Ooops. Nearly midweek before I have enough time to write a post on the holiday weekend trip to Ol' El Paso. But no matter, we had a great weekend that almost ended horribly but ended up ending awesomely. So, in typical weekend intelligence fashion (and so many loose "ends" to tie up >.>), here are the highlights!
I'm so glad I finally have a job that allows me to take some much needed vacation time. I got the approval to leave work at noon on Friday so that we could be out the door and on the road by 1. All went off without a hitch: D did an awesome job of getting everything staged, getting Clara to the doctor, getting Colin's DS from school (LOL yes the one that he had confiscated from him several weeks ago), and generally having everything ready for me to load up. Suzie's kennel fit perfectly in the back, but left no room for luggage, so it sat next to Colin. Poor Colin was in pretty tight quarters most of the trip. Lucky for him he's pretty skinny still.
DeAnn asked if the doctor had any tips for traveling with a toddler. He asked if we had a trunk or roof rack free... We weren't but 20 mins on the road and Clara started getting fussy. She was snarling fussy for practically the whole 8+ hour trip. No snacks, no toys, nothing could get her to just relax and take it easy. I was hoping she would nap a little on the way, but only took a short 30 min nap towards the end of the trip, and that ended promptly when the sun got in her eyes. My only advice for traveling with a toddler: drugs, and don't skimp on them either.
When we finally made it in, D's mom had sandwiches, mixed drinks, queso and chips and all sorts of stuff: a truly great spread! She also had a warm crib made and ready for our 20lb snarling bundle of toddler to take a long overdue trip to Sleepyland. There was eating and drinking and much rejoicing. ^_^/ She got a new laptop and camera, and needed it set up on the network, so I got to play around with computer stuff and drink and joke around well into the 2 o'clock hours.
Saturday was a late start, and I didn't care. I was on vacation for the first time in years! We bummed around the house and took naps, joked around, and basically just relaxed with family. We hit up the State Line for dinner with more of D's family. Awesome BBQ. D's mom looked after the kiddos as D and I went out on the town that night. I got her something to wear to the clubs and we went dancing and drinking at Graham Central Station till the early morning.
Sunday was started somewhat earlier: D wanted to make service from her old church, and got to catch up with some old friends and her old pastor. They were doing some major renovations to the sanctuary, so service was held in a park in a poorer neighborhood. In Crossroads fashion, it was full of outreach: in between songs, the worship leader invited people from the neighborhood over the PA to come out of their houses/apartments, have breakfast, snag a drink and hang out. They had jumping balloons and games for the kids and one guy brought a basketball and some Frisbees. We tried to do something with Papa (D's grandpa) after service, but he wanted to schedule us in, and we just were not in a scheduling mindset. We were on a relaxing vacation, not sightseeing or touring, so we just resolved to catch up with them later. D's mom took Colin and Clara and mentioned a Wine Festival going on in Las Cruces, just a little way up the road. She even gave us admission money and filled the gas tank for us to go! We spent the afternoon driving to Las Cruces, tasting all kinds of different wines. We got our names engraved on our glasses and bought a bottle of some really nice black currant wine.
We grilled out that night, got our laundry started, filled up the great inflatable hot tub and Papa stopped with his girlfriend Betty by to visit afterwards. Somewhere in there, Suzie managed to escape without anyone noticing. It wasn't until later that evening when I only saw Piffy and the demon cat scurrying around that I noticed Suzie was nowhere to be found. All my clothes were in the wash, so D and her mom went out in the dark of night to go looking for the stupid dog. Of course, she was nowhere to be found...
We got our stuff packed up and ready pretty early on Monday. I wanted to be on the road by noon - the only bit of scheduling we had. We submitted an ad online for Suzie in the newspaper. While I was hopeful of seeing her again, I felt sick leaving her behind. As we got stuff packed into the car, D saw the "Stupidu" strolling up the street from the park. Probably went out to find a boyfriend for some El Paso lovin' for the night... -.-" At least she made it back home in time to catch the ride out of town. The ride home was significantly easier. Clara was in a better mood, and D drove a quarter of the way to give my eyes a rest. Got home half past 9 and hit a Jim's before calling it a night.
The next day, I got notice that I'd be on another assignment for the remainder of the week. Picked up a few odds and ends that we need to get us through to next weekend, but nothing major, and watched the movie "In & Out" from our Blockbuster queue to relax for the night. I start on the road again, on assignment, starting tomorrow. I'm just glad I can help. ^_^/
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