Parental visit 2.0

The parents and nephew arrived Friday evening. I made fancy burgers by combining a few recipes I found throughout the week. Garlic toast replaced normal buns, avocado and pineapple salsa were used and we topped w/ either provolone or pepper jack cheese. They are gone, so I think it was ok. SCORE! In my 36 years of life; I’ve probably made food for my parents about 10 times.

I am not a cook.

I do not like to cook.

You can’t go wrong w/ chocolate and strawberries right? well, Jenn found a way. The chocolate filling was made of melted baking chips.. which are hard.. so they are super hard to eat once they are cooled. Not really a SCORE!

Friday evening/night we stuffed ourselves and had some drinks and went to bed.

Saturday was boat day. Boat - 26 foot boat w/ a cabin, 2 tables, Bimini top, radio, refrigerator, swim deck, and fit for tubing. Zach has never been tubing, so this was a big plan!! We were ALL looking forward to this A LOT!

The entire family was on board and ready to go! Genesis was driving us towards the end of the no-wake zone while I organized the food and settled the bags in the cabin. We were probably pushing 15-20 mph anxiously looking ahead at the open river and waiting not so patiently to bust through the no wake zone, and finally feel the speed and wind of the fresh, not humid summer air. A few minutes into the ride… the ear piercing alarms went off. And the gauges clearly displayed our malfunction. The boat was overheating. BUMMER!

The marina was quick to tow us in and even provided us w/ a replacement boat to finish (start) our day. Somehow, they assumed a middle console fishing boat would do. We weren’t planning on fishing, no fridge, no bathroom, no way to tube, no shade, no radio. We improvised yes, I think they had a good time…except for getting in and out of the boat to swim. The veggies and dip were warm, and I think everyone got a little burned.

While it was nice for them to offer a replacement, I’m not pleased that our plans were ruined and we were not able to have an enjoyable time on the river.

 Status of forces: Dad, currently on his 2^nd hip replacement and depends on a cane to get around.

Mom: sporting 2 replacement knees.. (this is relatively recent)

Z: typical 4 year old who really really really wanted to try tubing

N: typical 2 year old who really really needed to expend energy by swimming and is the whitest white girl I’ve ever seen.

G: 14 yr old chick who is totally bored w/ a fishing boat

Me: totally bummed I wasn’t able to provide a day on the boat w/ my parents. Genesis and I are out almost every weekend.. it just seemed the plans were doomed.

Sunday: church day. We were all very excited to attend church this past Sunday and watch a video from G’s week away at Liberty University for camp. It was great! The kids spoke about how camp affected and touched them and shared a little of what they learned while they were away. I have very fond memories of church camp as a little girl and I hope Genesis will too.

Sunday eats: Dad cooked a roast and potatoes! They woke up early this morning and left. I already miss them! We had a wonderful time despite the bummer boat plans.

Have a great week!