It’s hard to remember all that went down in the past 5 or 6 days so I’ll dump out what I can remember and try to fill in the gaps as I can. I was off Thursday even though everyone didn’t arrive until late in the afternoon. I was busy all day getting things ready around the house but the big project was shampooing the rugs. In retrospect I’m not sure what the point was because it’s already hard to tell I cleaned them after having people over for a few days.
So I headed out to the airport to pick up my brother Todd and my four year old niece Caroline. I was surprised when I got a call just as I pulled into the cell phone lot. Todd said their flight landed early, they already had their bags and were ready to go. So I immediately head over to the terminal and pick them up. As we were pulling out Todd tried calling my sister who was supposed to land a half hour before him to see where she was. She said they were just leaving the airport as well and they were in a black Jeep. Todd turns around and notices there is a black Jeep behind us. Yep, it was them, funny stuff. So they followed us back to mom’s place where a big dinner was planned.
Mom has not seen Caroline since she was a tiny infant. I’m sure it was weird for her seeing her grandaughter in person. Caroline was a bit shy at first but loosened up quickly. Caroline also had never met her 2 year old cousin Emily. She quickly warmed up to her as well and immediately tried to engage her in play. It was cute. We had a belated birthday party for Caroline, her birthday was the day before. She ripped into her presents within minutes of us arriving. About a half hour later Ali showed up after work to join the fun.
Having two little kids in a house quickly transforms it into a crime scene. Stuff gets scattered about in a very rapid fashion. I knew that it would be tough for mom whom has lived sans kids for nearly two decades. I had already prepared myself for the chaos and embraced it. I knew things would be crazy but it was only for a short time and I viewed it as a positive thing since it is an extremely rare situation to have the three original Duffey kids together with mom any more.
We all sit down to dinner at our fold up table I had brought over the weekend before. The eight of us fit, barely. We enjoyed our meal but then the true star of the show came out, the birthday cake, Mom’s famous chocolate birthday cake. I love this cake. The icing is sinful and the chocolate cake itself is moist and wonderful. Two of the main ingredients are butter, lots of it and coffee. It is probably my favorite desert on the planet. Mom passed the recipe to Ali which I am grateful for although we don’t make it much due to my dietary desires. Well anyway the cake was top notch as always. Mom’s friend and co-worker, whom also lives in the same complex came down for cake and to see the kids.
We hung around mom’s for awhile, mostly watching the kids play. It was cool to see the girls getting along. Eventually we packed up and headed back to our place with Todd and Caroline. Ali and I were quite tired. Todd told me that he was surprised when Ali and I packed it in around 10 or so. He let’s Caroline stay up late when she is on vacation, she didn’t go to bed until 11:30 or so.
So Friday was planned out to be a beach day. In the morning while we were waiting to go I showed Todd the Wii. That was the start of many hours of Wii battles over the 5 days which were mostly dominated by me of course. Mom wanted us to go to a beach we never visited before, Barefoot Beach which is right on the northern Collier County border. It’s a county park. I was annoyed to pay 6 dollars to park there since I didn’t have a beach sticker on the party van. We took the van so we didn’t have to crud up the Camry with sand, salt and sweat.
Barefoot beach is a natural beach with minimal amenities. The beach wasn’t very full at all. The girls headed straight for the water. We all joined them for periods of time. I spent time playing with both of the girls, helping Caroline mix up her sand soup and keeping an eye on Emily to make sure she stayed out of trouble. Somewhere during that time Emily held her hands up to me motioning she wanted me to pick her up. Once I had her she plopped her head on my shoulder and seemed to be totally at ease. It was the start of what was a bizarre phenomenon over the next few days. She wanted me to hold her all the time. If I tried to put her down she would grasp on tightly around my neck. She just loved being with Uncle Shawn for some reason.
A couple hours at the beach are all that is required to get burned badly in the intense Florida sun so we packed up and got ready to head out. Our crew headed back to our house after stopping at the grocery store while the rest headed back to Mom’s. We decided to just do our own thing for dinner that night. Our thing was grabbing pizza at Publix. My mom, sister and brother-in-law ran to Applebee’s. Friday evening Todd, Caroline, Ali and I spent a lot of time in our pool. Ali bought a bunch of additional pool toys for the occasion and Caroline put them to good use. She loved the pool and was a whirlwind of wet energy, jumping, swimming and splashing non-stop for a couple hours.
One thing we had to get used to was the rapid fire stream of questions a four year old child can generate. I guess there are lots of things to learn at that age. Most of the questions were directed at Todd but I fielded my fair share and didn’t mind. I was just happy that Caroline was comfortable enough around us to ask us stuff. When we saw her in June she was very shy around me.
I had floated out half jokingly to my brother-in-law about possibly helping me install a new front door since he builds houses for a living. He was all gung-ho about it and said it isn’t a big deal and should only take a couple hours. I wasn’t going to take him up on it originally but when Saturday morning came around I changed my mind and figured I would ask him if he was serious about his willingness to help me do it. The plan already was for the girls to go out shopping at the outlets anyway while he was coming over to hang out with Todd and I and play Wii. So I called him up and asked him again if he would be ok with helping me. Again he enthusiastically said he was cool with helping and again he said it shouldn’t take that long. In my mind I figured two hours to do the door and then we would play Wii for the rest of the day, awesome.
So I go pick up Damon and we head to Home Depot. He knows exactly what is needed for a door installation which is very helpful. I already knew the door I wanted to get. It wasn’t fancy or expensive but it matched our existing windows. The only other thing was I wanted to convert from an inswing door that we currently had to an outswing door which is what current code requires because it is much stronger when it comes to hurricane situations. Damon picked out a door that seemed to be be the best of the bunch and after grabbing the other supplies we were on the way back to the house.
The first thing to do was demolition. Originally Damon said we may be able to keep some of the existing parts of the door like the interior trim and the exterior brick molding. However after some of the pieces broke that plan was scuttled and we just started ripping and prying. Todd jumped in and helped as well. Removing the old door wasn’t too bad of a job. There were a couple screws that had to be cut with my big sawzaw. Ripping out the old door revealed how badly it needed to be replaced. Much of the wood near the lower hinge was wet and rotted from the bad installation. There were various bugs scooting around in the multiple gaps around the door seal. It was just a mess.
Damon laughed at some of the tools I presented him with, namely my little 2 foot level and 25 year old utility knives. I explained I fixed computers for a living instead of building houses, my tool collection was not bad for a computer geek. A lot of my time was spent retrieving various tools that Damon needed for various aspects of the job. One of my main contributions was wiring the security system back up to the new door. We got the new door in place but it became apparent that we needed a few other things from Home Depot to complete the job , so out the door we went and headed back. It had already became very apparent that this was not going to be a two hour job.
At Home Depot our plan morphed a few times. It was apparent that trying to use brick molding with the new installation was going to be problematic so instead we got some cedar instead to go around the outer edges of the exterior door frame. Cedar is a hardwood that is rot resistant, a perfect fit for the weather conditions it will be exposed to. We got back as storms were getting ready to roll in. We did a bit more work but then took a break to play some Wii since we knew once the girls got back Wii playing would be hard to come by.
Todd, Damon and I had a blast playing Wii sports. We played and drank beer for a couple hours until the shoppers got back. Once they got back Damon and I started on the door again. It was a bit tough because we also were doing a cook out for everyone and one of my responsibilities was to cook the food.
So I fired up the grill and then went back to check on the door progress. I could tell the women were getting annoyed that we were still f’ing around with the door as it approached 6pm. I went back to check on the grill and saw the temp gauge had not moved. I was out of propane, shit. So I told Damon I had to run to get propane. He said it was no big deal and he should have the outside framing done by the time I got back. He wasn’t kidding, when I pulled back in the driveway the framing was up and caulked. The one mitre joint had a space in it from a slight measuring miscalculation but the gap could be easily caulked to hide it’s existence. All that was left was to put up the new pieces of trim on the inside of the door.
Todd offered up that he could handle the grilling responsibilities while I helped Damon finish up which was a big help. We got the trim up just in time to eat. Evidently Todd had a fire flare up on the grill because I had all three burners turned on which made it very hot. The burgers and dogs were all WELL done. 🙂 After dinner and hanging out at our place for awhile my mom, sis, Damon and Emily packed up and headed home. Both Ali and I made sure to let both Todd and Damon know how much we appreciated their help in the door project. If I would have tackled the project myself as I planned, I’m sure I would have screwed it up.
So we made plans on Sunday to have a full pool day out at our place. In the morning Todd and I played the Wii as well as watch some of the Olympics. We watched a lot of the Olympics while they were here, we enjoyed it. So everyone showed up and we simply ate the leftovers from the day before, which there were many of. We had fun playing in the pool with the girls. We decided that we would go out to eat that night, our only night out to eat during the entire trip at Carraba’s.
It seems every time I go back to my favorite Carraba’s I get more disappointed. They keep removing aspects of it that made it unique and interesting for me. The last time we went I noticed that they no longer played “Learn to speak Italian” in the bathrooms which was a bummer. They also severely cut down on the selections on the menu. This time I noticed that they removed all of the fake vines they had in the trellis over the booth area as well as trellis and vines that used to be over the main dining area. They also used to have dividers between the main sections of the room that helped break it up a bit. That’s all gone. It’s just one open, boring space now. I’d love to know who’s bright idea that was. Well at least they still make good food.
During the afternoon on Sunday I developed a bizarre eye problem. All of a sudden bright light was causing me all sorts of pain in my right eye. Going outside and looking anywhere near the sun was impossible, I had to look down and shield my eyes. I didn’t recall doing ANYTHING to my eyes to cause a problem. Nothing dropped in them, I didn’t scratch them and it didn’t feel like I had anything stuck in them. It just hurt like hell to look at bright light. My right eye also started to become very bloodshot as a result of whatever was causing my issue.
On Monday our plan was to go to the water park. The weather for most of my family’s visit had not been very cooperative. Instead of the normal brief afternoon thunderstorms, we were getting substantial storms rolling in mid-morning which was screwing up our outdoor activities. Well Monday was no exception. The park opened at 10 and we arrived right on time to try to snag a primo spot under an umbrella. Well on cue it started to rain hard as we approached. The water park did not open because of the storms. They said they could open later if the weather cleared up. So now we had to formulate a new plan. We wound up going down to Loudermilk Park to hang at the beach a bit, hoping we could still hit the water park later.
By the time we got to the beach the rain had stopped. The sand was nearly empty which was nice. My mom wasn’t thrilled about coming to Loudermilk but my sister said she thought it looked really nice, which it is. I only waded into the water up to my knees, I didn’t feel like getting all nasty since we had the Camry. Mom, and Ali stayed out of the water as well. We ate lunch there and then I called the water park for a status update. I was happy to hear they were now open. We piled in the car and drove north again.
As I mentioned before, my niece Caroline is always full of questions. One of the funniest ones is the “are we there yet?” one that starts no longer than 30 seconds after putting the car into DRIVE. A 15 minute ride in the car is an eternity to a four year old. Especially a four year old that is used to watching dvd’s whenever she is in a vehicle.
So we arrive at the water park and head up to the front gate. We walk up in the middle of a tirade by some chubby British woman that is screaming at the young girl at the desk about something. The girl at the desk got fed up and dropped her shade on the woman when she had enough. Eventually a “supervisor” came up and the woman started in on him. We got our tickets and headed in. Because of the bad weather earlier in the day and because it was Monday, the place was not full at all which was a bonus. It didn’t take long for the girls to head over to the kiddie pool area.
There was lots of fun to be had. The girls were too small to do the water slides but there was plenty of other stuff to keep them occupied. During our time there I spent a lot of time holding Emily. Over the course of their visit Emily became more and more attached to me. She was constantly wanting me to hold her. When I was holding her and someone else offered to come up and take her she would clutch onto my neck and yell “No!” It was very cute.
There was one annoying moment at the water park when Ali and I waded into the pool that is designated as the up to 12 year old area. Todd was at the far end playing with Caroline and Ali and I were heading up to hang up with them so we step into the pool and head that way. The kid lifeguard stops us and says that the only adults that are supposed to be in this pool are parents directly helping younger kids to swim. I immediately assured the kid that we were only going up to the far end to be with my niece. Well evidently this was still taboo. I found the whole situation annoying and absurd but I didn’t feel like making a scene so I just said “Whatever….” and exited the pool and walked along the edge.
During the visit to the water park I had my sunglasses on the entire time to shield my eye from the bright light. At some point I noticed that the light didn’t seem to be bothering me much so I took off my glasses and looked around. The searing pain was gone, wtf?? I theorized that my pain was caused by something that was in that eye and that in the course of splashing down in the water park I may have dislodged whatever it was. It was the only thing that made sense.
My sis and their crew packed up and headed out earlier than we did. They were worried about Emily getting sunburned since they had a long flight on a plane the next day. Todd, Caroline, Ali and I stuck around for another hour or so. Ali watched Emily while Todd and I got to try out each of the water slides which was cool. Todd and I had many memorable trips to the water slides in Rehoboth growing up, it brought back some of those memories.
After our water slide rides we enjoyed some ice cream and then packed up and headed home. Mom once again was preparing a big send off dinner. We headed there Monday evening and once again crowded around our fold out table for a good dinner. After dinner I went with Damon to Target for him to pick up a portable dvd player as well as stop for him to get his ice cream fix. We hung out at mom’s until close to 10 before heading out. We said our final good byes to Torrin and Damon as they had an early flight out Tuesday morning. I again was holding Emily for most of the evening and she was not very happy when I had to put her down to leave. I heard her blood curdling scream a good 30 feet outside mom’s closed front door. I felt bad.
So Todd’s flight didn’t leave until around midday Tuesday. Tuesday morning he packed up and then we just farted around a bit. Caroline and I bonded some more as she helped me fill the bird feeders and then played played big bat baseball with Todd and I. Then right before we were ready to go I had a 15 minute session of doing nothing but picking her up and throwing her into a pile of pillows on their bed. She found this game to quite enjoyable. We loaded up in the car and I dropped them off. Caroline was quiet when I picked her up and gave her a kiss on her forehead goodbye. I think she was a bit sad and didn’t know how to express it. Todd said he had fun. I hope they come down more often. I think Todd now realizes it isn’t that big of a deal to come down for a long weekend. He said something about maybe coming down over the winter which would be fun too.
After I dropped them off and pulled away I felt a bit sad as well. It was one of the few times I felt a negative about living in Florida. It would be nice to be a regular part of my niece’s lives. The weirdness continued when I got home to an empty, quiet house, something it hadn’t been for the past 5 days. I thought the visit was great. Sure there was stress from everyone being together and the conflicts that are generated when you try to mesh various routines. However I really made an effort to let that stuff slip off my back and just appreciate that everyone was together. I think I did a surprisingly good job of doing just that, something I don’t normally do very well.
A few notes about the visit.
Todd’s hair is very long and very blonde. He swears he isn’t using Sun In and that it is just the result of Caroline and him going to the pool regularly. I still don’t believe him. I told him it was ok, the one summer I used Sun In I didn’t fess up to it either.
I don’t think anything makes a woman think you are a nicer guy then when you hold a baby and don’t appear to mind doing so.
Mom smoked like a fiend during the visit. The stress of having her routine smashed was very apparent.
Todd smokes as well unfortunately.
Nicki was very freaked out by the visitors, especially initially. However by the time they were ready to go she warmed up to everyone, including Caroline. Since they left I have caught her going over towards the spare bedroom looking for them.
The Olympics look GREAT in HD. Todd and I watched a lot of it. I saw the first games of Hand Ball of my life. What a bizarre sport that is.
