Winter Weekend with the Boys

Friday evening, we picked up the boys at their dad's and drove down to Dayton for the weekend. We arrived at my aunt's house about midnight, after stopping for (not very good) dinner at Eat 'N' Park, listening to lots of country music and seeing a very bad wreck in Columbus. The trip down was so pleasant, with no bickering, no complaining, nothing. J sat in the back with Pie much of the ride so that he could show her his new video game. They watched a couple of movies, too. That made it so that Boot and I got to listen to as much country music as we wanted, as well as talking quite a bit. It was nice to have him so calm and laid back. Maybe one of us should ride in the back seat more often! After greeting by the mini Dachshunds and a brief visit with my aunt, we went to bed. In the morning, J and I took care of some business while Pie played his game and Boot helped my aunt with some things around the house. Then went to lunch at Young's Dairy before heading down to J's dad's nursing home for a visit. He was so happy to see us. It was our first visit since J's mom's funeral & it was weird for her not to be in the room. The boys are always so good with him. After our visit, we returned to my aunt's, where Boot promptly fell sound asleep for the night and Pie dived back into his game world. We couldn't wake Boot & figured he needed the sleep, so we left him & Pie while we went to dinner. We noticed a Dollar Tree right by the BW-3 and my aunt said, "Let's go in and each pick one thing, only one thing, and then we can have a contest to see whose is coolest!" We ended up each winning in a different category. I won for "Most Practical" for my pick of a bunch of matches. I can use the little boxes for art & the matches for candles. I also got J a Prince Charming frog towel, the funny little kind that is a tiny round thing and becomes a towel in water. We haven't tried it yet, but my aunt & I were both curious. My aunt won for "Cutest" for her Hello Kitty valentines. J won for "Most Mysterious" because she got me a "girl grab bag" which turned out to contain a watch with different decorations you can put on it, Silly Putty, a pencil and a bunch of Tinkerbell & Spiderman stickers. She also got snacks & drinks for the boys. After our shopping spree, we had dinner & won at trivia at BW-3. We took dinner home to the boys. Pie ate his with great gusto, but Boot continued sleeping and ended up having his for breakfast. Hot wings for breakfast! That kid has an iron stomach! Once we'd gotten the car all loaded, we opened Christmas gifts from my aunt & cousin (and heard an amusing story about her oldest dog opening Christmas presents). After Boot's hot wing breakfast, he wasn't hungry when we all went out for brunch. Pie was exhausted (from staying up too late playing video games) and ended up nodding off at the table. It was hilarious & adorable! He did wake up enough to eat a burger, but then the head bobbing started again. If we'd had a video camera, we could definitely have won $10,000! We hit the road, listening to "Duma Key" much of the way home. We had to turn it off when the roads got slick & I had to really focus on keeping us safe, but it was a great accompaniment to the drive. Pie slept the whole way back to Pennsylvania and Boot alternated between listening to his Ipod and talking to us. After we dropped them off with many thanks for being such good company over the weekend, we made our way slowly home. We were glad to get closer to home & have the roads clear up! I wasn't feeling like cooking, so we ordered Chinese food delivered and watched the tail end of the inauguration festivities, then moved on to "House." I don't know why J insists on watching such gross shows while we're eating! I am considering re-instituting a "dinner only at the table" policy!