7.12.17 - CO July Trip - the rest of the visit

(Written 7/22/17)

I'm glad we decided to stay a full week for our CO visit. Between the length of the trip and all of Kristin's help, we had enough time to do most of the things we'd talked about before getting there. Jill had wanted to play Paper Game (so did I), Everett really wanted to watch Interstellar with me, and I really wanted to play Quiplash with everyone. We hoped to play Tichu too, although we were skeptical it would happen, as it usually doesn't.

Well the day after Field Day (Sunday), we got the girls ready and drove down to Tejon for the afternoon and evening. Kristin watched the girls and we were able to play Quiplash for a couple hours, and it was as funny as I'd hoped. At one point Everett named his character "Ed's goatee" so I named mine "Ev's goatee," and whenever we voted the same way on a question we made a big deal about it. At another point the room code was MOME, so someone named their character that, I named mine "MO' MONEY" and Everett named his "MO' PROBLEMS" and Eric the DJ (who had come by) named his "E MO MONEY," so again we all joked that we were teams.

There were definitely parts when I was crying laughing, although sadly I can't remember most of them now. I know Neil won a round by saying that Willy Wonka's bank statements included an entry for "Billy Bonka's Vanilla Factory." Everett won a round saying the Bible should be renamed to "The Life of Jeezy Creezy." During one game, Bryon named himself "Last Place," and his answer to the final round question was "Don't vote for this! I want to lose!" He won, of course. Jill played too and, as I hoped, she really enjoyed it. Even Dad stayed and watched for a long time and laughed along. There's something very appealing about a game where you can just sit on the couch as you play.

The leisure of Quiplash.

We played Quiplash again I think both the next day and the day after. Eventually Sola got in on it and even Rocket (with his Aunt Jennifer's help) played some too. So I'd say it was a hit!

Anyway, after a lot of Quiplash that Sunday, Neil, Everett, Henry and I played Tichu, but Neil and Henry completely stomped us.

But Everett keeps a positive attitude.

Then Dad took Neil and Emily to the airport to go back home. Everyone wished they'd be in town longer but it was still great to see them. Side note: that was the first time everyone had met Emily, and she was a hit! Friendly, easy to talk to, and she laughs so easily, which I love. So that went well.

When we went home that night the girls fell asleep pretty easily and slept in the next morning. It was a huge relief. Amazing how much better the entire day is when you get enough sleep.

The next day, Monday, we stayed at the ranch. Kristin came up to help out and eventually the rest of the family joined to hang out. The weather was spotty with rain off and on frequently enough that it was hard to get out and do things. Even so, Sola, Henry, and Jack all got some time with four wheelers and dirt bikes, and later Henry and Jack did some trap shooting while Everett and I watched and commentated from the truck.

Everett telling Jack he's supposed to shoot the clay pigeons.

Everett decided to stay the night at the ranch with us so we could play Tichu one more time before Henry left the next day. Jane cooperated and slept in her swing for almost the entire game, and Kristin was putting Clara to bed for a lot of it too, so we played nearly uninterrupted. We drank Diet Coke and ate Hershey's bars (from the ranch s'mores supplies in the upstairs kitchen), and Henry also warmed up a bunch of leftover ribs. Dinner of champions.

Everett trying to keep Jack from looking at Henry and non-verbally communicating their strategy.

Jack not at all sure he should've called Tichu.

Everett and I were winning by quite a bit, but we didn't quite finish the game before Jane woke up -- we were over 900. If I had just remembered to call Tichu on my very first completely overpowering hand (the 1 and a huge straight and the dragon!!) we would've already won. Alas.

The next day (Tuesday), Henry headed back home. We all went to Tejon and for a little while Clara enjoyed the backyard, particularly climbing up the slide and then sliding back down by herself as well as watching Sola on the trampoline.

I love this photo.

But the girls, who had slept terribly the night before, wouldn't really go down for naps either. I was getting pretty frustrated but the day was saved when Kristin took the two of them for a very long walk and I was able to sit on the porch swing with Everett and chat with him, Jill, Dad, and Ellen and have a glass or two of wine. The weather was great too - not raining, but overcast so it wasn't too hot. That porch swing is one of my favorite places to be.

Eventually my friend Jen and her incredibly smiley 6-month-old James joined us. Jen even brought lemon cheesecake (which was excellent) because she'd been practicing different recipes to make a great cake for her mom's upcoming birthday. We drank and ate on the back porch and then moved inside to play paper game, also with Sola and Jennifer (Jill's sister). James was surprisingly cooperative while we played, and Jen is a pretty good artist, which makes it more fun. Jennifer is also fun to play with because she compliments almost every single drawing she receives as well done. She's just such a cheerful laid back person.

Jen and incredibly smiley James.

Finally, on Wednesday we somehow managed to watch the nearly 3 hour movie Interstellar all the way through. Everett had been pushing me to watch it for months but it was enjoyable to watch with him. It was a pretty thought-provoking movie and I was glad to watch it on a (bigger than my laptop) screen with decent sound.

That day I also did the annual kid interviews, which were fun. Sola's interview was kind of through-provoking too, because she's about to start high school and I can still remember pretty clearly the summer before I started high school. Not long after the interviews I went on a long walk with Jill and the dogs and we talked about it, and we both think Sola seems pretty well equipped (in terms of friends and her own maturity) to deal with whatever comes up. Guess we'll see.

On a final note, I think staying at the ranch this trip worked out really well. It gave us time in the morning to get up and get going without things being too crazy, and it gave everyone else a break from the chaos of little kids around all the time. I didn't mind the drives back and forth either, because mostly the girls fell asleep and Jack and I had a chance to talk with each other one-on-one. Plus it's a very pretty drive. And staying at the ranch gave us a bit more control over feeding Clara with a bit less worry about cross contamination or other issues. Spot on, good choice. I expect next time we're all out we'll stay there again.

Clara has plenty of legroom on one of the drives from the ranch to Tejon.