Usually the end of January, my cousin Jake pays us a visit. That went on hiatius in 2021 (he made it just before the craziness of covid in 2020), and finally returned this January. I headed out to the airport a week ago Thursday to pick him up. And now, not only is the Flamingo all done- she even has a name! Say hi to Phoebe!
I picked up Jake and brought him back to the house, where Asa was just finishing up with his Thursday students. Then we all (minus Hayden) went out to grab some lunch.
Lunch also included the famous 'guess what kind of pop I got' game, and a trip to Total Wine and More for some supplies for the week (and a trip to Costco too. You have to soak up the alcohol somehow!)
And then when we arrived back home Jake promptly took a nap. He knows how to vacation.. come to Florida to nap with puppies!
And drink, apparently. We were fully stocked for the week.
Jake bartends in Columbus, so he said he would teach us how to mix drinks. I barely participated because I try not to have a drink too close to my anxiety medication before bed, but everyone else partook. I don't remember everything, but there was Old Fashioned's one night, Cosmopolitans one night.. just you get the idea.
On Saturday everyone but me went to Universal. Phenom was still having issues in his wheelchair (he seems to have gotten better in it and is on the mend), and if I went we'd have to take two cars. So, I sent them off without me. Asa missed me carrying the backpack (though I did pack it with food for them- which he was grateful for), and everyone missed my park navigations. They all got unlucky with crowds, but were all smiles by the time they got to Chicken Guy at Disney Springs for a late dinner.
Meanwhile, I soaked in the quiet. Because lets be honest, when Jake is here, it's kind of loud. I made dinner for one, hung out with the dogs, did some reading, and some nosing around Pinterest. It was an all around good day for me. It was nice to have my mom here. It was nice to see the Cincinnati Sattlers, it was lovely to have Jake around- but I'm an antisocial intravert, and I need to recharge after being around people that much!
The rest of the evenings Jake was here was filled with all the quintessential Jake stuff. Drinks. Cards Against Humanity. Snacks. Youtube videos. More Drinks. More snacks. Movies. And Super Mega Baseball. (One night there was total drunken screaming outside my bedroom door while playing Cards Against Humanity well past midnight, I blame those blue drinks.)
Asa just can't quite keep up with those kids anymore. Pushing 40 and he was ready for naps, and coffee and quiet. (To be fair we also caught colds- so that was no fun).
But, everyone was excited for Championship Sundays. For nearly 10 years I've been making pizzas from the reamining four teams duking it out for a spot in the Superbowl. This years contenders (and the subsequent pizza ingredients):
San Francisco is a Ghiradelli dessert pizza. A few times ago I switched from a Boboli crust to making a brownie crust. It's the best dessert pizza out there, and I wasn't mad when they made it this far for the second year in a row.
Philly is obvious, the Philly Cheesesteak pizza! When I first made this it didn't suggest having anything on the crust- just throwing on the steak, but we added cheese whiz to the crust and it's killer. It was also the only new comer this year.
The two NFC pizzas were my favorite, though I still feel the NFC is far inferior this year.
Kansas City has a basic, but good bbq chicken pizza. I usually buy the same kind of Kansas City sauce every year, but I couldn't find it this year, and the new stuff just wasn't as good. It was fine, but it was the last pizza we had leftovers of, so it was everyone's least favorite, I think.
Cincinnati was a new comer last year. It's the Chili Pizza- made with Skyline chili. But this year we decided to give the a "Chili 5 way" upgrade. I mixed the canned Skyline chili in with Spaghetti and then spread it over the crust, topped it with beans and cheese and onions (with optional sour cream). It was actually WAY better than just the chili and cheese. There's still some room for improvement- maybe figure out how to get the spaghetti to stay on the crust a little better (Asa suggested mixing cheese in with the spaghetti, so that might be an idea). Still, we really liked this one this year, when last year it was the "just ok" one of the bunch.
Of the AFC pizzas, I liked the Chili 5-way one more, as did most of the group.
All in all a good batch of pizzas, even if it was mostly the same as last year (sorry Rams, you got replaced by Philly!)
Oh, and just to make sure we had enough I doubled up on some flatbread crusts with the KC and Philly pizzas. By the next evening all the leftovers were gone.
We did do a prop bet board while I was working on the pizzas, and while I was largely shouting my answers from the kitchen, turns out that was a winning strategy for me!
Monday Asa worked most the day, and I tackled some projects. Thanks to a whole bunch of lids from Garrett and Holly volunteering at their recylcing center we were finally able to finish our mural made out of bottle caps. Everyone came out to help, but they let me put the last one in.
I think it looks amazing, and I already want to make another one on the next fence post over. But, collecting enough lids took us nearly 3 years last time. Asa might not be too pleased if I keep lids around for another three (though he does say I can go for it!)
I made quesadillas for dinner on Monday, and Calib made the guac since he's a professional from his old Chipotle days. Jake said he missed the whole Chipotle thing and felt like he missed whole chapters of our lives for not coming in the last three years.
Even though Wednesday was the first (And Asa is always very busy on the first), he went out to Dunedin with Jake and Calib (by then the cold had gotten me! Though, I'm much better now). They walked through downtown, got some snacks, went out to the pier (where apparently there's still sunked/abandoned boats from Ian), and hit up the beach.
Wednesday night I made sure to take the family picture with Jake.
Because Peyton was leaving for Chicago early the next morning. Had I realized Jake and Peyton were flying out the same day I would have had them schedule their flights closer together. But, as it was, I took Peyton and then about 7 hours later, took Jake.
Peyton was headed to Chicago for Frosty's gaming tournament. She didn't do as well as she hoped, but had a generally good time. In fact, Calib is at the airport picking her up right now. So, how did Peyton like Chicago in February you ask? This was the first text I got when she landed...
Jake and Calib wrapped up their season in Super Mega Baseball on Thursday by playing A LOT of games.
But, you'll be happy to know the Blowfish did in fact win the World Series. With nine minutes to spare before Jake needed to leave for the airport.
Thanks for coming, Jake! We will see you in April for the cruise (a surprise Asa was given Wednesday night- he had no idea Jake was coming, but there just wasn't a way to keep it a secret any longer. It's going to be one fun 40th Birthday cruise!!)
And that's it for Jakes visit. I leave you with a lot of dog pictures because they've all been my shadow lately (they do that when I'm under the weather, and just because they generally love me).
Next up: Spending the weekend decompressing
No comments:
Post a Comment