Family and Stuff

I had to be in the States for a meeting the week of October 6, so I took the opportunity to stop by and see the parents in DC. As a surprise for me, Dad invited Jae come to town too, so we had all three kids there for a few days, and it was great! 

Dad is doing really well after his 'scare' earlier this year, gaining strength and stamina, working with PT and occupational therapy every week. Mom is taking good care of him, but also taking care of herself, going to the gym and water aerobics and such. (We didn't plan to have all of us wearing red, it just happened. :) ) 

On Thursday, after Jae arrived (poor guy took the red-eye and landed in DC around 10am), he joined me for lunch at the Silver Diner in Ballston, and then we hit a couple of stores for some of the random things I wanted to bring back to Barcelona -- chili powder, swiffer dusters, decaf black tea, and corn holders, among other things. They sell corn on the cob in the grocery store, but we couldn't find the little holder-thingies anywhere. Harris-Teeter to the rescue. :)  

On Friday, Jae came to lunch with my friends at Nando's in Pentagon Row, and we had a really good time. Working from home made it easier for Amy and Elizabeth (and Amy's husband Rob) to come hang out, but it meant that they had to go back to work! So I dragged Jae next door to Macy's so I could do some quick shopping. It turned out to be really quick, because a lot of the other stores I wanted to visit have left Pentagon City and it's gone very high-end chic. Oh well. 

Mom & Dad's neighborhood is full of young kids (who all go to Oyster! Yay!) -- way more kids than there were when we were growing up. They all gather up on Friday after school - kids playing, and parents hanging out with 'adult beverages' - so Jae and I went over to meet them. It's nice that Mom has people to hang out with on their street - they have Halloween parties and book club and brunches... This is in addition to her adopting all of the dogs in the neighborhood, who know exactly where the treat are in her front room!  

Speaking of which, we took care of Penny for a few minutes on Thursday morning while her dad went off to get his COVID shot... she was very protective of Mom, and decided that I was just not allowed anywhere in the vicinity! Ruff! 

Friday night, Bryan and Becs came over and brought BBQ from 2Fifty. Funny how much I missed good BBQ brisket after four months away from Texas! We had a great chat and took lots of family photos (see above). 

Saturday, Jae and I took off with Bryan and Becs for some "kids time". We went to bar taco for lunch and had some deep and meaningful conversation. And tacos and drinks, of course. 

And then it was time for me to head back to the house and get to the airport. I signed up for CLEAR earlier in the week when the security lines in St. Louis were awful, so I got to breeze right through at Dulles. I even got to ride on the goofy people-movers - I missed those! I hiked over to the Polaris lounge, which was unfortunately really crowded. I should've eaten something there, but I wasn't hungry...bad planning on my part. I ended up waiting for the meal on the plane, so by the time I went to sleep I only got about 2 hours before they turned the lights on for breakfast. Ugh. But I did get to watch a few episodes of a documentary about 'Menudo' - remember them?  

Meanwhile, all of our stuff from Texas arrived in Barcelona while I was gone! John sent me pics of the boxes everywhere and the maneuvering he had to do to make sure we had space for everything. The best part: our king sized bed! (and sheets, of course) 

It's so nice to have my pillows, blankets, kitchen utensils, books... We immediately ordered some Billy bookcases from IKEA, so that's our weekend activity. Guess we really do live here now.