Uncle Matthew's Visit

Few things thrill me more than one of my family members coming in to visit! Matthew called me at the beginning of June to see what our plans were for the Fourth of July.  As luck (and I mean UN-luck) would have it, the COVID situation drastically changed our traditional Fourth plans, and we were home bound. Kacey and Atlas were up in Massachusetts visiting her family, and Matthew and Orion were needing a road trip and to escape the horrid heat of Austin.  It gets so bloody hot where we live, that I forget it's even hotter in other places.  I spent several days prior frantically getting some costuming done for Newsies because I knew I'd get none of it done when they arrived, and I was right!  They pulled in about 1:00 in the afternoon on Tuesday the 30th.  Luckily, neither Ethan or Lauren has rehearsals that day, so it was all about playing.  Matt and I sat around visiting for several hours while cousins played.  Cody came home that evening and we had spicy honey chicken and rice for dinner.  Then in normal fashion, Matt and I stayed up talking some more until 2:00 in the morning.  Oops! That made for a very sleepy next day. 

Wednesday marked the start of Hell Month.  July.  July 1st was the eleventh anniversary of one of the worst days of my life- the day my younger brother was killed in a car accident.  I'll never forget the exact feelings of the moment I got the news, or the rest of the day and then the days and weeks and months that followed.  I always hate July 1st, but I was grateful to commemorate it with someone who perfectly understood.  I got up that morning and made Garrett pancakes for breakfast, then we kind of lazied around and talked a lot more. (Are you seeing a pattern?  We talk...a lot.) That afternoon, we decided to go hiking, but Ethan and Lauren had rehearsals, so it was just Hailey, Devin, Orion, and Matt.  We decided to take his truck because the trailhead was up a really difficult dirt road, and his truck is made for that kind of thing.  The hike was HOT.  We picked the wrong time of day to go, because the sun was in full force on that side of the mountain.  Devin started getting heat exhaustion, so much earlier than I would have liked, we decided to turn around.  Still not wanting our evening of adventuring to end, we picked up pizza and ate at Mueller Park where we then went wading through the creek.  That night, I drove to do carpool at the end of rehearsals and did't get home until 10:30, but we still managed to eat Snickers cake in honor of Joseph.

It worked out GREAT that the rehearsal schedule changed, and Thursday the 2nd was completely clear! Ethan needed to stay home and work on summer school, but the rest of us loaded up and drove to Pineview for the day.  It was absolutely perfect.  The weather was great, it wasn't terribly crowded (thank you, COVID) and everyone had a wonderful time.  I was on a medication that caused the sun to really hurt my skin, and Matt is extremely sun-conscious in his old age, so we spent most of the day sitting in the shade...you guessed it...talking. The kids had a blast making sandcastles and swimming out on the rafts and of course, eating.  Isn't food almost the best part of a lake excursion? I decided not to take the kayak because I still haven't gotten the hang of the new rack Cody got me for my birthday. 

We decided we are going to reenact this picture in ten years! Ha ha!

Friday was kind of a lazy morning.  We tie-dyed patriotic tee shirts, which is something we'd never done before.  Even being novices, I'm surprised at how well they turned out!  More visiting during the day, and then I took Hailey to the optometrist to pick up her new glasses.  After that, I didn't feel like cooking dinner so we ordered Costa Vida take-out and went to eat at our favorite park, Memory Grove.  Angus was in puppy Heaven because it's an off-leash dog park, and he had all the fun sniffing all the genitals.  

That night, it was a hard-core game of Candyland!

Saturday was the Fourth, and it was odd to be spending it without parades or firework shows.  It's always been my favorite holiday, second to Halloween and Thanksgiving. I was in a funk in the weeks leading up to the Fourth, but having Matt and Orion here certainly buffered the disappointment. We set up the slip 'n slide and inflated about 500 water balloons, and the kids made good with them most of the day.  At day's end, the backyard resembled a swamp!  I spent the morning preparing all our favorite Fourth foods. All week we'd been collecting fireworks from stores and stands, but that afternoon our good friend Taco Haws came over and invited us down to his house to see some REAL fireworks. Apparently, he's friends with a guy who owns one of the biggest firework chains in the area, and he told Taco to bring his truck and load up what he wanted.  Taco got the BIG fireworks! Before heading down the street, we grilled burgers and hot dogs and corn-on-the-cob and had entirely too much food, but that's not a bad thing.  We donned our new tie-dyed shirts and had fun taking ridiculous pictures.  Matt and I sat on the back porch and had a karaoke jam session while I played guitar.  I honestly didn't know my big bro could sing like that.  We eventually walked down to the Haws' house with other neighbors and boy, Taco wasn't kidding.  We had a great time sitting back and visiting while the guys launched the big fireworks.  Not wanting the party to end, some friends came back to our house for game playing LATE into the night.  I think we played at least ten rounds of Relative Insanity...but only with the bad cards!  Ha ha.  That's the only way to play.  Matt and I broke our record that night of staying up until 4:30 in the morning talking.  Yikes!  We was tired the next morning. 

They were originally supposed to head out on Sunday, but something in their plans changed that made it better to leave on Monday.  I wasn't at all sad to have them an extra day, although I really needed to get back to sewing.  My deadlines for Newsies were fast approaching and I spent most of the day on Sunday in the basement working on costuming.  Matt came down there and we watched "The Witcher" while I worked.  It was actually my third time watching it, because it's one of those shows that's so convoluted that it takes several viewings to put all the pieces together.  While watching, Matt fell in love with Yennifer and became hooked.  Ha ha, I can't blame him.  She's hot.  That evening, I needed a change of scenery so some of us went to Baskin and Robbins to get ice cream. We stayed up late again playing more games and talking, and doing gender swaps on a phone app. Matt looked too believable as a woman, and I looked like our brother, Philip. The next morning, the time came to say our goodbyes.  After taking several goofy pictures on the porch, they loaded up and drove away.  I had a lump in my throat as I watched them go, feeling both sadness at saying goodbye, and gratitude for the close bond I have with my family.  Many new memories were made this week, and I'm grateful!