Stuffed kids into grandma's convertible and accidentally drove partway to Binghamton when we took a wrong exit while fishing for Blistex. Became very excited when we turned around at the Scranton exit. Made terrible Office jokes for ten minutes. Took the kids for pizza at That Pizza Place Next to the Giant Rock That Mike's Dad Took Us To That One Time. This time, minus the lengthy history of the rock, which, as it turns out, was not an ancient sacrificial stone or a boulder dropped by giants in the days of fey; it was too big to dig out, so they made a fence around it. The end. The pizza is good, though.
Went on a quest to find Trader Joe's. Cousin Kammy clucked her tongue dubiously, "It's a grocery store?" then gasped herself into a giddy head rush as we tap-danced from aisle to aisle. I made sad faces in front of the pound-plus chocolate bars, having sworn off cocoa products for Lent. Am a lousy former-Catholic-schoolgirl, though, as it took me an hour to realize why everyone had dirt on their foreheads.
Brought brie and fancy crackers to the Great Aunties' house, and I read an interesting article about Michelin stars in the New Yorker while the kids tried to sword fight with the walkers, eat all the Pepperidge Farms cookies, and find the remote for the 1970s tv. I love visiting the Aunties, they are wily old over-educated spinsters and the very first sort of feminists. Plus, they have a bidet.
Ditched the larger child at Aunt Sue's, and stuffed Leif back into the car for a kosher sushi dinner in Airmont with the Bosses. (The man-person has worked for a local company these past 7 years, only meeting them in person periodically to eat all their food.) Snow billowed in as we gathered the child to ride home at bedtime, and after the two boys were asleep in their seats, we played with the high beams and pretended we were flying at warp speed through the snow, flattening ourselves to our seats and howling AAUUUGHHH! Some time around 10pm, discovered ourselves locked out of the house and phoning grandma from the porch to beg for shelter from the cold. She came down with a lot of makeup on, in a bathrobe instead of her Mickey jimjams. Oh no.
Day 6 - today again
Breakfast at IHOP with great-grandma Mac. Too sweet to be a spitfire, but too fun to be an old fuddy, she and Gavin enjoyed a bit of time twisting straws into dinosaurs and robots while Mike tackled a stack of pancakes, Leif spit out his french toast and stuffed his mouth with packets of sugar and crayons, and I slugged down hazelnut latte until my head was spinning.
We stopped at the fabric store to indulge my yearning for affordable quilting flannel, dropped off great-grandma, and are back at Sue's to let the kids scream at each other over goldfish crackers while Mike delivers homebrew to his bosses. Kammy is hiding upstairs with a bit of the stomach flu we kindly brought over. Tonight the rabble arrives from the city for a grown-up sleepover: booze! gossips! shenanegans! And tomorrow: the city! Exciting.
No comments:
Post a Comment