Nepper's Landing: Road Trip Tales: Part 2

I finally feel like I'm getting the house in order. The vacationing is the fun part, but then you have to come home and deal with the aftermath. I'd say I'm at least 10 loads of laundry, probably 50 trips up and down the stairs, one trip to the recycling depot, one vacuuming spree, many loads of dishes, and I still haven't cleaned the bathrooms or washed the floors yet. I think I need another vacation already...

The day after visiting my Grandma, we got together with Rob's Mom and her siblings at a restaurant called Mrs. Ritches. Now their claim to fame is the mountain burger. If you can eat the entire thing you get your picture on their wall. And at a "mere" $25.99 you have to imagine its one giant hunk of meat! Only for the brave! It was a nice time to see the the siblings together, and have them meet the wee-est one.

Abbi and Grandma at Mrs. Riches

Dave, Maureen & Marilyn (siblings)

On the Saturday, my Sister and I took the kids down to Sebastian beach for the afternoon. It was hot, hot, hot, and I think I may have actually contracted some form of sun burn. I mean, I'm still not admitting that I burned, but it is a possibility. You see, my Grandpa and I both have Native heritage, and I guess I must have learned this tag line from him, "Indians don't burn." So Grandpa would be sitting out in 40 plus Arizona heat, red as a lobster, saying, "Indians don't burn." Since he passed away in 2007 (I feel the need to point out that he did not die from skin cancer!), I felt I needed to carry on the tradition. And as such, I didn't technically burn, or at least that's what I'm telling myself. Rob begs to differ...

My niece Jasmine

On Saturday night, I went to pick up Rob and his friend Jason from the airport. I got there 15 minutes prior to the flight so Abbi could watch the plane land (she loves all things that move - planes, trains, cars, etc). So we waited, and we waited some more. They didn't get in for 45 minutes after the scheduled time. So Abbi and I did the only thing we could do to get through the hot heat, and the long wait...we went across the road to the country market and ate ice cream. Although the ice cream was good, we were glad to see the plane land. Abbi was so excited, and kept on saying, "Dad, you flew on a plane. We lost you, but now we found you at the airport."

On Sunday we went to our old church, Oceanside. It was nice to see so many familiar faces. Again, hot, hot, hot, with no air conditioning. Despite the heat, it was great to catch up with folks, as sweaty as it was.

That afternoon we left Abbi at my parent's place (she was getting people overload) and went to Jason and Anna's son's first birthday party. We hadn't seen Teo since he was 5 months old, so it was incredible to see him so big and grown up. Here are some pictures from that.

I love Teo's little tongue sticking out as he checks out his Birthday cake

Then we went back to my parent's place, where they had a BBQ and invited my Mom's friend Keri, as well as my Aunt Jean. Thank goodness for air conditioning!

Keri playing with Abbi

Abbi crawling all over Aunt Jean. Sorry Aunt Jean!

This is Abbi convinced she is to go home with Keri. I think she found a new best friend...

On Monday night we went for dinner at our friends Bruce & Cat's. They put on an incredible BBQ feast for us. Delicious can't even describe how good the food was. Now I truly understand the term "mouth watering." The Higgin's also came along, as well as Derek, who lives in the suite at their house. It was a wonderful time of fellowship. Cat picked up some kids clothes, as well as a kiddie pool for the wee ones to cool off in. It was so sweet, and the kids loved it. Well, minus Teo, he was feeling a little water queasy. Perhaps that had to do with Abbi's continuous splashing? And Gabe, our water-fearing baby apparently got over that because he was in there splashing up a storm too.

Pool time