Clark's Family Visit

Last week was an exciting week for my husband. He is from California and probably only still lives here in Indiana b/c he married me. We are surrounded by my family, but all of his family is in California. Sometimes I think that is hard on him b/c he doesn't get to see them very much. So last week his 3 sisters, Lisa, Julie and Laura and 1 brother, Norman came for a visit. It was just the siblings. No spouses or children on this trip. Clark had really only one goal for their trip. He wanted our children to get to know his side of the family as well. The timing of things did not work out very well b/c our big kids were leaving for Canada one day after his family arrived. I actually went to great lengths to change their Canada trip so they would be here the entire time his family was here but it just did not work out in the end. Still it is our triplets who really do not know his family. They have only been to California once and that was when they were 13 months old. The other poor timing issue was that I was on call 4 out of the 5 days his family was here. I am usually miserably unhappy when on call....

So last Friday, Clark's family arrived in the evening. They stopped by the house briefly to see the kids before the kids went to sleep and then Clark took them out to Rick's Boatyard for dinner. I was kind of bummed to miss this dinner b/c it is my favorite place to go around here. On Saturday we had a cookout/swim party at my parents house so that they could spend some time with Nick and Alexis before those too left with my parents for Canada. I worked during the day and was not aware this was the decided plan so I did not have appropriate swim attire but still went just to hang out. I think they had a good time. Norman played with the kids a lot in the pool. He and Clark had races with little ones on their back. We ate lots of good food (which was the common theme for the week...eating lots and lots of food). I left the swim party soon after Nick and Alexis left for Canada. I wanted to get my run in for the day so I could hang out with everyone that night. In the evening, Clark's sisters made a great dinner. Keep in mind this is an Italian family. They ALL know how to cook. You can imagine how I feel b/c I just sit on the couch watching sports with the kids and guys while they were busy in MY kitchen. I have no doubt they think it is rather sad I don't cook. I just don't. I clean... I am really good at doing dishes:) Once the kids were in bed they spent the remainder of that night playing a game called Farkle. I just watched b/c I was planning on going to bed early. It was fun just watching. There is no skill or brains really needed. It was all luck and a little of knowing when to risk it or stop. Everyone had a great time. Julie is very lucky and won all 3 games that night. I have been told she is great to go to Vegas with b/c she always wins. Clark on the other hand always was last. Not so lucky. We have never won anything in Vegas::))

Sunday I went to work and expected everyone to be gone when I got home but the boys were still waiting on the girls to get ready. Norman stayed at our house but the girls stayed at a nearby hotel and I guess b/c they were still on California time or b/c they are girls from Clark's family they were slow to get moving. I could tell my husband was getting ancy. The plan was to take the triplets to Turkey Run to go hiking for the day. I of course was staying behind b/c I was on call and nervous my phone would not work there. Good thing I did not go b/c Clark's phone did not work there. I hear they had a great time. They hiked a 2 mile trail and then went swimming. When they got back we let Norman babysit the boys and the rest of us went to Boulder Creek for dinner.  Norman did a great job with the boys. They were bathed and had story time before bed. After that they expected story night from Norman every night. The evening ended with more Farkle playing.

Monday I went to work all day and they all went to the museum and had a great time with the triplets.
The boys were just loving this week b/c they were getting all kinds of attention and doing lots of fun things. It made up for the fact that they felt cheated b/c they did not get to go to Canada with my parents. When I got home from work Clark was making a great steak and veggie dinner on the grill. The girls then made a great dessert. Our trash cans were overflowing at this point with wine bottles (this family goes thru a lot of wine:) and food (again we ate a ton all week). Maybe I have my Farkle playing nights wrong. Either they played 3 nights in a row (which seems like one night too many) or I have it wrong b/c I know they played this night. I was tired from work and had to go to bed but remember them playing until late.

Tuesday both Clark and I worked. We called off our sitters and let Clark's siblings watch the boys for the day. I think a great time was had by all. We had warned Norman that our kids don't sleep in so he was to expect being woken up early. He stayed down in the basement and I was a little worried the boys would not just come down once awake. For us they scream out their door, "Is it wakey time yet." I have no rules about getting up so I don't know why they always do this. Well, as it turns out they slept in and did not get up until around 8:30. Norman got lucky on that one. Once the girls arrived they had a busy day planned. They took the boys to the Blast Off park. Then they went to McDonald's and let them eat and play on the indoor play set there. Then they went to the store and bought Legos. Then they went swimming. They even had all the Lego's put together by time I got home from work. The boys loved their day with their aunts and uncle. By this day the boys finally knew everyone's names and were no longer saying things like, "the girl in the blue shirt." In fact everyone had nicknames at this point. I left work a little early so that I could come home and clean up b/c this was our last evening and my only evening not on call. We started at the Plum's Upper Room but it was really hot in there and so we ended up just drinking a bottle of wine, eating an appetizer and leaving. We ended up at Mitchell's Fish Market. It was fun. I got my favorite...King Crab legs. Yum!! We came home and Clark's sister made another dessert. At this point I was tired. I had just finished my long call stretch and then added alcohol on top of it. I fell asleep on the couch.

The following morning it was time for good-byes. It was great getting to visit with Clark's siblings. I think my husband just seemed very happy while they were here. The triplets had a ton of fun and were very sad when they left. We all look forward to their next visit.