SO we just got back from the big trip.
First we flew home, dropped off kiddies at Gramma Kay's house and went off to Chapel Hill for Chad's MBA graduation. That was fun. I do not know how he made it through 23 of those trips without getting fat and/or killing his liver. These people know how to get down, man. I could barely hang. Every night it's eat out then party. We even played beer pong one night for cripe's sake. They were all great people and it was fun to meet them. At first I wasn't even going to go. I thought it would be a bunch of stuffy boring accountant/want-to-conquer-the-business-world types, and I was like, whatever, it's a dumb graduation ceremony, let's get this over with and go home...but I had a great time and when the ceremony actually came around it sunk in what a great accomplishment it is and I was very proud of Chad. I was very glad I was there. He deserved someone to be there.
On my free day I had the big plan to drive out to Mt. Mitchell, near Asheville, 14er-style, but given that I was still at the bar at 2am and slightly tanked and would've had to leave at 3am...uh, yeah. I did a little 5-6 mile hike in Eno River State Park which was nice. Saturday after the ceremony I made Chad go to Jordan Lake and get a little sun for a few hours. I liked North Carolina. Chapel Hill is a cool little town, the whole area is pretty cool. A lot less developed than you'd think. Rolling hills, pretty old- growth forests.
Meanwhile, Gram Kay and Charlie took my offspring to visit Gramps Wing and Sally to chase some chickens and listen to nifty impromptu harmonica jam sessions. Word has it Grampa Wing plays a mean "Wheels on the Bus". Also, they went to pick at the strawberry patch and were stuffing my kids full of all sorts of berry-based food the entire four days. We got back just in time for the digestive consequences. Thanks Gram Kay...Thanks.
Then we headed back to the T-dump metro area for some family time. 5 days in Fremont and then 5 days up at Posey Lake. Got to visit with my good ole buddies Libby and Jill from Kingston Healthcare - Shout out! Last I saw them, CJ was a 4-month-old. Went to my long lost cousin Tamra's baby shower, and did the Godmother gig for my niece Rosalynn. I don't know just how god-motherly I am, but I was honored to be picked. (I'll do my best not to fuck it up). We were also lucky to visit for a little while with Chad's grandpa Wing and his lovely lady Sally. We took the kids to the Toledo Zoo, which is better than the Denver zoo. I think we liked it better than them.
Got 5 nines of golf and one 18 round in! YEAH. Best score was 46 on 9, SO not HOT, and I suffered a devistating 6 penalty strokes on the round of 18 to shoot a 95 (hittin a little crooked off the mens tee with my dad that day)...but oh well, it was fun and I finally got Chad out on my old stomping grounds - Fremont Country Club. The course was in fantastic shape and I did feel a few little heartstrings tug as I played 3 rounds of 9 holes there over the vacay. After all, I WAS the ladies club champion there in 1993...
We had a great time up at Posey Lake. Josh (Chad's bro) had remodeled a lot of the cottage and it was really nice. The lake was warm, the sun was hot. We got our tan on - (Just call me sexual chocolate from here out - ok, so it's admittedly more like caramel). And almost died from the humidity. And I got an ear infection from lake water getting stuck in my ear while tubing...but it was good times at the lake! We got to hang with Kay & Charlie, Travis (chad's other bro), Josh, Melissa (Josh's girlfriend), Jaime (Charlie's daughter) and her friend Audrey, we even had an appearance from Chad's dad Skip and his two half-sisters Courtney and Paige (he had never seen Cam and had only seen CJ a few times so they had no idea he was their grandpa), our friends Jason Kaz, and Lee and Shari came up too. CJ and Cam had fun playing with Lee/Shari's girls Adrian and Avery. We grilled, drank, swam, fished, boated, tubed, got a few games of volleyball in, and one 9-holes of golf in the form of a 6-some which took 187 hours to complete in the 95 degree heat with 95% humidity...but STILL fun.
Then we had the big party back in Fremont. WHAT party are you refering to, exactly, you might ask? WELL I couldn't talk about it in case parentals logged in. It was their 40th anniversary and my sis and I decided we needed to throw a surprise party for them with all their friends in their own backyard. We told them we wanted to take them out for a nice round of golf and lunch for their anniversary present...thus the 18 hole round...as a family. While we were gone, Chad and Tim (brother in-law) were back at the house supervising all the setting up by the tent/table people and the caterer. It turned out perfectly and it was so great and totally worth the crap we went through to get it done. They had absolutely no idea, which is a small miracle, since the whole town of Fremont knew about it for two months. The weather was great. The food was great. I made a complete fool of myself trying to do a toast and crying. Almost ALL of my parents good friends and family made it. Some came from Toledo, Buffalo, Erie-PA, Cleveland, Wisconsin, even Atlanta-GA. We had about 75 people. It was SO good to see my family from Buffalo, and especially my cousin Adam from Wisconsin - we used to be like PEAS and CARROTS growing up - and to meet his girlfriend Jen.
I made a cookie-cutter website for the event: www.rodandkathy40th.myevent.com
There's plenty of tard pics in there if you want to have a laugh...I'll get some pics of the trip up soon. I have to collect/consolidate from everyone who was snapping pics. I was running the video mostly, not the camera.
Twas a great trip, however, we're GLAD to be home. Missed our doggie. Missed our bed. Missed hangers. Missed Rocky Mountain High. Plus my liver needed a vacation from the vacation. TRU-DAT!
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