Adrianne and I were fortunate enough to take a trip to Antigua in the West Indies for a long weekend. Here are some photos I took:
Note: This blog post was written recently on a long flight to Antigua, but is about the weekend of 2/18. I'll post photos of our beach vacation soon!
Last weekend was pretty awesome. Let’s take a look back.
Friday the kids both had plans… Evey went to see a play, I think, while Boyd was invited over for a sleepover. Adrianne got home around 5 p.m. and we had the evening to ourselves. I suggested a bar stool at Rick’s, but she had a better idea… a cold cerveza at the house.
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| My beautiful bride and me enjoying a dinner on the beach in Antigua. |
Evey came home and she enjoyed watching the old videos with us. We’d take turns deciding what video was next. Evey played a lot of Glass Animals (including one nightmarish video); Adro played George Michael and Tori Amos; I played Blur (Coffee & TV), Radiohead (How to Disappear Completely) and Arrested Development (Tennessee.) Eventually we all crashed.
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The next morning I woke up with a bad feeling. We had our last game of the season (Boyd’s basketball team, 3rd/4th, the Lakers) and I just felt like something was wrong. My assistant coach texted that his boy was sick. I opened the paper and my horoscope said I was going to have a 1-star day (maybe 2, I dunno.) I went next door to pick up Boyd at our pre-arranged time.
Boyd came out and waved at me, then told me he couldn’t find his phone. He went inside and kept me waiting… and waiting… and waiting. And this is not something I enjoy. Eventually the neighbor’s dog strolled over towards my direction and took a big No. 2. I thought, yup… we’re going to get destroyed today.
Boyd eventually came outside and we had an emotional moment. We worked it out. There was no shouting, but hopefully he learned something. We had to go pick up his teammate so I told him to collect himself and get into game mode, because I was going to need him.
We got to Baldwin, their Primary Center, it’s a nice gym. Our kids started warming up and they were complaining about how tight the rims were. I told them to not think like that. We were outnumbered, 10 kids to 7. We’ve lost every game this season so far. We even got shut out in our first game.
Right off the tip, we made a nice play and got a quick bucket. Then another. A steal. Then another. We were up 8-0 in just a few plays.
I’m not a great basketball coach but I did feel like I channeled Bill Self a little when I called a timeout with 50 seconds left in the half and stressed that we needed one more bucket before halftime. The lead had narrowed. The kids didn’t score on that play, but they did score on the next play, the last of the half. I think we had a 12-6 lead at half.
Second half got a little close again, but then we got some more put-backs. I could tell the other team wasn’t playing with urgence even though they were down. Both teams were happy to work the ball, and I was happy to see the clock dwindle. The final score was 21-9, or something like that. My kids were all pretty happy to end a rough season with a W.
Boyd, poor guy, didn’t play his best. He did OK. I think he was fatigued from the sleepover. He did fine handling the ball but all his shots were short. He did get a couple rebounds and a steel or two but he also had a few turnovers. On a good game he was our second or third best player. This game, he was in the top five, but not as effective. No more sleepovers before games!
We went to the Mexican restaurant in Baldwin after the game to celebrate the W. Brady came over to hang out with Boyd (his social calendar, sheesh!) I went next door and worked on cleaning up the HOJ (the bar cabinet) and also hung up some new art. The girls watched Kindred Spirits in Evey’s room. That evening the kids and I watched KU handle business at West Virginia.
That night I was exhausted and went to bed early. It was a long day! But despite my frustration in the morning with Boyd’s pick-up, it was a good day. Especially happy for that W.
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| Adro isn't buying Bub's BS. |
Sunday I woke up and was determined to be productive around the house. I do my best if I make a list of things I want to do. I think my list looked like this:
1. Make breakfast (biscuits and gravy)
2. Vacuum downstairs
3. Organize Spidey comics
4. Clean kitchen
5. Empty out an old box in my closet that had been bothering me
6. Rock out some Pixies
7. Print photos of the kids, mail them to family
Check, check, check, check. I did the whole list. By about 1 pm I was done, and ready to relax.
The weather was getting better so I went next door to the HOJ and kept cleaning up over there. The girls had some errands to run so it was just me and Boyd. I had him come outside and write some letters to the family with me. We would take study breaks and throw the football or play PIG inside the HOJ (the rim is currently indoors.)
I had a good time. But I always have a good time in the HOJ. Eventually I let Boyd off the hook and told him he could play Xbox once he did a few chores in the house.
That night I watched the NBA All-Star game by myself downstairs. I love the All-Star game. It kind of reminds me of my dad, I think, I don’t know for sure. But I feel like he’s with me when I watch NBA games. He was a big KU fan, but I think I was a bigger KU fan … while he’s the guy who saw Lew Alcindor play for the Bucks in person, and gave me the program from the game when I was young. He knew the NBA from way back when. And he always wanted to know who the best player was in any given season.
Another productive, fun day.
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Monday I had plans on going to work, even though we get President’s Day off. I was going to press on Tuesday and I had a lot of wood to chop. But the day started off with me needing to get a COVID test so I could travel internationally on Thursday.
Adrianne and I made two stops, one at Sigler Pharmacy and the other at Orchards. This took up pretty much my entire morning (OK, add in a stop at the library and a stop at Love Garden Sounds.)
Got home around 12:30 and it’s beautiful outside. So I’m not going indoors. Grab my laptop and start checking email in front of the HOJ.
Eventually my barber came over and I got a haircut. Then I went to the grocery store to find that evening’s feast — grilling was in order when it’s 70 degrees in February. I picked up some pork sirloins and a bunch of chicken breasts. Picked up Boyd from school and headed home.
A little later Judy come over and I had the grill sparked, the music rocking and a cold beer. Then Adro and Evey got home and sat outside with us, bringing the cat out. It was still 65 degrees as the sun went down. We eventually went in to eat because Evey ran 2.5 miles at soccer conditioning, but we really just wanted to sit there longer and enjoy the breeze.
Evey and Bub set the table so I just had to bring everything in. It was a feast! The pork turned out great; the chicken was good (a little rubbery); add in zucchini & squash; asparagus and baked potatoes. I went crazy with the food! But we ate all the veggies and had enough meat to feed us again two days later with some microwavable veggies.
What a great three-day weekend!
And yes, I paid for it at work on Tuesday… but we got the magazine done on time. All’s well that ends well.
There was some drama, Evey tells me, as to what this event was called... and that it had the wrong name. It was last Saturday.
Whatever it was called, Evey looked beautiful and she reports that the highlight was the end of the dance when they played "Sweet Caroline."
I mean... how pretty is my wife?
Third photo is of the cruise we took on the Rio Grande. I bet the kids will have some recall of that trip! Just seeing the National Guard, the wall(s), etc.
Kids were awesome all trip! 15+ hours coming and going, and never a single dispute, fight, disagreement, anything.
You know what? It was pretty good. Despite the slow service and lack of beer OR margaritas! 
Friday was unusual at it started out with a lot of strange objects in the sky. First, Evey and I saw two (what I think were) Blackhawk helicopters go over the house, LOW, around 4 pm. The Chinooks train in the area regularly, but they’re at a comfortable distance. The Blackhawks were low enough that, in my mind, they were just a few hundred feet off the ground. You could see the details of the copter very clearly. (I did snap a photo.)
That night, I was outside enjoying the HOJ when Adro pulled up late from work. It was dark out, maybe 6:30 or 7 pm. As I was chatting with her in the garage, I saw out of the corner of my eye a line in the sky. My first reaction was, “comet!” Then I looked closer and saw that there were about 25 balls of light in the sky, in a single line. STARLINK! We watched it for a full two minutes or so, then I went to the backyard deck to see if the view was better. At that point I lost them. They were in the southern sky, tracking northeast.
An hour or two later Adrianne and I are sitting under the propane heater, the KU game was on (I was half-watching) and I was talking to her, facing the west (away from the house.) I saw another string of Starlink sattelites! I hollered for Adrianne to look and we both watched another string, real low in the western sky. I called Bub on the walkie this time (he was next door, having a sleepover) but this time it was only visible for maybe 30 seconds and it was gone.
The next morning the whole family is starting a road trip to Joplin, Mo. We’re less than 5 minutes into the drive when Evey says, “Dad … are those jets?” I look to the west and we have four old military planes in a diamond formation, with a helicopter following. The planes flew directly overhead, then banked to the north and turned on the smoke. This is in the random northeast Kansas countryside! There was no football game about to kickoff anywhere that I know of. We first saw them while we were still on 1900th Road, then we got on K-10 and they banked left to add to the show.
Crazy.
We were on our way to Adrianne’s Uncle Arlan’s funeral. He fought pancreatic cancer. Arlan was a lot of fun, he was kinda crazy and had no problem boozing and telling stories into the night. You knew a good time was going to be had if Arlan was there. He was just as good at listening to stories as he was at telling stories, which I admire.
So we road tripped to Joplin. We stopped in… Carthage, Mo.? And were looking for food. We needed a spot to kill 45 minutes so we (I) was hopeful to avoid fast food. We drove around the downtown area and didn’t really see anything that looked too inviting. Then Evey worked some magic on her phone and said there was a beloved Mexican restaurant less than a half mile away. She counted down the distance as we neared it, turns out we were in a neighborhood right by it…
And it was really, really good! I got something called a Volcanita, it was a volcano of grilled chicken and ingredients in a large flour tortilla. I also got a house margarita and they served it to me in a giant flower pot! (You know that material they make flower pots out of? You know what I’m talking about. It’s kinda copper colored.)
From there we got on the road and went to Arlan’s service in Pierce City, Mo.
We knew who would be there, and we were happy to represent. But you know how it’s kinda awkward right off the bat? I don’t know why, we know these people. I guess because maybe you don’t know how chit-chatty you should be. Maybe someone there is really struggling and you don’t want to be like, “hey let me tell you how awesome my kids are!” But after about 30 minutes of warm-up we got there and were chatting with Adrianne’s Uncle Aaron and Aunt Cindy, and his girls, and other family. Arlan’s son Wes.
Arlan’s girlfriend spotted Adrianne and said, “there’s a sympathetic face” and bonded and cried with her over the loss of Arlan (this is why you don’t lead with the ‘let me tell you how awesome the kids are,’ right there. Good job Adro.)
Alan and Di couldn’t make it so I did some photography and by then everyone knew everyone. The nicest thing, I think, was when a waitress from the local Chinese restaurant came by to pay her respects and told everyone how friendly Arlan was. We all knew, but it was cool to see someone who was like, I didn’t KNOW this guy but I knew him and I’ll miss him.
So then we drove home. By then we were outta gas… but we just had to get home. We tried to get Whataburger in Lee’s Summit (there may have been tears, me or Boyd, I won’t say who) but then, eventually… we got home.
It was a drag because the next morning I had to pack and get on a flight to Orlando for a week’s worth of work (back-to-back Summits). But it was still a memorable weekend with the family. And cheers to Uncle Arlan.
