Welcome to New Hampshire. I just crossed the state line coming out of Vermont. I still have about 100 miles to go but I pulled over to give my legs a good stretching. I’m in a Walgreens parking lot and the store is closed. That didn’t compute for me until I looked at my watch and saw it was 9:10pm. Oh, yeah. Closing time.
Okay, time to get back on the road. I need to get home with enough time to do my 30 minutes of walkies. Yikes!
We drove up to Burlington yesterday, had brunch with Bellana (which was wonderful), then dropped a few things off at Harry’s new dorm room and helped him set a few things up. That was great too.
After we were done helping Harry we headed North, which is 100% in the wrong direction. We wanted to make the ride home a sight seeing thing. We drove across the islands in the middle of Lake Champlain. The lake looked amazing. We did get stuck behind a draw bridge for a while, and we also got stuck at a rail road crossing. There was no train. The gates came down and traffic in both directions stopped. It was weird until an ambulance drove up, the gates came up so the ambulance could cross, and they didn’t come back down. There really was no train. Did the ambulance trigger the gates?
Eventually we ran out of islands and just headed South. We left the highway for traffic reasons a couple of times and didn’t get home until after 8:00pm. It felt so good to just get out of the house and road trip like a couple of road tripping road trippers again. I really enjoyed the whole thing. I especially enjoyed the kid time and the Jen time, but the whole thing was great.
……and now we are going to do it again today?
Jen is at a doctors appointment. She’s texting with Harry about some additional things he needs us to bring up to him. I have a half day today for a doctors appointment at 2:00pm. Since I’m already leaving work early, I can just head up to Burlington again and take care of things. Why wait until the weekend? Jen and I are texting about planning things. I’m not clear on whether or not she will come up with me. I’m 100% committed to this today. The only question remaining is will I be able to stop at Quechee Gorge on the way home.
Road Trip Take Two, babie! WOOHOO!
Friggin’ point and shoot. The settings dial moved in my pocket, It went from Auto (where I want it) to Scene with the scene in question being soft focus. I wouldn’t say most of the pictures were ruined, but I will say they SUCK. Here are a few anyway.
Harry just pulled out of the driveway and set out for Vermont. Sigh of sadness.
Jen and I are going to go through the morning routine and follow him. I’ve got my stuff packed.
Add two (2) water bottles to this little stash (they are in the fridge) and I’m good to go.
The plan is to meet Bellana for breakfast/brunch/lunch first. Probably not in downtown Burlington but somewhere a smidge South of town. After that we will go to Harry’s new dorm and deliver his television and a couple of other small things that didn’t really fit in his car.
I’m happy for him but sad for us. At least we will see both kids today. It’s going to be a good day. Overall.
Harry’s stuff is all packed and ready to load into the car in the morning. My camera batteries are charged and the Mazda has a full tank of gas.
Harry is planning on getting up after 6:00. I’m thinking of getting up a lot earlier than that. Maybe I’ll be able to get my walkies in before he wakes up.
I’m really going to miss him when he’s gone, but that’s the price you pay for raising smart kids. They go off to college and leave you behind. It’s sad but it’s also awesome. I couldn’t be more proud of both kids.
Going into the office on Tuesday this week has melted my brain’s internal calendar. Yesterday felt like Friday but it was only Wednesday. Today is Thursday and it feels like Friday too. Shit.
This weekend is going to be emotional. Harry comes back from a week at his dad’s tomorrow. Then we have the whole day on Saturday. Then at the crack of dawn on Sunday we move him back to school in Vermont.
I miss the kids when the they go to their dad’s for a night or two. Last year was rough with both of them away at school. We only had Bellana back for a few weeks this summer, but we’ve had Harry for the better part of three months. It’s going to be hard seeing him go again.
He’s moving into a new dorm this year and he’ll be in a suite with a bunch of friends. That’s going to be a great experience. He has some interesting classes on his schedule. He’s going to be challenged but he is also going to enjoy himself. A little piece of me is jealous, but I’ve already been there so not really. I am excited for him but I am also going to miss him. The empty nest is looming again and it just makes me sad.
The drive to school takes us past the town Jen and I stayed in on our wedding night. Maybe we should drive through on our way home and try to sort of cheer ourselves up. Who knows.
Until then, I have a Thursday that feels like a Friday to get through. Wish me luck.
Good morning everyone. How was your weekend. Did you do anything fun?
I didn’t do any of my exercising yesterday until after 10:00pm. I then did this morning’s exercising at a little after 8:00am. I suspect that is going to result in some issues throughout the day today. I also failed to do any weight training over the weekend. Let’s say that today is the day it starts for real.
Jen and I finished Stranger Things last night. The last episode is about 2.5 hours long. For a TV show, that is looooong. We’re up to date now though. Harry still has to run that particular episode marathon, but once that’s done we’ll all be up to date. The show is now clear to start working on season five (I think they’ve already started without my approval).
I have decided that, after season five is over, I want to see a spin off series that is just Nancy and Robin in the X-Files. I think I smell a hit. Steve can show up and be their muscle from time to time, and the rest of the cast can make cameos (except Mike, he’s kind of a douche). Oh! Now that I think of it, Will and Dustin and Lucas can be the guys from The Lone Gunmen! This show is going to rule!
I tried out the new toaster oven/air fryer last night by trying to air fry some potatoes. The results were less than stellar, but I don’t know if it was my fault or the oven’s fault. I think it was a combination of the two. The potatoes were one part bland (my fault) and one part… squishy? I guess? That’s probably the oven’s fault. I want another crack at it tonight (with maybe some broccoli too?) but we ran out of olive oil so we need to hit the store for a resupply. Challenge accepted.
I brought up the idea of maybe Jen and me taking a day off on a day when Harry doesn’t have to work so that we can all have an extra shot at doing something fun together before he goes back to school. There isn’t a whole lot of time left with him this summer and I feel like we need to do something to take advantage of what time we have. We also need to get up to Vermont to visit Bellana and steal some additional time with her as well.
Okay, Robert. Back to work with you.
The plan for tonight is simple. First, make some mashed potatoes and fry up some ground beef for a sort of faux Sheppard’s Pie kinda thing.
After that… Stranger Things season three. The plan is to watch the first episode of season four with Bellana on Wednesday. Harry is going to watch season four with friends after he goes back to school. Bellana has already seen it but wants in on episode one… which implies that episode one must be world rocking.
Six minutes until the work day ends. Are you ready kids? Aye aye, captain!
ADDENDUM: I sure have been using the word “faux” a lot lately, haven’t I?
Here in Massachusetts in the good old (sliding uncontrollably toward becoming a fascist nuclear nightmare) USA, it is not Bellana’s birthday.
However, in Dublin, Ireland, where she is at this very moment, it is her birthday.
Happy birthday/day before your birthday, Bellana!!!
Inside the Red Head's Head 