Becoming Zen

This is take two of this blog. Apparently clicking "Publish Post" before clicking "Save as Draft" doesn't save it if the server goes down exactly at the time of posting.

Sunday started off innocuously enough. We slept somewhat late and enjoyed a leisurely morning. We were to meet Bill, Hannah, & Zach at Perkins for brunch, but apparently my childhood & youth are being stripped away from me because it is now closed. We all still had a delightful lunch at another dining establishment. After lunch we headed to Super Target for car shoes for Andrew and sinus drugs for Carol. Yes, it is a Super Target. There is a Starbucks inside!!! Upon returning to the hotel, Andrew insisted on going to the pool. A wonderful heated indoor pool. There were two other boys that day and they played well together. Andrew is as tall as the 8 year old. After the amphibious afternoon, we headed over to Douglas's for an early delicious dinner. Andrew stayed there while I took Carol to the airport so that she could return to civilization. Upon returning to Douglas's, I heard "the noise." I trepidly opened the sunroof cover and much to my wondering should appear, but my bathrobe, oh dear! Cursing, I pulled over to the shoulder of the freeway to assess the damage. Looking in my rearview mirror, I didn't see any evidence of Nancy litter, so maybe it'll be ok. Attempting to get out of my car and climb up on the seat in the gale force winds was another joyous experience. Luckily only the front latch came undone this time. I unlocked, rearranged, closed, tried to lock, tried to unlock, slammed the fricken thing so that it would unlock so that I could lock it. Finally, after much bruised hands, it seemed as secure as it was going to get. I drove 45 miles an hour back to the house crying the whole way. When I pulled into the driveway, I called Carol, and she helped calm me down. What an angel she is. Yes you are! By the time Douglas came out to see why I was still in the car, I was composed enough to explain and ask my baby brother for help. We took a surf coffin strap and wrapped it around for the drive back to the hotel. Upon which all I heard then was the fwap fwap fwap of the strap. Yeah, that settles the nerves right down....
Monday, we slept late again and then Andrew had the pool all to himself that morning. After Amphib #2, we headed to Douglas's work to trade cars. I was NOT going to chance creating the worlds first convertible CRV again going to the airport to pick up Mom. Have I mentioned Kansas has been experiencing a horrible wind storm these past few days? Yeah. Mom's flight was ontime, Starbucks was great, and Natalie was properly surprised and happy to see Grandma and cousin Andrew pick her up at school. Crazy, lunatic Aunt Nancy was still in the car where the wind wasn't blowing. We ran by the grocery store to pick up eats for that night's festivities as the house. The cousins played wonderfully while Douglas & I took everything out of the *&%$ carrier and back area, tightened and readjusted where necessary, and repacked. I was able to scale down a bit from the frantic packing of Friday morning. Sure, Douglas has to send a few things to me, but hey, we gained an inch of room in the car, and hopefully the carrier will behave. We used both bungy straps this time to make sure it stays closed. Of course there is now a new noise and everyone knows how much I love repetitive noises.
We are all doing well and so is Carol.
We head out again this morning hoping not to catch the rain storms currently in the east. Depending on weather, we should make it as far as Ohio, or maybe just Indiana. No rush. No worries. Just Zen.