A Visit North

Sunday, Shane and I went to church and then Northern Virginia! Matt and Graham were the first family we came across.

Jama wanted to meet for lunch at her favorite, local, Mexican restaurant, Chuy's. Since Matt and I were first we reserved the table for everyone.

It was going to be a big group. Megan's family was in town from Ghana! With Jama and Ed, there were 10 of us.

Matt ordered his food to go, because he was on a tight nap schedule. Renee had stayed behind with the other kids.

Megan was in town for Stickley's wedding. Jenn's mom is stick and Megan thought the wedding's timing was to insure she got to attend. Kathleen would come up later in the week for the bachelorette party and festivities. 

Everyone was happy to see each other. Many stories were traded.

Matt was the first to pull out a device for his kid. Graham was getting cranky and the food was taking longer than expected to come out.

I caved and gave Shane the pink phone, so that I could keep talking, too. B and Shane were mesmerized by Pokemon Go instantly. It was much better than the fencing with works and the trying to hit each other between the legs (and no, I'm not joking).

Jama was full of questions.

She grilled us all about all sorts of things. She had carte blanche because she was Jama, but she was generous enough to pay for everyone's meals. She got mad at Matt when he paid for his takeout without her noticing.

While Jama was generous with picking up the tab, she wasn't about to share her food with anyone. Jama insisted on ordering TWO guacs. She was afraid Sammy wouldn't leave her any! Apparently, it happened before?

Big B had to act fast if he wanted any!

Billy was the one who kept Sammy entertained when he wasn't eating.

Meanwhile, Shane and B were a unit. 

It was a fun time. There won't be a beach trip this summer, so I wanted to make sure Shane had a chance to see Megan's family before they went overseas again. Everyone else was an amazing bonus.

I had planned to go back to Megan's hotel to play after lunch. However, Carrie's flight ended up coming in way early. They cleared customs quickly, too. Shane and I got some Dairy Queen to assuage his feelings about lost cousin time before driving over to wait at Wawa. I made a stop or two on the way to kill some time and flirt with my nostalgia for the area (You will be missed, Game Parlor). 

We picked up Carrie and Gay without incident. Carrie insisted that she was going to drive to help stay awake.

Carrie was so eager to go home she left the parking lot the wrong way through a one-way (oops). 

But we made it without incident. Loki was happy to see everyone! Gay said her goodbyes and then headed out. All the travelers felt like it was past midnight and they were ready for their own beds.

I noticed some stall damage on Eowyn's stall as we pulled in. I had to investigate to make sure there was nothing dangerous before Carrie could relax at home. 

There was no damage to any planks, so my best guess is Eowyn scratched her butt with earnest. She must've pushed in with the vigor to pop nails! All the sharps were beyond where any horse could access them, so it became a problem for tomorrow. 

Carrie was ecstatic to be home. "Never again will I go away that long without you!"

It didn't reach Carrie's level of excitement, but Shane was pretty pumped when he heard Carrie brought gifts!

Carrie wanted to do a reveal, but Shane kept trying to peek!

After some wrestling, Carrie got her way.

Shane still won, because he got a gift out of it: Viking rocks! 

That wasn't it, though. Carrie, with the knowledge that only a good wife has, got me a present combining two things she knew I liked.

I laughed and laughed. It was a good gift, but the jury's still out on if the gift is any good! 

We let the bunny out to celebrate and spend the remainder of the night relaxing. Shane had to hop on the computer to do his chores (with headphones), so that Carrie and I could "debrief" her trip.

Once Shane finished his chores, we watched a movie at his request: Duck Tales The Movie! He'd read a Duck Tales comic in the car. It's a classic, so we easily agreed!

Carrie curled up next to me on the couch and gave up the fight to stay awake. 

The past 10 days ended up being a busy time for each of us as we went on separate questlines. But now, we were home. We were together again.

With that, I bid you goodnight.