drwex | A weekend, with lack of sleep (Reply)

This weekend I took a couple of days off. Technically I'm still on vacation though mostly today is house chores.

My father came up to visit partly for K's birthday and partly because my step-mom was off on one of her jaunts to see her kids in CA. My dad doesn't much like to fly and since he no longer has to, he doesn't. He drives or takes the train up and just hangs out. He's a very low-maintenance guest. He reads, plays with us or the kids, games on the computer, talks when he feels like it.

If I could have gotten enough sleep... oh ANY night, this would've been a great weekend. Even so, it was good.

Dad arrived Thursday afternoon. We got him settled in and picked up the kids for some grandpa time. My younger is testing out calling him "Grampee" which is a bit too cute, but we let it go.

Friday the kids and Pygment went off to their normal days. Dad and I shopped. I had the brilliant idea to get an "8" candle for K's cake. Which, I was sure, Pygment had taken care of because she did such an awesome job with L's birthday planning and generally has thought of everything at least two weeks before it occurs to me. But, y'know, let's just call to be sure. What's that? Forgot about the cake? EEK. Right, back to the bakery we go, grab the only right-sized chocolate cake on display, get them to write "Happy Birthday" on it and call it good.

After dinner Friday Pygment headed out to her girl's night out thing. I tried to stay up until she made it back but no luck. I passed out sometime before midnight.

Woke up too early Saturday, still tired out. Did party prep and such then headed out to K's party. At first we were afraid it would be too small, but it seemed like just the right number of kids showed up and they were all able to run and play together. Let's just say they were typical 5-8 year old boys (none of the invited girls could come) and leave it at that.

My dad did his usual thing where he somehow acquired the most talkative adult in the vicinity. I swear I have no idea how he does it - he just smiles and nods politely and people Just Start Talking to him. I did learn that my grandmother's father was probably on the run from... SOMEthing when he married my great-grandmother. Seems he'd gone to Mexico to look for gold, went out of contact with the family for a couple years, then suddenly reappeared in Philadelphia and changed his name. Never said what was up.

I had planned to go out to a going-away party Saturday night, but even after a nap I was just so wiped out I couldn't manage to find directions. That, I decided, was a sign I ought not to be behind the wheel of a car.

We did go out to dinner. Amazingly, Woburn center has turned into this mini-ethnic enclave. Two Brazilian places, Thai, sushi, and a Mexican family restaurant (Ixtapa). We chose the latter and had quite a nice meal, even if my soup had A REALLY LARGE QUANTITY of cayenne pepper in it. I definitely want to go back as I saw six or seven things on the menu. Ixtapa doesn't seem to have a Web presence and is in at least its second incarnation - the first not having fared so well. This incarnation also features at least seven top-shelf tequilas. Anyone want to sample with me?

Sunday I got woken up WAY too early by L thumping about. My dad is a very early riser and L also tends to get up early. Usually L just plays quietly; this time he must've heard Dad moving around and decided it was OK to go down and make noise.

I was feeling annoyed by having lost Saturday night to fatigue and damned if I was going to lose a whole day. I decided to work on some more decrufting, as well as moving seasoned wood from the shed to the garage for next fall's fireplace season. Four more cartons disposed, plus a bag or two of old kid stuff tossed.

There had been a plan for my uncle & aunt to come over for brunch on Sunday but I forgot that they had church in the AM and also that I was backup kid-minder for

tigira and when Cambridge had to postpone its festival from last Sunday to this I was on. No problem, we'll just leave the relatives to entertain each other and the kids. Right. So, first the kids decided they want to come, then Pygment decides she wants to come. Which is OK, the uncle&aunt are taking Dad out for lunch anyway.

Somehow, while already late to our place uncle&aunt are the first to the scene of a bicycle accident. The rider had hit something and gone head-first into a tree at high speed. Thank ghu the helmet did its job so the plastic was caved in rather than the rider's skull, but the poor guy apparently wasn't too coherent. Did I mention my uncle is an EMT? Except he's still recovering from shoulder surgery and has one arm in a sling.

Fortunately, ALS arrived pretty quickly and it turns out the lead EMT on the ambulance was one of my uncle's instructors for his most recent certification. So when they see this guy with one arm in a sling using his good hand to stabilize the neck of a banged-up rider they are inclined to believe the story. This delay makes things very close on timing. We toss Dad at them with a key in hand so he can let himself back in, pack the kids in the car, and zoom off to Harvard Square.

Originally I had planned just to watch Joan's kid and then head out. But there was good dancing and lots to see. The kids dealt pretty well with most of it, only whining every 8-10 seconds about what they wanted.

Is anyone surprised I insisted on staying to see the street performer with the bullwhip? No? Didn't think so. The kids didn't much like the loud noises. I've seen better tricks, but he was cute and he let me look at the whips afterward (8' standard show type, all made by someone from out west whom I'd never heard of, 12 plait, with long falls).

We ate too much, but not nearly enough to sample all the food booths. We bought a few things, and got some free schwag for the kids. Mostly it was nice to get some time wandering around with Pygment.

I figured the combination of manual labor plus a couple hours walking around might tire me enough, but no. I was asleep before midnight and woke up the first time around 5AM. I dozed off and on until 6:30. I'd like to spend today napping except I know it'd mess up my sleep even more tonight and I've got chores to do anyway.