I woke up this morning to hail hitting my windows. I took the screens down because the windows look better with no screens and because the cats spend a lot of time jumping up and hanging there when they're ready to come inside. Now they have to go to the front door and wait. It would have been a good morning to stay in bed, but I woke up to a text from Noreen asking if I wanted a cuppa - nice excuse for a visit. We've only chatted through texts for about a week now, and it was time for catching up. We did cover quite a few subjects and got a bit of world problem-solving done. I always feel better about life in general when I leave one of our visits!
It was pouring when I left to come home. And cold. Looking at the 10-day forecast, I don't see us reaching 70 for that period of time and most of it with rain. Ugh. Once I get a little taste of sunshine, I'm ready to have it daily.
Just got a video from Emily in Michaels showing me a bunch of 70s-looking vases and glasses and my sweet girl.
Our Harvest Gold and Avocado Green things were a little more tasteful than those, I think.
Yesterday was early-release Friday, and Graysen got here about 2:45 with some make-up work to finish and her book to read. When Kate got here an hour later, they were glad to see each other and get a snack. It isn't anything I plan, but I sometimes just stand in the kitchen and tell them what's in the cabinets and refrigerator, and they let me know if it sounds good. Gray and I even went to the garage freezer, thinking I had put a cheese pizza in there the last time I went to the grocery story. Unfortunately, there was no pizza. They settled for some sausage links like we had at the beach - plant-based ones that they love. Kate got excited over a bowl of grits, and I grated some cheese into it. We rounded out the snack with a few handfuls of Fruit Loops I had forgotten about.
They left to go home, and I did nothing the rest of the evening except what I wanted to do, but I can't remember what that was. I'm sure I played a few games of MJ on line. I've now won 68% of the hands on the 2026 card. Some of them I'll never play, and some I've won multiple times.
Since nothing is going on today, I'll post a few of the Spring Break pictures. I've already forgotten where and what most of them are, but I'll remember what I can.
We left on May 8 and had a good short drive to the airport. It was so nice it almost made me not look at all the traffic. We were able to get a glimpse of Mt Rainier, but I wasn't quick enough to capture it.
It's such a production to get 5 people and all that luggage into the airport. We parked, and Ryan and Emily ran the heavy suitcases to be checked inside while I waited with the girls with our carryon stuff. Then Ryan ran out and took off to park while the girls and I went in and found Emily. It wasn't crowded, and I had nothing to do but wait on her to do all the hard work.
Once Ryan got back inside, we headed for the security lines. We were TSA prechecked, or whatever that's called, so it was a simple matter to just take out IDs and show them. There was no taking off anything or taking things out of bags, so that part was easy too. It was a pretty long walk to get to our gate, and the girls gamely carried my laptop bag along with their things.
Kate wasn't unhappy here, just bored and ready to be on our way.
Once we got there to the gates - 2 or 3 at the end of the concourse, some with delays - there was no time to go to the bathroom or get a bottle of water. So many people. I was definitely pampered this trip with early boarding on most flights, and it turned out I was the first one on the plane. That was a new and welcome thing for me. The only downside was that I had to sit by myself and the rest of the family were way back behind me. I ended up with a nice young couple who were friendly but not chatty - my favorite type of seatmates.
We changed planes in Houston, and I don't remember much about that. We just had to get our carryon stuff to the next gate and get on.
This was the flight I had Kate as my seatmate. She was fun to be with. It looks like this was just 2 seats with the others across the aisle from us in some configuration.
I thought I would have taken more pictures, but I didn't. This trip, I got a strap-on waist thing for my ID and phone and a few other little things. That was the best, because it kept me from forgetting where my phone was and having to fish it off the floor.
Below may have been in Houston or New Orleans. We made brief stops in both airports and tried to get something to eat at one of the food courts, but nothing looked interesting, and some of the places were closing for the day.
The next step was riding a shuttle in New Orleans to the rental car place. It was a nice big comfortable bus, and we got to rest a little bit.
The rest of the night was my least favorite time there. We got a big nice car, but we filled it completely up and headed for the hotel.
I haven't traveled in a lot of years, and I thought I did pretty well with my anxiety. But I didn't enjoy the drive to the area and finding a parking place and getting into our rooms. I'll have to find out the name of the hotel for tomorrow.
Not that it was any fun for the others, but Ryan and Emily are adventurous, and the girls went straight to sleep once we were in the car. It was close to midnight in a strange city and no parking available near the hotel. Ryan got out to walk around and look for a spot, and then Emily went to find him, and I was not that thrilled to be left in the car with the children. Finally - not long but seemed like forever - we paid for valet parking, which was just unlocking a small parking area attached to the hotel. Once again, deciding what we needed, getting groggy girls up the elevator, and getting settled is all a blur. Kate slept in my room, and she was out so quickly.
I don't remember anything about the room except that was the one with no hot or even warm water. Right when I needed it the most. It didn't seem worth it to complain, so I waited until morning and had a lukewarm shower.
We had little balconies, but I spent almost no time on mine. We heard pretty music for a little while - what we finally learned was the calliope from the Steamboat Natchez going past on the Mississippi. Nice touch before we had to hurry and get out to try to see some of New Orleans before meeting Rebekah, Emily's high school friend.
This girl had a long sleep and hardly moved all night. I think that was true for all of us.
I took one picture in NOLA. One. I've been there a few times, but Emily really wanted to show the girls Jackson Square. Our time eventually got used up, and I was not too disappointed.
I'm exhausted just thinking about it. Maybe I'll have a few pictures for another day. I'm looking for the name of that hotel now to see if there's anything interesting about it.
Just as I was finishing this up, my phone sent me another airport adventure from May of 2019. I'll pick some of those pictures and post - so precious, those ages.
Heading back from St. George's another time. In Tallahassee, we saw Millie and Allen to their flight and then found out ours had been cancelled because of storms in Dallas. Speaking of anxiety, I was there nursing a swollen foot because of some infection that had come up that morning. We ended up renting another car and driving most of the way across Georgia to Atlanta where we got about 4 hours sleep and then got a flight to Los Angeles via Charlotte.
These little girls handled it much better than I did, but look at those tired little faces!
AND - 12 hours later - more hail!
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