Weekend Wrap-Up

The simulator ride at Chuck E Cheese

Here's a brief report on the weekend's events. Yes, I know the following week is half over but as my daughter would say, "you get what you get and you don't frow a fit."

My sister and her family were in town for the past few days. I had a "stomach thing" (that's the technical term) for the last two days of their visit, which put a damper on some of the festivities. But, looking on the bright side, I'm likely to have a kick-ass weigh-in at Weight Watchers this week. I'm trying on this new "glass is half full" attitude for size.

My sister did complete the marathon, and in fine form I might add! The marathon was extremely well organized. Each time she passed over a timing mat, a microchip in her shoe caused a text message to be sent to my phone. Her boyfriend and I were able to round up the kids (my niece and nephew plus my youngster) and head to several points along the way to assemble a cheering squad on the sidelines. We made posters and brought along a few noisemakers for added effect. Just after the five mile mark, the marathon actually passed right through our neighborhood. We had to walk about six blocks (one way!) to cheer her on, so I hope she appreciated how much we exerted ourselves for her. We also met up with her at the 13.1 mile mark, the 20 mile mark (AKA "the wall"), and the finish line. It was a very emotional moment to hear my sister's name being called as she crossed that line. I'm so proud of her!

After the marathon, I took all three kids to Chuck E Cheese because I'm the best mom/aunt in the history of time and space. I even brought along color-coded plastic cups so that the kids could keep their tokens and tickets straight. Do I think ahead or what?

Needless to say, my sister was pretty sore the next day. At one point she was lying on the couch and could hear the two younger kids bickering. Frustrated, she said, "God, I can't even get up and yell at my kids!" I drove to McDonald's and bought her some fries and a "real" Coke. Her stomach was iffy but she was hungry! I still haven't figured out what made me sick, but it seems to be related to some Moose Munch that I bought at Harry & David on Saturday night. Not only does typing the words "Moose Munch" bring back a wave of nausea, but even just seeing the transaction in Microsoft Money on my computer makes me physically ill.

The kid was very happy to have her cousins visiting for a few days (the only drawback was that Crabby McCrabbikins did not get enough sleep during their visit and is still a bear at this point). I felt like I should pay my ten-year-old niece, because she did such a good job of keeping my daughter occupied. We had a trip to the park, a visit to an indoor play joint, and an excursion to a wildlife sanctuary. The grown-ups also had a night out.

Life is getting back to normal now. My niece made several attempts to "misplace" her headgear while she was at my house, so I'm convinced I'm going to find it behind my couch or something. She doesn't care that her braces cost more than a decent used car - she hates the headgear. I'm going to start saying "that sucks worse than headgear!" and see if it catches on.