Grandparent's Day

I got to see all my grandchildren (all 2 of them) on Grandparents Day but not for the whole day. Today was our day to spend some time with C&C. So we saw Sophie and Lucy for a short time in the morning and again in the evening when we returned to Jax.

So it was off to High Springs to spend the afternoon with C&C. Our visit had 2 objectives. The first was a belated celebration of Christian completing his Master’s Degree program. The second was to develop the preliminary design for the kitchen island I will be building for them.

We celebrated Christian’s graduation with a pleasant brunch at Emiliano’s Café ( http://www.emilianoscafe.com/ ) in Gainesville. They serve what they call “Pan Latin” food. Everything we had was good.

Penny and I had churrasco—Argentinean style flame grilled skirt steak with garlic-cilantro chimichurri sauce.

Christians meal was benedict de arepa—corn griddle cake benedict, marinated portabella mushrooms, dijon cream sauce, poached eggs, corn griddle cakes.

Christy enjoyed rancheros emiliano's—black beans, two eggs sunny side up, peas, queso blanco, tomato-jalapeño salsa, avocado puree, and amarillos over crisp corn tortillas.

Although we were all quite full the intoxicating celebratory atmosphere must have clouded our combined judgment and we ordered deserts. My “chocolate decadence” was a huge piece of chocolate cake with cake, brownie and fudge. I ate half and brought the rest back for Karen to have (that half was still as large as a normal good-sized piece of cake).

We waddled back to the car and began the drive back to C&C’s. Christy thought I would like to stop at a tool store called Harbor Freight (http://www.harborfreight.com/ ). She was correct. It’s a huge store with lots of decent quality tools and accessories for a good price. It’s a bad place to go if you are an impulse buyer. I got a cargo net large enough to use on my trailer, some ear protection earmuffs and I found an item there that I’ve been searching for ever since we got the kayaks. It’s a simple device to cinch a tie-down rope in one quick motion, eliminating the need to tie and later untie a knot. I’ll use it for short trips to the bayou.

In High Springs we sat around in their living room talking about the kitchen storage island while Penny sketched out the design on 3-D graph paper. C&C have a 50’s style red Formica tabletop that will serve as the top surface of the island and I will build the storage unit to support it.

I enjoyed seeing C&C, we had a good time. Christy is still one of the best huggers around and I was privileged to receive several of her world-class hugs.

We got back to Jacksonville just before Sophie’s bedtime and for some reason she was clingy to Grandpa. I got to read to her and put her in the crib. She didn’t like having to go to sleep (she rarely does) and after I left the room K&T went in and sang to her and she settled down.

Our job here is winding down. One indication is the length of this blog—I’ve got time to write. K&T have started what will be their normal routine for the next couple of months and the period where it is a good idea for someone to be with Karen for safety reasons is now ending. We can still provide that extra pair of hands when needed and Penny is feeding everyone nicely so we aren’t just sitting around doing nothing. We will likely head home mid-week sometime.