as always, my brother's visit was far too short. (of course, if he stayed for a year it would still be too short..)
the whole family (rob, lulu & baby roxi) stayed with ray & i. it was wonderful having the baby in the house. she's a total dreamboat, as you can see.
when the tusselwuppers arrived friday night we went right to el rodeo, rob's favorite mexican restaurant in durham. the mere mention of the place causes him to drool. it appeared as if they've changed their menu, though, which disappointed him (the "vegetarian combo #1" no longer consists of the same stuff) but what he ordered as a replacement was still quite good. we walked down the courtyard to offbeat music afterward and i bought a few CDs for divaville.
on saturday the tusselwuppers went to visit lulu's grandparents, who also live in durham. rob sneaked out mid-afternoon, though, and he & i went to the crossings to play 9 holes of golf. i didn't do very well (likely because i was playing with my own clubs, which suck. i do better when i have a rental set, oddly enough.) but we still had a lot of fun together.
saturday night we were all invited to a fancy dinner at the forest at duke, hosted by lulu's grandparents. also in attendance were lulu's mom and aunt, who both drove down from virginia for the tusselwupper's visit. it was a big fun party and i thought it was wonderful to meet lulu's relatives. i feel like my loving family is bigger now.
when we got back home, rob & ray played a game (or 7) of HORSE in the backyard while lulu & i sat inside and chatted over a batch of bacon grease popcorn.
sunday morning the 5 of us drove to mebane to visit with some old friends & roommates. it was great catching up with everyone, even though the parents (everyone but ray & i) were pretty much only interested in talking about their kids. (there were a couple of attempts to discuss other things, but nothing really stuck.) kid-talk can be entertaining to listen to, don't get me wrong, but it's not a conversation i will ever be participating in. still, it was a beautiful morning.
hunger struck as we were leaving and we decided steak & shake was in order. god, how i love steak & shake. rob & i both ordered the same thing: patty melt. drool.
the tusselwuppers headed back to lulu's grandparent's house for the evening, and when they got back rob & ray were rarin' to play more basketball. lulu and i were rarin' to drink a bottle of wine. we were their cheering section, too. it was a beautiful, mild evening. very relaxing.
(relaxation was needed, i might add, because ray & i were preoccupied with hurricane frances all weekend. ray's family lives in florida... his mother in satellite beach, two siblings in palm bay, a brother just north of orlando, and another sister in sarasota. with the size of that damn storm, his whole family was in harm's way. we watched the weather channel all weekend long.)
this morning we got up early and trucked over to elmo's for breakfast before they had to leave for the airport.
i cried big sobbing tears as i hugged rob & lulu goodbye in the parking lot. it's so sad to see them leave... i love that family so much.
Posted by xta at September 6, 2004 3:06 PM | TrackBackThat baby is so cute you could eat her! What a wonderful weekend you had. Sounds like you made the absolute most of it - and you played golf before the torrential rains hit!
Posted by: pinky at September 6, 2004 4:48 PMStep away from the baby. Do not eat the baby. But she *is* so goshdarn cute, and those sunglasses! What a diva.
Posted by: minty at September 6, 2004 10:42 PMit's hard to explain the 'only talking about our kids' thing. it's true, and i can see how it must be boring to others. it's hard to *not* talk about them when you are with others, especially other parents. you want to swap stories, share milestones, share advice, show them off, etc. at the risk of sounding like a freak i'll go ahead and admit that my kids are my world. that doesn't mean that i'm not interested in other things, and am not connected to what is happening in the world, it's just that everything else pales in comparison.
it was very nice to see you all and we enjoyed having you out. thanks for sending the pix -- jack is not bad behind the camera for a almost 4-year old, is he? :) (see, there is a little brag about him-- i can't stop myself) no contacts, btw. i'm sure we'd have found them by now if they were here.