Tuesday 11/1
Tuesday morning before we left for the airport we met the guys from Go RV outside the post gates and then, once again, escorted them onto post. They were back to remove the gray water tank so that they could take it with them and repair it while we were out of town. They had the tank removed by the time that we left but still need to put the underbelly back up and clean up before they left. They come back when we’re back in San Antonio to reinstall the tank and we’ll pray that this fix holds.
Our flight left San Antonio at 11:30 am. We had an hour layover in Minneapolis (which went really fast!) and then arrived in Madison about 4:30 pm. Madison is a very small airport and as we came down the escalators to the main part of the airport I was extremely surprised to see three of my most favorite boys (Dan, Alex & Ben) waiting for us at the bottom of the escalators! We normally just text them that we’re ready and they drive around from the cell phone lot to pick us up. I got some really awesome big hugs from both Alex and Ben before we went over to grab our luggage.
Amanda and Zoe were waiting for us in the car and once we were settled in we headed for dinner. We went to Hu Hot for dinner…a Mongolian Grill restaurant. You’re given a bowl and then go through a buffet line picking out your meats, veggies & noodles which you top with various sauces. When your masterpiece is created you take it to the ‘chef(s)’ and they stir fry it on a massive grill before handed the completed dish back to you to enjoy. We’ve been to Mongolian Grills before and have always enjoyed them and this time was no exception. It didn’t hurt to have a grandson on either side of me either!
After dinner we made our when to Dan & Amanda’s home and spent a little time with the grandbabies before it was time for them to head to bed. Once they were in bed the adults spent a couple of hours playing Hand & Foot. It always seems to take a long time to finish a game so we didn’t get to finish our game before we called it a night.
Dan has been wanting us to start watching Game of Thrones but since we don’t have HBO we haven’t been able to. Since they have Chromcast we’re able to watch the show from the beginning…however, we’re six seasons behind! We watched the first episode the night we arrived and enjoyed it enough that we plan to watch as many episodes as possible while we’re here.
Wednesday 11/2
Our first day here I woke early and was able to see Alex before his Mama took him to preschool and promised him I’d come with his Mama when it was time to pick him up so that he could show me his class room. When we got there to pick him up he was a bit shy about showing me around but showed me a few things before we needed to leave.
On our way home from ‘school’ we made a quick stop at the post office so that I could drop our absentee ballots in the mail so that they could reach their intended recipient before election day. We’d had our ballots mailed here and they were waiting for us when we arrived. I will be SO happy when this whole mess of an election is over with!
Michael, Amanda and I played a game of Racko in the afternoon and I was the big winner! We always play a lot of game when we’re with Dan & Amanda…love it!
Thursday 11/3
I slept a little later so I didn’t see Alex before he went to school but was able to see Bennie before Mama took him to ‘school’ and told him the same thing I told big brother Alex the day before…that I would come with Mama to pick him up so that he could show me his classroom.
When we arrived Ben was outside on the playground and unfortunately was crying. He’d fall on the ‘climber’ and hit the side of his face on the climber. It took a while for him to settle down and at first he didn’t want to show me his classroom but by the time we got to his room to get his backpack he was quite ready to show me his room. He showed me ‘the weather’, his ‘feelings’ for the day (which he changed from sad to excited), he showed me the tent area, his cubbie and the kitchen among other things…all while chattering away.
He had so much fun he screamed the whole way down!
After naptime/quiettime Amanda and I took the babies to the ‘Castle’ park in Fitchburg and let them run. Ben loved going down the swirly slide while Alex made some friends and had a blast on the tire swing. Over and over he declared that the tire swing was ‘sick’. Where the heck he learned that phrase…who knows!? Alex had me go through the maze in the ‘little’ kids area with him…where the doorways were about waist high…needless to say, Nana had to crawl through the maze on her hands and knees!
“That’s sick!”
Back home we enjoyed a yummy dinner that Amanda made…pork carnitas. It was a new recipe she was trying and I think it turned out really good. I actually made a salad and put the pork in it and it was really good. Everyone else put theirs in tortillas with toppings and seemed to enjoy it as much as I did my salad.
After dinner we played a game of Canasta…much like Hand & Foot but it seemed to go much faster than Hand & Foot does. Dan and I were partners and ended up victorious! However, I’m not sure that Amanda will partner with Michael again…he kinda messed them up a couple of times. LOL
We finally headed to bed about 11:30 pm and after doing a little ‘surfing’ on our phones turned off the light. It didn’t take Michael long before he was asleep….I on the other hand….took forever to fall asleep…at least it felt that way.
Even Zoe got in on the action!
It seemed like I hadn’t been asleep long when BAM! There was a terrible crashing sound from upstairs (our bedroom is in the basement) and both Michael and I flew out of bed and immediately started upstairs to see what had happened. We were met on the first floor by Dan, who was on his way downstairs from the 2nd floor.
We searched the first floor (where the Roomba was quietly doing it’s thing throughout the house) and finally found that a large shelf in the dining room and crashed to the floor taking everything that was on it, with it. We’re kinda thinking that the two cats (Jordy & Erin) jumped on it and brought it down.
The dining room is directly above our bed and that would be why the CRASH was SO loud. Wow…what a way to wake up at 1:15 am!