#43 - A whole family again - July 15, 2012

I woke up early for a weekend today, put my stuff in the car, wrote a thank you note to my hosts, put the sheets and blanket they loaned me in the washer, and left to pick up Katrina and the kids. The drive was uneventful. I ended up at Aki’s place at 9, with a parking spot right in front of the front door. The day was hot and damp. At least 80 by 10am. We started carrying things downstairs about 10:30. We finished around noon, and around 90 degrees. We all worked together, and got the van loaded.

When Katrina took the other kids to Queens, Aria and I left for girls camp. The van was packed to the gills. Of course, as they’ve been here for 3 weeks, they’ve purchased some things they needed. So the van would be even more packed. But now we had Aria and me as well. I packed as tightly as I could, but I did not see a way for Katrina to come back with us. In the end, all of us hot, sweaty, tired, and whiny people piled in the van, and left Katrina in Queens to do the final clean up and chat with Aki.

Aria's shot of the Whitestone Bridge as
we crossed it.

We stopped somewhere for lunch, I don’t recall where, and hit the hotel at 2. Check in was at 3, and they were not ready for early checkins today. So we went to Consignment Monster and window shopped for a while. The store is a mix of retail Craigslist at high prices and discount mattresses. The store was in final liquidation, closing its doors forever. I pulled them out of the store at 3, and we went to check in.

A storm had rolled in as we drove and shopped, and now it was raining, thundering, and there was lightning. We got into the room, brought in backpacks and air beds, and settled in. The kids found the Disney Channel. And rain started to pour. It felt like a true tropical rainstorm. Beautiful. I found no one in the pool, but felt it unwise to get in with the lightning going on. But our room was on the inner courtyard, ringed by only hotel rooms and 1 entrance to the hotel lobby.

The kids had been locked up all day, and I needed to give them a chance to play. So I offered to go outside in the rain with anyone who wanted to go. Aria stayed inside, the rest of us went out. The rain poured down, the shelter leaked, the boys got soaked completely through their clothes. It was perfect.

Boys.  Completely soaked, having a tactical
conversation on the rules of chasing
each other.

We went back inside, got the kids changed into dry clothes, discussed dinner, and then I went to pick up Katrina from the 6:10 train. We called in Domino’s pasta and pizza, and ate together. It was a lovely day. We ended up in our crowded room, Katrina and I on one bed, the girls on another, and Jake and Christian on blow-up twins on the floor. It was wall-to-wall people.

Expecting to hear tomorrow that we can close on Wednesday.