welcome to my hostel

What a nutty few days it's been with the whole clan in town. The good news is that Rick has been a good sport, and we're both surviving so far.

Friday -- 'Rents Arrive
Mom and Dad arrived on Friday afternoon while I was at work, so Andrea and Jeff picked them up from the airport and hung out with them until I got home. I had gotten a call from the Harley Davidson dealership letting me know that my motorcycle jacket had arrived, so I decided to make a pit stop there before heading to the house to see everyone. Rick made sure that I was home before he got there so he wouldn't have to meet them without me. Pretty low key evening. Went out to dinner, and then back to the house to get some sleep. Mom and Dad were tired from the trip, Richard went to stay over at Andrea and Jeff's place, and I went to sleep knowing I'd have to get up at 2 am to pick up Kristen from the airport.

Saturday -- Just Call Me "Cabbie"
The alarm went off and I just laid there hoping I could snooze, but realizing I needed to get up to head down to the airport to get Kristen. She called me just as I left the house to tell me she had landed, which would give her about 15 minutes to get off the plane and get her luggage. I pulled up to the airport and learned that she didn't have her bag yet, so I needed to drive through and return to the terminal. Only that, with all of the construction going on and that I was half asleep, I missed the turn off, and ended up back on the connector heading out of the airport. I took the Southcenter exit, couldn't find my way back to the airport, and found myself on I-5N. Now desperate to get back to the airport, I'd turned this into a 20 minute detour while Kristen waited with her bags. I finally got off in Tukwila, turned around and made it back to the airport, clearly tired and irritated. We got back to the house and I finally got back to sleep around 4 am.

Rick had been invited to play golf with our friend Tom in Bremerton on Saturday, so he was up a 6 am, so he could meet Tom and take the ferry over. He'd be gone most of the day.

Dad was up at 7 am and went fishing for the morning with Jeff, Andrea and Richard. That left me with Mom and Kristen. Kristen was heading over to Whidbey Island on the 11:30 am ferry to visit her daughter, and I had a work conference call at 10 am. I loaded Mom and Kristen up in the car in time to start my conference call for the hour-long drive to the ferry terminal. Finished the call, dropped Kristen off, and turned around with Mom to head back to the house.

Mom took advantage of the opportunity to get into the hot tub for a little bit. Thank goodness Jeff cleaned it while we were in Europe.

Soon after we got home, around noon, the others were back from fishing. Mom and Dad came with me to go shopping for a shirt for Mom to wear in the family pictures scheduled for Sunday morning, since she'd only brought shirts with prints, and I'd asked that everyone wear solid colored shirts so as not to clash in the photos. The trip to Marshalls was successful, and while we were there I got a call from my sister Marianne telling me that they were about 20 minutes away. They couldn't check into the hotel, because Kristen got them discounted rooms and she was at Whidbey Island, so Marianne and her family had to come to my house until Kristen returned.

We got home from shopping and Marianne, Dave and the girls Julie and Megan arrived. Everyone settled in, and it was getting close to 5 pm. I called my brother Matt and they were in Yakima a few hours away, so Dad and I went to Costco to pick up some burgers to grill for dinner when everyone got there.

On the way home from Costco, I got the call from Kristen to pick her up at the ferry terminal from the 7:30 pm ferry, so I only had a few minutes to unload the Costco groceries before leaving to get her. While we were unloading, I got a call from Matt asking for directions to the house. He was 15 minutes away and had taken a back route per MapQuest.

By now Rick had arrived home from golf and went upstairs to take a nap. Richard and I got in my car and headed to the neighborhood entrance to meet Matt and Katie. They finally found the neighborhood and followed me up to the house. They started to unload the kids and Richard and I headed to Mukilteo to get Kristen.

Dad started grilling the burgers and by the time we arrived back at the house with Kristen at 8:15 pm, everyone had started eating. We passed Rick on the road as we pulled into the neighborhood. He was on his Harley heading over to Bellevue to get a haircut for the family pictures in the morning.

Around 9:30 pm, after everyone was done eating, we loaded up in cars with me in the lead to go to the hotel and check everyone in. Kristen and Dad checked in Marianne & Dave's family and Matt & Katie's family, and then headed back to my house with me where Mom and two of Matt's girls would be staying over with Kristen.

While in the car, I got a call from Rick. He was back at the house wondering where we were at. Mom was having one of her episodes and poor Rick was there alone with her and the two girls.

Now realizing how impossible it was going to be on Sunday morning to get everyone ready for family photos in time for 9 am, I called my friend/photographer to see if we could push back to 10 am. With her confirmation, relieved, I called Matt and Marianne to let them know we had an extra hour.

Exhausted, I was in bed by 11 pm.

Sunday -- What's the Plan?
With five adults needing hot water for showers, I was keen on getting up early to get in the shower. I came downstairs ready and learned that my nieces Avri and Hattie had deemed me their favorite aunt and wanted me to fix their hair for the pictures. So I pulled out the blow dryer and proceeded to play beauty school dropout. The phone rang a little after 9 am, and it was Andrea, Jeff and Richard wondering where we were at. I had forgotten to tell them about the delay and so they were at the park waiting for us. Oops.

We all pulled into the parking lot at the park at 10 am, and Mary Beth and her husband Roger were great at getting the family organized for different photos -- the full clan, siblings and their families, my immediate family, and then the grandkids.

After the photo session, I stopped by Costco to pick up some pizzas for lunch. By the time I returned to the house, it was after 1 pm, and I needed to get the pizzas in the oven. Marianne and Dave took their kids back to the hotel for their naps, and everyone else was at my place hanging out.

We feed everyone lunch and cleaned up. Jeff, Dad, Richard and Andrea went to play a Par 3 course. Rick and I took a nap and the kids proceeded to run around the house and backyard with the dogs for several hours.

I came downstairs around 5 pm and needed to do some work for Monday morning. For dinner we decided to order Malay Satay Hut for the adults and make macaroni and cheese for the kids. Another late dinner by the time everyone ate. And Matt & Katie headed back to their hotel with a couple of their kids. Hattie went to Andrea's to spend the night and the twins stayed at my place to spend the night with Kristen. Marianne and Dave took off with their kids, and Mom was passed out early on upstairs in the guest room. We made a feeble attempt to clean the kitchen and feed the dogs before heading to bed. I was tired, but having a hard time falling asleep, especially because I needed to be at work early and my alarm would be going off at 4:30 am.

So far, I feel like Old Mother Hubbard on a breastfeeding schedule. As soon as you feed the group and clean up, you're already starting to plan and make the next meal. Thank God for Costco easy-to-make cheap meals.