Jared's visit...Part one
Pre-Jared's visit, Dad and the boys were telling of all the mean tricks they would play on Jared. Like fill his room with grasshoppers, throw him overboard while sailing, and such stuff.
When it actually came time to discuss what we would do, my dad and Jonathan decided they were in charge of it. So I sat between them, with the calendar in my lap, vetoing ideas. My dad made sure that everyday was FILLED. It was declared that the ten days that Jared was visiting, everyone should have a completely free schedule. We all took off work, Rebecca still had a swim meet to attend that Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. So we did not get to see her much that weekend. I reserved Saturday and Sunday for a time with Jen, before she went to China for a year, and time to go visit David and the town where I grew up. They decided what we would do until the next Sunday, and Jared was returning on Monday. We were going camping for three days and spending three days on the 33' sailing yacht. Sunday was still up in the air, but we figured we would need a day of rest after being on vacation for a whole week!
Friday I head to work at 9am, counting down the hours till Jared comes. Right before five Jared calls the office, of course I am taking mail to the mail box and miss it. So he calls again. He tells me that he wont make it till the next morning or next evening. So...I get depressed and wander around my house... Julie and her friend Lisa were hanging around the house and were trying to get me to go shopping with them. I was too tired, so we started Phantom of the Opera. We were about half way through when we received the call to dinner. I eat dinner...and we are trying to figure out what to do, since we were going to drop Lisa off at her house on the way to pick Jared up. Leave it too him to ruin plans. The idea is thrown out that Julie and I should spend the night at Lisa's house and then drive to the airport that next morning from there. I am trying to figure out what to do with Jen, who I said I would meet sometime between 8am and 12 so she could hang with Jared and I. It was also my job to get two of my brothers to a birthday party the next day, and I was going to drop them off after picking up Jen, but having Jared come a day late threw that off... Then...Jared calls again. He made his flight and would be there at the time he said he would be. Go figure. So, Lisa, Julie, and I jump in the car. Julie got to drive both ways. Julie has something to return to a store that is not near us but near Lisa. But...It closes at 9. We fly down hwy 17 to El Camino Real, where Julie goes speeding around cars. She weaves in and out of traffic trying to make it to the store on time. We do, and she is allowed to return one of the two items. Then we head to Lisa's house, spend a few minutes, then head to the airport. We found parking close! and headed in to meet Jared. It felt like an eternity till I saw him. We then wander around till we get to the Frontier counter and we ask her about his bag. She is new, and does not know what to do, so we chat with her about flights, lost luggage, etc. When she figures it out, she gets it all squared away and will have his luggage delivered to us sometime the next day. We headed up hwy 17 toward home and stopped at BK for food for Jared. I ate some of his french fries. :-D We get home, find beds...sleep.
The next morning I am woken up with the commands that I am to go wake up Jared. They let me sleep in until almost 8, so I could not complain too totally much. *rolls eyes* I struggle to get up and make it inside...usually I am doing good to just make it to the table and stuff food in my mouth...but with everyone waiting...I headed back to Jared's room. I enter the room...followed by the two cats that live there (Jared had closed the door...leaving the two cats in our house with the only way to get out being the dog door...which they as cats would never do...and inside the closed door where Jared dwelled was the cat food, water, beds, and cat door. The cats disliked him from that moment on.) and the dog also followed me. It is the dog's job to wake everyone up. She had just woken me, my sisters, and everyone else up. I sit on the bed and shake him...talk to him...and generally just do annoying things like telling Chudley (the dog) to give him a kiss. Through the open door, I am being watched by the four small children as they pretend to have a reason to be standing in the laundry room which is in the hall right outside his room. He finally gets up (fully dressed except for the shoes...as usual) and pretends to get ready to meet everyone. Which of course could only happen in the kitchen. Which is a pantry away from his room. I, of course, do my wonderful job of introducing everyone. "This is my MoM and this is my dad, and those are my siblings" I say this as I make my way through them, heading towards the breakfast table. We had a breakfast, just like the ones we always have on weekends...lots of pancakes, eggs, etc. I just remember the fruit, that's what I ate. I am so not a breakfast food person. Well...I was sort of out of it...and of course, since these were my friends I had to arrange picking up Jen. Which I could not figure out for some unknown reason. I did, eventually, after I walked Jared around some, left a note in the office about Jared's luggage. I of course took so long writing the note that they arrived so I told them, but we always leave notes for each other, since none of us have very good memories (my coworkers being 30+ years old...) This would also be the last time I got to see my blue sweatshirt, which went missing sometime during this day. *sigh* it was the best sweatshirt ever, it was 2X and fuzzy on the inside...and said APTOS on the front...I miss it. Anyways, Rebecca took the car to swim meet so I got in the white van (15 passenger van, with one seat missing making it legal for me to drive, 15 or more people in a van a special license is needed) I drive all the way up to Boulder Creek, where we meet up with Jen. We then head back down, taking a detour to return her borrowed car to a "neighbor" (the way it is used in the country) and we make it back to Santa Cruz. We go to the boardwalk, then next door to the boardwalk, and drop off my two brothers, Roger and Robert, at the bowling alley. Due to no parking spaces, there is a guard that sits at the entrance and you have to state which party you are with to get parking at the bowling alley. Since Julie, Jen, Jared, or I (wow, I hung with the J names) had no desire to sit in a bowling alley for two hours and listen to too loud music and watch little people run around and act like brats, we took off out the back door and headed to the wharf (next to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, a very popular place in Santa Cruz. Random fact, my other friend Jen said that if you worked at the boardwalk you were not allowed to have visible tattoos, which by looking at the people who hang there, it was a strange rule...back to the wharf now...) We wander down towards the end and get two fish and chips and two bread bowls to split, so everyone could have a bit of everything. I got yelled at for feeding the birds by the other three people sitting at my table...those party poopers. I got some to the birds anyways. They made fun of one because it had a few feathers sticking straight up on its head. Then we headed back...stopped on the beach...hopped across some VERY hot sand, hit the VERY cold water, jumped back to the very hot sand...and bounced all the way to the side walk. We strolled in, picked up the boys, refused some chocolate cake and headed out to the car. Then...drive home, hang out, go to church. Church was funny. We have a new pastor from Florida, and he is trying really hard to fit in, really he is. He dressed down to slacks and a nice shirt with rolled up sleeves. But when the worship leader wears flipflops to lead... I guess it might be important for the pastor to dress nicer than the others there. We wear jeans and T-shirts, I am usually in work clothes. It is so laid back, shorts, flip flops, T-shirt, and a hoodie sweatshirt are normal. We get in the van...I realize I did not hit the library, so Jen and I jump out and race in. I got five more books (of which I ended up reading none) and then we raced out and jumped in the van. Got home, ate, then the teenagers (sorta) headed out to watch movies before bed. THEN SLEEP!
Speaking of which, this post is like...mega long, so I will leave you to read part 1...more coming...hopefully.
When it actually came time to discuss what we would do, my dad and Jonathan decided they were in charge of it. So I sat between them, with the calendar in my lap, vetoing ideas. My dad made sure that everyday was FILLED. It was declared that the ten days that Jared was visiting, everyone should have a completely free schedule. We all took off work, Rebecca still had a swim meet to attend that Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. So we did not get to see her much that weekend. I reserved Saturday and Sunday for a time with Jen, before she went to China for a year, and time to go visit David and the town where I grew up. They decided what we would do until the next Sunday, and Jared was returning on Monday. We were going camping for three days and spending three days on the 33' sailing yacht. Sunday was still up in the air, but we figured we would need a day of rest after being on vacation for a whole week!
Friday I head to work at 9am, counting down the hours till Jared comes. Right before five Jared calls the office, of course I am taking mail to the mail box and miss it. So he calls again. He tells me that he wont make it till the next morning or next evening. So...I get depressed and wander around my house... Julie and her friend Lisa were hanging around the house and were trying to get me to go shopping with them. I was too tired, so we started Phantom of the Opera. We were about half way through when we received the call to dinner. I eat dinner...and we are trying to figure out what to do, since we were going to drop Lisa off at her house on the way to pick Jared up. Leave it too him to ruin plans. The idea is thrown out that Julie and I should spend the night at Lisa's house and then drive to the airport that next morning from there. I am trying to figure out what to do with Jen, who I said I would meet sometime between 8am and 12 so she could hang with Jared and I. It was also my job to get two of my brothers to a birthday party the next day, and I was going to drop them off after picking up Jen, but having Jared come a day late threw that off... Then...Jared calls again. He made his flight and would be there at the time he said he would be. Go figure. So, Lisa, Julie, and I jump in the car. Julie got to drive both ways. Julie has something to return to a store that is not near us but near Lisa. But...It closes at 9. We fly down hwy 17 to El Camino Real, where Julie goes speeding around cars. She weaves in and out of traffic trying to make it to the store on time. We do, and she is allowed to return one of the two items. Then we head to Lisa's house, spend a few minutes, then head to the airport. We found parking close! and headed in to meet Jared. It felt like an eternity till I saw him. We then wander around till we get to the Frontier counter and we ask her about his bag. She is new, and does not know what to do, so we chat with her about flights, lost luggage, etc. When she figures it out, she gets it all squared away and will have his luggage delivered to us sometime the next day. We headed up hwy 17 toward home and stopped at BK for food for Jared. I ate some of his french fries. :-D We get home, find beds...sleep.
The next morning I am woken up with the commands that I am to go wake up Jared. They let me sleep in until almost 8, so I could not complain too totally much. *rolls eyes* I struggle to get up and make it inside...usually I am doing good to just make it to the table and stuff food in my mouth...but with everyone waiting...I headed back to Jared's room. I enter the room...followed by the two cats that live there (Jared had closed the door...leaving the two cats in our house with the only way to get out being the dog door...which they as cats would never do...and inside the closed door where Jared dwelled was the cat food, water, beds, and cat door. The cats disliked him from that moment on.) and the dog also followed me. It is the dog's job to wake everyone up. She had just woken me, my sisters, and everyone else up. I sit on the bed and shake him...talk to him...and generally just do annoying things like telling Chudley (the dog) to give him a kiss. Through the open door, I am being watched by the four small children as they pretend to have a reason to be standing in the laundry room which is in the hall right outside his room. He finally gets up (fully dressed except for the shoes...as usual) and pretends to get ready to meet everyone. Which of course could only happen in the kitchen. Which is a pantry away from his room. I, of course, do my wonderful job of introducing everyone. "This is my MoM and this is my dad, and those are my siblings" I say this as I make my way through them, heading towards the breakfast table. We had a breakfast, just like the ones we always have on weekends...lots of pancakes, eggs, etc. I just remember the fruit, that's what I ate. I am so not a breakfast food person. Well...I was sort of out of it...and of course, since these were my friends I had to arrange picking up Jen. Which I could not figure out for some unknown reason. I did, eventually, after I walked Jared around some, left a note in the office about Jared's luggage. I of course took so long writing the note that they arrived so I told them, but we always leave notes for each other, since none of us have very good memories (my coworkers being 30+ years old...) This would also be the last time I got to see my blue sweatshirt, which went missing sometime during this day. *sigh* it was the best sweatshirt ever, it was 2X and fuzzy on the inside...and said APTOS on the front...I miss it. Anyways, Rebecca took the car to swim meet so I got in the white van (15 passenger van, with one seat missing making it legal for me to drive, 15 or more people in a van a special license is needed) I drive all the way up to Boulder Creek, where we meet up with Jen. We then head back down, taking a detour to return her borrowed car to a "neighbor" (the way it is used in the country) and we make it back to Santa Cruz. We go to the boardwalk, then next door to the boardwalk, and drop off my two brothers, Roger and Robert, at the bowling alley. Due to no parking spaces, there is a guard that sits at the entrance and you have to state which party you are with to get parking at the bowling alley. Since Julie, Jen, Jared, or I (wow, I hung with the J names) had no desire to sit in a bowling alley for two hours and listen to too loud music and watch little people run around and act like brats, we took off out the back door and headed to the wharf (next to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, a very popular place in Santa Cruz. Random fact, my other friend Jen said that if you worked at the boardwalk you were not allowed to have visible tattoos, which by looking at the people who hang there, it was a strange rule...back to the wharf now...) We wander down towards the end and get two fish and chips and two bread bowls to split, so everyone could have a bit of everything. I got yelled at for feeding the birds by the other three people sitting at my table...those party poopers. I got some to the birds anyways. They made fun of one because it had a few feathers sticking straight up on its head. Then we headed back...stopped on the beach...hopped across some VERY hot sand, hit the VERY cold water, jumped back to the very hot sand...and bounced all the way to the side walk. We strolled in, picked up the boys, refused some chocolate cake and headed out to the car. Then...drive home, hang out, go to church. Church was funny. We have a new pastor from Florida, and he is trying really hard to fit in, really he is. He dressed down to slacks and a nice shirt with rolled up sleeves. But when the worship leader wears flipflops to lead... I guess it might be important for the pastor to dress nicer than the others there. We wear jeans and T-shirts, I am usually in work clothes. It is so laid back, shorts, flip flops, T-shirt, and a hoodie sweatshirt are normal. We get in the van...I realize I did not hit the library, so Jen and I jump out and race in. I got five more books (of which I ended up reading none) and then we raced out and jumped in the van. Got home, ate, then the teenagers (sorta) headed out to watch movies before bed. THEN SLEEP!
Speaking of which, this post is like...mega long, so I will leave you to read part 1...more coming...hopefully.
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