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Aug. 11th, 2011 11:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_rck4 August 2011
I'm writing for later posting after I get home.
Instead of meeting in Marshall, my sister drove down to Ann Arbor. She'd finally gotten a chance to look at the maps and realized that coming to Ann Arbor only added about fifteen minutes to the trip. It's just as well that she did-- Scott was kept late at work. He was still in the shower when she and our nephew arrived.
We went to Olga's with Scott for an early dinner. After saying goodbye to Scott, we hit the road. It took us a couple of hours to get to the lake house. My mother and step-father had a nice dessert waiting for us.
Delia and I shared a bed. Neither of us got much sleep. She had picked up a lot of bug bites in the fifteen or so minutes she'd spent out on the dock after we arrived. The bug spray did not a bit of good. She kept scratching and fidgeting. There was also the obligatory mosquito buzzing around the room. Every time I was about to drift off, it came around for another go at my ear.
The two kids went swimming three or four times today. Our nephew, who's four, jumped off the end of the dock repeatedly. We only got Delia to try it once. She got water up her nose and in her eyes and did not want to repeat the experience.
I seem to be the only one with reliable cell phone reception here. The signal's not strong, but I can get and make calls. Nobody else can. My sister will probably end up using my phone to check in with Grandma so that she knows when to expect us. Otherwise, we'll have to wait until we're on the road on Saturday.
5 August 2011
Mom and Tim went out to dinner last night with some local friends. They left us to fend for ourselves for dinner. Mom, my sister and I had gone grocery shopping earlier in the day with this in mind. I bought ground beef and zucchini for the adults and cheddar hot dogs for the kids. I enjoyed having beef. I usually don't because of Scott's allergy. It's severe enough that I can't kiss him after eating beef.
My brother was here for dinner. He looked after Tim's two dogs while Tim was gone. The dogs were pretty unhappy when my parents left. They stayed near the door, watching for my parents to come back.
Today, Mom, my brother and my sister took the kids to a county fair. I couldn't go because I can't handle that much walking around, so I stayed here and watched DVDs. From the reports, the kids had a blast. There was a petting zoo, but the only thing the kids remember from that was the kittens who were too young to touch. They went to the rabbit barn because our nephew wanted to see rabbits. They went on several rides and enjoyed them immensely. The roller coaster and the tilt-a-whirl were the big hits. In both cases, there was nobody waiting to ride, so the folks running the rides let the kids go and go.
We had salmon for dinner. I ran into a bit of difficulty with dinner because my step-father who was doing the cooking automatically poured spices on everything. I caught him with the salmon and got some for me and Delia without, but I was out of luck on the vegetables.
I spent some time today formatting chapter 19 of Rheotaxis for my website. I was going to do chapter 4 of Torsion, but I discovered that there's a gap in the middle of it where I said '[transition, transition, transition].' I have to write that section before the chapter is done. I need to read the rest of the chapter to figure out what needs to go in the gap.
6 August 2011
Today was a day of travel. I got up about an hour earlier than I had the last couple of days. I spent the extra time gathering our things and making sure it was all packed.
My sister and step-father took the kids swimming one last time. They all seemed to have fun. Delia has mastered swimming while wearing a life jacket. She still doesn't want to get her face wet, so she's making no progress on real swimming. I don't know how much of what she's learned in the life jacket will translate into swimming without.
We had lunch with an old family friend at her house. She and her husband own the lake house that my parents are renting. Her house is beautiful. Her husband built it. He's a builder by trade. Their garden is amazing. I didn't explore it much, but it has paths and vegetables and flowers. There were dill plants taller than I am. I didn't realize dill could grow that large.
We left from there for our long drive to Grandma's. My sister has a little traveling DVD player and brought some DVDs. Delia watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory while her cousin napped. Near Flint, we stopped to buy the kids some food. My sister took the car in search of a gas station while I stayed at a McDonald's with the kids. All of that took a lot longer than we anticipated. It was almost an hour before we were back on the road again.
We got to Grandma's about seven. My father was there, in from New Mexico. He'd bought all sorts of candy and junk food for the kids. This is his first time meeting my nephew.
7 August 2011
We were all up by eight o'clock this morning. This house isn't as good at muffling sound as the house where we stayed before. Also, my father's clothes and such are still in this room, so he came in, rummaging, fairly early. He tried to be quiet, but it didn't work.
After breakfast, my sister and my father took the kids to the beach. This town is right on Lake Huron. It's a five block walk to the nearest public beach. I stayed here with Grandma. She and I took a bit of a walk, nothing too strenuous, but quite enough for my hips to start complaining.
In the afternoon, my aunt and her husband and my uncle and his wife all came over. We had an early dinner. My nephew was barely awake from his nap before we were putting food in front of him. Grandma's house isn't large, so half of us were eating at a card table out on the lawn.
After we'd all finished eating, my father and sister took the kids down to the corner store in search of a pack of gum for Delia. Shortly after they left, rain started coming down hard. We had enough time to get the chairs and the table into the garage before it got really bad. The rain came pounding down, and the power went out.
Eventually, the group that had gone after gum called to request a ride. Naturally, not long after my uncle went to get them, the rain tapered off. It didn't stop altogether, but the sun came out and the raindrops were far enough apart that we all went back outside.
There was a big puddle on the sidewalk. It ran about five squares of sidewalk. The kids stomped around in it, Delia still with her shoes on until I managed to get her attention and tell her to take them off.
My aunt and her husband went home. Some time after they left, one of my cousins, my uncle's younger son, showed up with his wife and two kids. There was a bit of time when the four kids weren't sure about each other, but eventually, they started playing together. Delia was the oldest by four years. She seemed to enjoy being the oldest.
My uncle and his wife went home. My cousin and his family stayed until it was time to get ready for bed. About half an hour before they left, the power came back on. I was relieved by that because I had been worrying about giving Delia a bath and otherwise getting her ready for bed in the dark.
I just wish my bug bites would heal up. I have red splotches, itchy red splotches, all over my thighs and hips and up and down my forearms.
8 August 2011
Today we took a walk on the pier. It made me nervous but less so than I expected. Maybe the Geodon is really helping or maybe being on the pier feels enough like being on land not to set off my phobia. I don't know.
My father and sister took the kids swimming twice, once in the morning and once after my nephew's nap. The second time, they went up to Oscoda to the beach there and met up with my cousin's family. I'm told that the waves were high enough to be exciting for the little ones without being so high as to be overwhelming. Delia even got her face wet without freaking out.
Grandma and I stayed in and read and talked. I'm only starting to get the hang of talking loudly enough that she can understand me. I keep forgetting.
9 August 2011
This morning was slow. The kids played with the toys in Grandma's closet (including a Barbie cash register that all kids seem to love) and with the toys my nephew had brought. It was too cold for going swimming, even if we'd had time.
My sister, my father and I all spent time on packing, going through the house to make sure we had everything. I packed my dirty clothes in Delia's suitcase and her dirty clothes in my suitcase so that I'd know what was clean and what was dirty.
After lunch, we got on the road. We didn't want to leave too early because the hotel room wouldn't be available until three, but we also didn't want to leave too late because we wanted the kids to have time to swim in the hotel pool before dinner. I sat in the back seat with the kids because my father really wanted the leg room he hoped would come with sitting in the front seat. I'm not sure he got much more room.
The kids and I watched Up. I would rather have watched something else, but it was what the kids wanted. We'd hoped that my nephew would nap, but he steadfastly refused to do so. The DVD player didn't have great picture quality (everything was too dark) or great sound, but it worked well enough. It was a tiny little thing with a two hour battery life and a cord that could be plugged into the car's cigarette lighter.
When we got to the hotel, there were problems. The first two rooms they put us in had broken bathroom doors. The doors were sliders, and they'd completely fallen from their tracks. They hadn't just slipped out of place. They couldn't be put back without major work. The third room had a working bathroom door but no wireless. I was the only one who cared about the wireless, though. I wanted my e-mail and to take a look at my Parallels Fic story. I ended up going to the lobby while everyone else went to the pool.
I got an Ayatsuri Sakon fic for my Parallels Fic story. It's called Normal. I liked it quite a bit. The entire Parallels Fic archive is worth taking a look. I don't recognize a lot of the fandoms, but the stories I read, I liked.
About an hour after we arrived at the hotel, Scott got there. I took him up to the room so that he could shower and change (He always needs to shower after work). Then he and I both put on swim suits and went down to the pool. The pool was warm, particularly next to the part of the room where the air conditioner was running strong. Our nephew wore a life jacket and jumped into the pool over and over again. Delia managed a dog paddle for about three feet. We encouraged her to keep trying. I think she was forgetting to kick.
At about six, we got dressed and went to Applebee's for dinner. Service was very, very slow, and the restaurant was over air conditioned. Delia ended up huddled against me in an effort to keep warm.
After dinner, we said our goodbyes, and Scott, Delia and I headed for home. We had an hour's drive, so we got home after Delia's bedtime. Not that she'd been getting to bed on time while on vacation-- Our four year old nephew starts getting ready for bed at nine as opposed to Delia's usual eight, and I couldn't bring myself to make Delia go to bed before the four year old.
I'm writing for later posting after I get home.
Instead of meeting in Marshall, my sister drove down to Ann Arbor. She'd finally gotten a chance to look at the maps and realized that coming to Ann Arbor only added about fifteen minutes to the trip. It's just as well that she did-- Scott was kept late at work. He was still in the shower when she and our nephew arrived.
We went to Olga's with Scott for an early dinner. After saying goodbye to Scott, we hit the road. It took us a couple of hours to get to the lake house. My mother and step-father had a nice dessert waiting for us.
Delia and I shared a bed. Neither of us got much sleep. She had picked up a lot of bug bites in the fifteen or so minutes she'd spent out on the dock after we arrived. The bug spray did not a bit of good. She kept scratching and fidgeting. There was also the obligatory mosquito buzzing around the room. Every time I was about to drift off, it came around for another go at my ear.
The two kids went swimming three or four times today. Our nephew, who's four, jumped off the end of the dock repeatedly. We only got Delia to try it once. She got water up her nose and in her eyes and did not want to repeat the experience.
I seem to be the only one with reliable cell phone reception here. The signal's not strong, but I can get and make calls. Nobody else can. My sister will probably end up using my phone to check in with Grandma so that she knows when to expect us. Otherwise, we'll have to wait until we're on the road on Saturday.
5 August 2011
Mom and Tim went out to dinner last night with some local friends. They left us to fend for ourselves for dinner. Mom, my sister and I had gone grocery shopping earlier in the day with this in mind. I bought ground beef and zucchini for the adults and cheddar hot dogs for the kids. I enjoyed having beef. I usually don't because of Scott's allergy. It's severe enough that I can't kiss him after eating beef.
My brother was here for dinner. He looked after Tim's two dogs while Tim was gone. The dogs were pretty unhappy when my parents left. They stayed near the door, watching for my parents to come back.
Today, Mom, my brother and my sister took the kids to a county fair. I couldn't go because I can't handle that much walking around, so I stayed here and watched DVDs. From the reports, the kids had a blast. There was a petting zoo, but the only thing the kids remember from that was the kittens who were too young to touch. They went to the rabbit barn because our nephew wanted to see rabbits. They went on several rides and enjoyed them immensely. The roller coaster and the tilt-a-whirl were the big hits. In both cases, there was nobody waiting to ride, so the folks running the rides let the kids go and go.
We had salmon for dinner. I ran into a bit of difficulty with dinner because my step-father who was doing the cooking automatically poured spices on everything. I caught him with the salmon and got some for me and Delia without, but I was out of luck on the vegetables.
I spent some time today formatting chapter 19 of Rheotaxis for my website. I was going to do chapter 4 of Torsion, but I discovered that there's a gap in the middle of it where I said '[transition, transition, transition].' I have to write that section before the chapter is done. I need to read the rest of the chapter to figure out what needs to go in the gap.
6 August 2011
Today was a day of travel. I got up about an hour earlier than I had the last couple of days. I spent the extra time gathering our things and making sure it was all packed.
My sister and step-father took the kids swimming one last time. They all seemed to have fun. Delia has mastered swimming while wearing a life jacket. She still doesn't want to get her face wet, so she's making no progress on real swimming. I don't know how much of what she's learned in the life jacket will translate into swimming without.
We had lunch with an old family friend at her house. She and her husband own the lake house that my parents are renting. Her house is beautiful. Her husband built it. He's a builder by trade. Their garden is amazing. I didn't explore it much, but it has paths and vegetables and flowers. There were dill plants taller than I am. I didn't realize dill could grow that large.
We left from there for our long drive to Grandma's. My sister has a little traveling DVD player and brought some DVDs. Delia watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory while her cousin napped. Near Flint, we stopped to buy the kids some food. My sister took the car in search of a gas station while I stayed at a McDonald's with the kids. All of that took a lot longer than we anticipated. It was almost an hour before we were back on the road again.
We got to Grandma's about seven. My father was there, in from New Mexico. He'd bought all sorts of candy and junk food for the kids. This is his first time meeting my nephew.
7 August 2011
We were all up by eight o'clock this morning. This house isn't as good at muffling sound as the house where we stayed before. Also, my father's clothes and such are still in this room, so he came in, rummaging, fairly early. He tried to be quiet, but it didn't work.
After breakfast, my sister and my father took the kids to the beach. This town is right on Lake Huron. It's a five block walk to the nearest public beach. I stayed here with Grandma. She and I took a bit of a walk, nothing too strenuous, but quite enough for my hips to start complaining.
In the afternoon, my aunt and her husband and my uncle and his wife all came over. We had an early dinner. My nephew was barely awake from his nap before we were putting food in front of him. Grandma's house isn't large, so half of us were eating at a card table out on the lawn.
After we'd all finished eating, my father and sister took the kids down to the corner store in search of a pack of gum for Delia. Shortly after they left, rain started coming down hard. We had enough time to get the chairs and the table into the garage before it got really bad. The rain came pounding down, and the power went out.
Eventually, the group that had gone after gum called to request a ride. Naturally, not long after my uncle went to get them, the rain tapered off. It didn't stop altogether, but the sun came out and the raindrops were far enough apart that we all went back outside.
There was a big puddle on the sidewalk. It ran about five squares of sidewalk. The kids stomped around in it, Delia still with her shoes on until I managed to get her attention and tell her to take them off.
My aunt and her husband went home. Some time after they left, one of my cousins, my uncle's younger son, showed up with his wife and two kids. There was a bit of time when the four kids weren't sure about each other, but eventually, they started playing together. Delia was the oldest by four years. She seemed to enjoy being the oldest.
My uncle and his wife went home. My cousin and his family stayed until it was time to get ready for bed. About half an hour before they left, the power came back on. I was relieved by that because I had been worrying about giving Delia a bath and otherwise getting her ready for bed in the dark.
I just wish my bug bites would heal up. I have red splotches, itchy red splotches, all over my thighs and hips and up and down my forearms.
8 August 2011
Today we took a walk on the pier. It made me nervous but less so than I expected. Maybe the Geodon is really helping or maybe being on the pier feels enough like being on land not to set off my phobia. I don't know.
My father and sister took the kids swimming twice, once in the morning and once after my nephew's nap. The second time, they went up to Oscoda to the beach there and met up with my cousin's family. I'm told that the waves were high enough to be exciting for the little ones without being so high as to be overwhelming. Delia even got her face wet without freaking out.
Grandma and I stayed in and read and talked. I'm only starting to get the hang of talking loudly enough that she can understand me. I keep forgetting.
9 August 2011
This morning was slow. The kids played with the toys in Grandma's closet (including a Barbie cash register that all kids seem to love) and with the toys my nephew had brought. It was too cold for going swimming, even if we'd had time.
My sister, my father and I all spent time on packing, going through the house to make sure we had everything. I packed my dirty clothes in Delia's suitcase and her dirty clothes in my suitcase so that I'd know what was clean and what was dirty.
After lunch, we got on the road. We didn't want to leave too early because the hotel room wouldn't be available until three, but we also didn't want to leave too late because we wanted the kids to have time to swim in the hotel pool before dinner. I sat in the back seat with the kids because my father really wanted the leg room he hoped would come with sitting in the front seat. I'm not sure he got much more room.
The kids and I watched Up. I would rather have watched something else, but it was what the kids wanted. We'd hoped that my nephew would nap, but he steadfastly refused to do so. The DVD player didn't have great picture quality (everything was too dark) or great sound, but it worked well enough. It was a tiny little thing with a two hour battery life and a cord that could be plugged into the car's cigarette lighter.
When we got to the hotel, there were problems. The first two rooms they put us in had broken bathroom doors. The doors were sliders, and they'd completely fallen from their tracks. They hadn't just slipped out of place. They couldn't be put back without major work. The third room had a working bathroom door but no wireless. I was the only one who cared about the wireless, though. I wanted my e-mail and to take a look at my Parallels Fic story. I ended up going to the lobby while everyone else went to the pool.
I got an Ayatsuri Sakon fic for my Parallels Fic story. It's called Normal. I liked it quite a bit. The entire Parallels Fic archive is worth taking a look. I don't recognize a lot of the fandoms, but the stories I read, I liked.
About an hour after we arrived at the hotel, Scott got there. I took him up to the room so that he could shower and change (He always needs to shower after work). Then he and I both put on swim suits and went down to the pool. The pool was warm, particularly next to the part of the room where the air conditioner was running strong. Our nephew wore a life jacket and jumped into the pool over and over again. Delia managed a dog paddle for about three feet. We encouraged her to keep trying. I think she was forgetting to kick.
At about six, we got dressed and went to Applebee's for dinner. Service was very, very slow, and the restaurant was over air conditioned. Delia ended up huddled against me in an effort to keep warm.
After dinner, we said our goodbyes, and Scott, Delia and I headed for home. We had an hour's drive, so we got home after Delia's bedtime. Not that she'd been getting to bed on time while on vacation-- Our four year old nephew starts getting ready for bed at nine as opposed to Delia's usual eight, and I couldn't bring myself to make Delia go to bed before the four year old.
