And so I'm back from my weekend in Kalispell, staying busy, with Micah, Howie and the store...I'm not sure where to begin, and will try to do highlights of the weekend and of my first day back home. It's interesting because I could pretty much start from the second I left the store on Friday at noon until this moment monday night after 10 pm.
To follow up my friday morning phone call from my dad I called him as Micah and I drove to Kalispell.
"How you doing, Dad?"
"I'm doing O.K. The doctor changed my medicine and I already feel a little better. It was a different doctor at the same practice. The other medicine wasn't doing anything. Yeah, this acid reflux isn't going to do me in. I'm gonna make it through this one..."
"Well, that's good news."
We arrived in Kalispell at 7pm. 5 1/2 hours door to door. Front desk guys at the hotel, "we should show pity on this guy he's a Met's fan," he says referring to my Mets hat.
Micah went to the pool immediately after check in. Curly and Kelly invited me up to their room for a beer, and Lance drove over from the campground. We headed out for some dinner late - it was after 9 -
Saturday morning, game at 8:30. Despite not enough sleep, the boys took a quick 2-0 lead to halftime, but then fell asleep in the second half and lost 3-2. A minute after the game ended, bummed that they lost, my cell phone rang.
It was Jackie calling from Kenya! She was stuck in a traffic jam on her way home with the boys from the Kenya - Mozambique World Cup Qualifier. Kenya won 2-1 in an upset. She figured that Micah's game was probably ending so she just called and lo and behold I answered. I couldn't believe it was her. The she said, "my phone is beeping, I probably don't have any money left on my phone."
"That's O.K.," I said, "I didn't really expect to talk to you on the phone much," and then the line went dead.
I waited a few minutes - realized her number was on my phone - received calls - so I just hit send, that didn't work because I needed to add the international numbers 011, that didn't work, message said I needed to call Verizon to add service, so I did. About 20 minutes later I called her back and she answered. She sounded so happy, so pumped, so excited for how the trip was going, we talked for about 15 minutes.
At about noon the soccer team headed for the Big Sky Waterpark in Columbia Falls for the afternoon - it turned out to be a sunny warm afternoon and the kids and the parents all had a great time, sneaking drinks, playing volleyball and going down waterslides. I played volleyball, which was a blast, but then when I tried to make a few plays I had to drop out because of my knee. I forget about my knee, but then I was on sand - and moving around laterally and that just isn't possible yet. My leg wanted to buckle and that's not good. I've been a little sore from trying to play, but it's all fine. Mosquitos at the park were ridiculous.
The waterpark lunch concession was a grill your own burger grill. People who knew about it brought their own burgers and hot dogs. At lunch Lucy was talking about how you needed to be as tall as the penguin to go down the big slide. Lance looked at her and asked, "and how big does your mouth have to be to fit that corn dog?"
After the waterpark it was back to the hotel for the team pizza and cake party. The kids ate pizza and roamed the hotel, the lobby, the business center, the pool, the movie room while us parents just hung out in the dining area, talked and drank lots of cheap beer.
Sundays games were super exciting. 9 am game, we took off to a 2-0 lead, the Missoula team came back and tied it by half time and then we held on for a 5-3 win, scoring 3 quick goals at the beginning of the second half. Hung out at the fields until the 1:30 game. In that game, Great Falls jumped to a 2-0 lead which they took into half-time, but then we came back and won 3-2 - they almost tied it with seconds left in the game hit the cross bar, ball came down, but never went in. Whistle blew and we won! A great and exciting way to end the season.
Immediately after the game, Micah and I loaded into the car and started the 5 1/2 hour trek home. The drive did its toll on my right calf which is now one big knot. Micah fell asleep for an hour or so and the weather turned a little wet in sections, but we made great time and rolled into Big Sky around 8:3o where we found Howie and Sarah jumping on the trampoline with Buddy just running all over the place. Murray came up to see me right away moaning and I wished her a Happy 10 year Anniversary!
This morning got Micah up and into Bozeman, he's off to Missouri Breaks canoe trip - I won't see him again until next Saturday at 3pm! Then back home to Howie who was just waking up. Breakfast, walk the dogs, check e-mails, help post Jackie's blog, and then finally to the store around noon - It was very hard for me to get going on work. I did the bare mininum today, mostly socialized, helped with a couple of orders that had to get done. Took Howie to skateboard camp, picked him up at 4pm had dinner with Dan Wade, and then to the softball fields. Howie and I walked Buddy and Murray, who seemed to be really dragging her feet today. She didn't want to jump up into the truck and she yelped when I tried to pick her up.
And then the Baked Moose doubleheader. We won the first game 7-6 in a controversial game which we had been losing 6-1 and made a great comeback by some big hitting. The second game we won 17-7 after 5 innings, it was shortened due to a cold steady downpour. When we got home Howie turned on the t.v. and found the Mets game. So we watched the last inning and the Mets won! Then Howie and I had a snack and a hot tub. Finally Howie's in bed and I'm jotting down all the highlights of my days to compare with Jackie and Andrew's highlights.
I guess I should spend some time reflecting on what's been going on. I've been busy and my responsibilities, though manageable are many and do stress me out. It's now at the end of the day when I am most tired that I have time to think and write and correspond. Sometimes I will stay home from work and then in the morning I can think and write and read and come up with ideas. I am planning if all goes well this week to take Thursday completely off - the morning with Howie and then the afternoon completely to myself. Maybe the river will be fishable by then or I will just stay at home and write and read and putz around the house. There are some boxes I want to consolidate and/or throw away.
I am thrilled that Jackie, Andrew and Sawyer are having the trip of a lifetime. I am happy to be home with Howie and Micah, the dogs and the Hungry Moose. I do feel myself calming down though I did go a bit beserk in the 7-6 Baked Moose victory. All in good fun.
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