Don and Merlene came out to see us last week. They got in very late Wednesday night so they went to their hotel and came over the next morning instead. From there they spent most of each day with us at our apartment, and it was really nice. Like when Mom visited, Jack would go to school and I'd go to get some work done and they'd happily stay and babysit Clara. Other highlights:
On Thursday night Merlene was playing with Clara with the little mirror we rest on the floor for her. Merlene would smile and wave at Clara through the mirror, and much to our delight Clara started crawling toward the mirror! It's the first time we've seen her crawl forward, so we were all pretty excited. She didn't seem to get what everyone was freaking out about, haha.
Their trip involved lots of delicious food. Merlene made tortellini dinner (a Jackson family tradition), and at other points she made taco salad, ground beef potato stir fry, and BLTs. One night we all went out for Shabu (Japanese fondu), which Jack and I had never done before. Don and Merlene even brought some pretty tasty banana nut muffins from the hotel for breakfast, and they also bought us a bunch of Diet Coke and chocolate Skinny Cow ice cream to have around the house.
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| Shabu |
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| Clara is number 1447, haha. |
The weather was really nice and the trail was kind of pretty--winding through parks behind nice residential areas, almost all of it in the shade. There were volunteers along the route whose whole job appeared to be to cheer all of us on. Near the end there were two volunteers dressed as minions from Despicable Me and one was holding a sign that said "You're one in a MINION!" :)
But even better than the volunteers were these two little kids, brother and sister, standing in their pajamas in the driveway of their house dancing around and waving sparkly pom poms, and the girl was using a duck call whistle over and over. They were extremely enthusiastic.
We had parked in an adjacent strip mall in front of a breakfast place. When we got back to the car I thought it would be better to feed and change Clara before driving home. So we decided to sit outside the breakfast place and maybe get some orange juice or something, but somehow that involved into eggs Florentine and mimosas, which were absolutely delicious. It was a nice break.
Then I thought Don was driving us back but instead he took a quick detour to see the house where I grew up. It was very nostalgic. We went to the end of the street and saw the old Tot Lot too, and took pictures of Clara there. So surreal to see my baby girl in the same play area I went as a child.
The next day Don got the supplies to fix our living room chair, which had been resting on the ground for months after one of the legs broke. Now it sits at a normal height again and is much easier to get in and out of. After Jack got off work, he and Don went to Ikea to pick out a couch to replace our horrible, sitting-on-metal-bars futon. Jack and I had been unsure about letting Don and Merlene get us such an extravagent gift but they insisted, and I love the couch. Not only is it way more comfortable than the futon had been, it's also one of the first pieces of "real" (read: not from a thrift shop or Craigslist) furniture we've had. I'm hoping it lasts us for years to come.
While the guys were gone, Clara took a nap and Merlene and I got to have a good one-on-one visit. That means a lot to me because I don't talk to the Jacksons that often when we're in different states, and even when we are around each other in groups I feel like most of our conversation is relatively casual. It was enjoyable to get to have a conversation of some depth with her. We talked about parenting and what it's like for her to have adult children. We talked about the apparent gender gap in the way people treat birthdays. It was just a good visit.
After the guys came back, Don and Merlene watched Clara so Jack and I could go on a date. We went to our tried and true favorite sushi place, got our favorite table, and had some very delicious food.
Jack was kind of tired, but it was still nice for some uninterrupted one-on-one time. There was a mom with two girls (looked to be age 5-7 or so) at a table near us. The girls looked like sisters and they were giggling uncontrollably and goofing around with each other and it was really very cute. Jack and I talked about when we might have another kid and thought about what it would be like for Clara to be a sibling. As we drove home from the date we got to see the lunar eclipse. I can't remember if I've ever seen one in person before. It was pretty amazing to watch, although way beyond the capabilities of my phone camera. Don got some pictures of it though.
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| Click to enlarge. |
Later after the guys came back Merlene was talking about how she needs to learn some more kids' songs to sing to Clara, and that segued into her pointing out she knows a lot of Christian songs for kids but she wasn't sure how we would feel about that. I was actually very pleased she brought that up, because it's the first chance I've had to openly discuss our different religious views (mine and Jack's vs. Don and Merlene's). It was something I was nervous about bringing up because it seems like it's easy for those conversations to go sideways, so I was really glad Merlene brought it up herself. We talked about how Jack and I don't expect them to hide such an important part of their lives from our children, and as long as there isn't any "we're right and your parents are wrong" type of mentality we're fine with it. Merlene looked vaguely horrified at the thought and said they'd never do anything like that--and I wouldn't have expected them to, for the record, but it was still nice to have a direct conversation about it. Anyway I was really glad we got to talk about that. I just feel so much better when the people in my life and I can be direct about even tricky subjects.
Anyway, shortly after they left, but one of the great things about a September visit is now Christmas doesn't feel so far away. :)
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