We had a blast with Jennifer, Samantha, David, Daniel and Becky over the holidays. It was a great, relaxing week and work awaits tomorrow. It is so good for Darla and I to see Jennifer in a stable relationship. It is good for Sam and McKenny is a really good guy. They have talked of marriage, but there are issues that need to be resolved financially and realistically. McKenny would be taking on a huge responsibility and the bills from Jennifer's hospital stay last Summer are over $200,000 and that needs to be solved before they can move forward. Darla and I have talked to both of them because of Sam and her need for a stable environment. They are both truly in love and committed to one another and I can only thank McKenny for his influence on both Jennifer and Samantha. It is entirely positive and he is a great guy.
All of that said, it didn't stop Darla from rolling out the "boyfriend" bedroom in the house where McKenny stayed while Jennifer and Samantha stayed in the guest room. We really just settled the house for this visit and it worked well. The boxes are all opened and emptied. Darla's office still has some work, but she is combining two offices, the one from our bedroom and the one that was in the guest room. She is getting all of her Silpada items together and getting organized in there. The room has a door and what I don't see won't blow my OCD mind.
Jennifer, McKenny and Sam stayed until about 5 PM on New Years day and then drove home overnight so Sam could sleep. They got home at 2:30 in the morning and Jennifer was back up at 5:30 for her morning call with her company.
Prior to their departure, we had another three and a half days of fun. Monday we drove up to Paradise to visit Darla's parents and go to dinner. Jennifer had work during the day and Darla and I took Sam over to my office to meet the staff and over to her old office to see her friends. I had to get expense accounts done and spent about an hour working while Darla was over at her old office. Sam was exceedingly shy and hid behind me as I introduced her to the few employees working the week after Christmas. A couple of the girls got her talking about what she got for Christmas and I think she enjoyed it. She wandered all through my office and looked at all of my golf awards and pictures. I know she remembered it, because she asked me Friday afternoon if I got a hole in one while I was golfing that morning. If only it were so easy. Darla and I took her to lunch afterward.
We drove up in the afternoon and met the boys and Becky up there. The folks took us out to the Black Bear Diner in Paradise for dinner and you can see pictures of us in their yard and at the restaurant.
Tuesday we had thought of going up to the snow, but they really didn't have the right clothes for the visit and it was really windy over the mountain passes that day. We totally relaxed at the house on Tuesday and Sam went in the spa and played games and the girls (including Sam) made some Prime Rib soup with the bottom rib bones from our Friday dinner. Darla and I are still eating on that and I had a bowl of it while I watched the Dallas playoff game today. We had the boys over in the evening and played games.
New Year's Eve we made the drive into San Francisco and visited the Exploratorium. McKenny gave me a break and drove in with his rented Explorer. I paid for the gang to visit the Exploratorium and McKenny bought us lunch at the Fog Harbor Café on Pier 39. We got to SF about 11 and had lunch about 2. That was hard on Darla because of her diabetes. She needs to eat more often and the protein bar that she brought along didn't do her a lot of good. She finally got me to realize how low her blood sugar was and I got the kids to walk down to Pier 39 and have a late lunch. I bought everyone ice cream after lunch and we walked back to the Exploratorium where the kids walked through for about another hour. Gramma and I were pooped and rested on a bench in the sunshine in front of the building. We got back about 5:30 and had lasagna and soup for dinner, had a fire in the outdoor fire pit and hit the spa about 10:00 PM. Sam was a trooper and stayed up and watched the ball drop in Times Square (on three hour delay). She was wider awake than I was. I was drooping after a long day.
Thursday we took it easy. McKenny took a nap in the afternoon. Sam, Darla and I took a spa in the late afternoon and we had an early dinner of New York steak roast before they headed on their journey home. Darla and I both felt this was a very positive trip. We got to know McKenny a lot better and really like him. We got to talk to Jennifer about Sam and their future and it was really a great visit. The boys made time for us and hung out over here quite a bit and overall, it was a GREAT vacation and a wonderful family time.
I did get a little golf in during my vacation, shooting a 79 on December 23rd and then shooting 83 on this past Friday with the regular weekday crew. It was great seeing Boyd and Andy and I even won a couple of bucks. There were originally 16 playing, but the temperature has dropped overnight into the twenties lately and there was a three hour frost delay. They finally let people out at 10:15. Our group now down to eight, teed off at about 10:45 and had tee times starting at 8 AM. I got home and took a spa and talked to Jennifer and Samantha. Saturday, we went through the frost delay again, although this time we were able to tee off by 10 o'clock. I suffered through a really sore back and shot a 90. I had the right partners and broke even on our bet, but could barely hit the ball 200 yards for most of the day. My back has been fine lately, but I just slept awkwardly and I couldn't relax it in the cold (46 degree) air. It stayed pretty sore throughout the day and into the evening. I was fine when I got up today. You never know.
Well, that's it. I'll have more pictures over the next few weeks. Sam is a little mini-me of Jennifer. She also has some of Jennifer's traits which include being pretty strong willed and petulant at times. She is also really sweet and has a wonderful personality. She has a strong sense of family and really enjoys her uncles and her Aunt Becky. She cried when she left and said she wanted to stay with her Papa and Gramma. Jen said she cried until they got to the gas station around the corner and then was more interested in the snacks they were buying. I will be back at the keyboard next weekend and we'll do this again. Be well and Happy New Year. Ciao.
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