Wednesday the 12th was our go home day. Our flight wasn't until 1:30, so we had a little time to kill that morning. Mom had to be at the airport earlier, so we were just down to the five of us. I packed up for the last time (which is always the easiest because you can just throw stuff wherever), and we said goodbye to our hotel room, and our Bay view.
Then we were off. We just had a couple stops to make before the airport.
I always like to see other NFL stadiums, and someday I'm going to have my picture in front of all of them. This is a bit tricky as teams move and build stadiums. Oakland is one of those, as the Raiders are moving to Las Vegas. But, while their stadium is still there (and on the way to the airport), I figured I would check that one off my list. They do, however, share their stadium with the baseball team- and there was a game that day, so the parking lady let us in, but told us we had to stay on one side and be quick about it. At least she didn't charge us.
After that, we had one more stop to make. I told the boys if they wanted In-N-Out one last time, we could stop for an early lunch. Of course they were excited at that prospect. There's talk of some of us going to San Diego in November, so if that works out, that'll be our next time we'll be anywhere near an In-N-Out.
Our flight home was the only layover we had. We stopped in Houston for just under an hour, though we were on the same plane, we did have to get off and then board again. (We were in the A Group the second time though!)
The flight/s home were long, but uneventful. We landed on time, Asa went to get the car, and we collected our luggage one more time.
By the time we walked in the door at home it was around midnight, I think. Allison had been here for the past 17 days holding down the fort. Not only had our furry family members been well taken care of (and even freshly bathed!), but she had also cleaned the house (it was cleaner than before I left!) and done and folded all the laundry from the day we left. She did an awesome job, so thanks again Allison.
She also had all these cute pictures and videos of things such as Delano trying to eat her toes, and Dipper breaking into the pet treat cabinet in the middle of the night. (I made her send them to me, so you guys could see!)
Yesterday in 'my memories' on Facebook, our last trip out west came up, apparently I said that '17 days on vacation should be my limit, I'll have to remember that for when we eventually go to Hawaii'. Well, maybe I'm getting old. But, I'm thinking two weeks should be my limit next time.
We had a great time, though. Shout to mom for once again taking us on a trip we never would have been able to afford otherwise. I won't be getting the boys to all 50 states while they're still 'kids', but my mom took them to the two hardest to get- Alaska and Hawaii- so I'd say they have a good head start.
Laundry and unpacking are never fun, and somewhere along the way we lost a thing or two. The worst of it was losing Hayden's DS, his case, and all his games. We've tried to call NCL, because we're pretty sure it got left in the stateroom, but we haven't heard back. /sigh.
I did take a picture of all my little souvenirs from the trip. I bought lots of magnets to add to my collection.
Hayden has a few new stuffed animals he got along the way, Calib mostly got clothes, and Peyton and Asa went halvesies on a ton of hot sauce.
Thursday was also Allison's last day here. We had PDQ for dinner, and then our neighbor came down to bring us some leftover hummingbird cake. We got to talking and apparently her son had made some jalapeno infused vodka. Asa and Allison were on board, so she brought them some of that too.
I heard it was something.
Friday before Asa had to work, we dropped Allison off at the airport. We were really sad to see her go, but there's talk of another long visit in October. We told her next time, she should bring her puppy along too, so she wouldn't have to worry about someone watching him.
Peyton had gotten some birthday cards while he was gone too. He used that money to buy himself another ocarina. This one is a little heavier than his last one. High notes are actually easier to play too.
Since we've been back we've been trying to get some countries done, too. So, once I finish all these vacation and catch up blogs, I have all kinds of countries to do too. Unfortunately, it's been really difficult to fit them in. Between trying to time adjust (and accordingly eat meals at normal times), and everyone getting sick at one point or another, we just haven't gotten many done. Calib leaves on Thursday for his summer trip to Ohio, too. And now we're looking into a possible Ohio trip after that. I've really had to come to terms with the fact that we just might not finish all 193 in a year. We'll see what happens.
The boys jars are all empty again, but they are already talking about the money they'll have at the end of the year (or the project). I think it's been a good lesson in saving, because everyone was much better about spending their money this trip than previous ones.
My plan for the two weeks between when we got home, and when Calib leaves was to catch up on all our usual summer traditions we missed out on because we were gone. But, like I said, we've all been passing around the flu and being sick at different times.
One of the things we always do is the 'Waterstraut All-Nighter', We decided it would be good to do it before we adjusted our sleep schedules back. We'd all been staying up until 3 AM and sleeping in until 11 or noon anyway, so we kind of figured staying up until 6 wouldn't be that much of a stretch. We were home almost a week before everyone was feeling at least decent enough to try it, though.
So, if you followed along on Facebook, you know how it turned out. But, here's a recap for you.
11 PM: The boys decided they were actually going to finish a game of Monopoly. It took a little short of 3 hours, but they did finish. (Asa was the winner, in case you were wondering).
1:30 AM: Taco Bell run. (When we do the all-nighter, I am often reminded that it's probably a good thing I had kids so young. In another 10 years, Taco Bell at 1 AM is not going to be something I will be able to handle).
3 AM: Blanket Fort Construction. You might remember, we usually spend our summer, at least in part, in an Epic Blanket Fort. There was no better time to build this than at 3 AM during our all nighter, apparently. When we moved, I got rid of a lot of old sheets and towels and such. But, I put the blanket for sheets all together in a big drawstring bag I had made, for future use.
We had the old epic blanket fort building down to a science. But, this was a whole new room, so we had to figure out the best way to construct this one.
'
My only request this time around was not to use anything we commonly need (like the kitchen chairs.). I know the boys like to keep it up for awhile, and that's fine, but I didn't want to be missing anything in the mean time. I allowed the use of two bar stools, and the step ladder.
I also didn't want any push pins in my walls. We were pretty creative with a few little snips of the ends of sheets, and some safety pins, hanging the sheets off the curtain rods and the chandelier. (I hate that chandelier, so I'm not worried about hanging sheets from it.)
We did grab a scrap piece of wood out of the garage and stood it up behind the TV and did push pin the sheets into that. The most unstable part is probably where I clipped the sheet to a clip board and then tucked it in home school central. So far, though, it's holding.
We didn't use our 'Fort Waterstraut' board from last summer, since that is mounted to the wall in the office now, but this blanket for is actually my favorite we've ever made. It's really big, with vaulted ceilings, and even chairs to sit in! Plus, you can comfortably sit on the couch, too.
It's been up ever since, and even with the germs going around, the boys have slept in it every night since. Asa and I have also spent a good amount of time in it. Somehow I think even when the boys all grow up and move out, Asa and I will be making an annual summer blanket fort. (It's a good way to spend time inside, since it's so flippin hot and rainy outside anyway).
5 AM: Doughnut Time!
That was followed by some Mario Kart. But by then the boys were all pooped out.
And it was sometime between 5 and 6 when we lost both Hayden and Calib.
Nocturnal Damascus had no problem staying up all night though. It was actually nice to see her, since she normally sleeps all day!
By 6 AM it was just Peyton, Asa and me remaining, though.
'Dawn' was officially listed as 6:20 AM, so that was our benchmark for when we could go to bed. I didn't get a very good picture. My lens kept fogging up because of the difference in temperature inside the house and outside. But, after three pictures, I called it close enough, and we all went to bed. Another #WaterstrautAllNighter in the books.
The next day everyone was pretty tired and unmotivated, so we spent a lot of time in the blanket fort, and ordered pizza for dinner instead of doing a country. Pizza in the blanket fort is just summer here in a nutshell.
Friday was mine and Asa's dating (13 years!) and engagement (9 years ago!) anniversary. But, he's got one vacation day left, and it's probably not a good idea to have him use that when he has just over 5 months to go before he gets his days back, so we made do. We celebrated with chips and queso, drinks, and cards in the blanket fort.
Now, the all-nighter probably wasn't the best idea, because then some of us got even more sick than we had previously been. See: Calib. Poor kid seems better today, but has had a fever off and on, and just been miserable. I kept finding him, varying times of day, asleep in the blanket fort.
So, the all nighter didn't really help with adjusting sleep or meal schedules. But, I figured a good remedy to this would be to finally get around to celebrating Hobbit Day. We do Hobbit Day instead of Father's Day every year. We eat all the little meals like Hobbits (it's a lot of cooking for me, but Asa loves it), and Asa usually watches some Lord of the Rings movie with the boys.
This year, though, the official father's day fell the day after our anniversary, so we weren't home for it. We knew we'd just have to get to it later. I figured little frequent meals would be good for the boys. They could come and go, eat whatever parts they wanted, and since we eat so often on Hobbit Day, timing wouldn't really be a problem.
We did do it in conjunction with 'New Zealand' day, so you'll hear all about it when I get to that blog.
That's it from here. We still have some of our usual summer activities catching up to do. We were hoping to get to the Waterstraut Olympics today (I already froze the t-shirts!) but Calib's not quite feeling up to it- and I don't want to push him since I'm really hoping he'll be better by the time he has to leave on Thursday.
Next Up: It's going to be pretty quiet around here for the next couple weeks with Calib gone, but I'm sure we'll keep busy somehow.
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