaning Fri night, but Brad worked on the boat trailer, and got heat exhaustion (AGAIN), so we laid on the couch and (surprise) watched yet another movie. We tried to get going quickly Sat morning, and sort of had a plan of action, but no matter how quickly you intend to get it done, it just takes a LONG LONG time to pack up those 15 totes and baskets and clean an entire house while trying to keep 3 little boys occupied enough that they're not un-doing all your packing/cleaning. We finally headed out at 4:15 and had an easy drive home. Which brings me full circle to the top of the post.
And now it's Sunday, and I should really stop blogging and start on those 8 loads of dirty dirty lake laundry.
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