Part one of our hosting extravaganza has passed. Pat and Judith left to go back home yesterday around noon. I had to work – and it was good that I didn’t take the day off, actually, because my coworker who took over the administrative assistant duties went home sick, so I had to step in and take care of her tasks for the day. It was a busy day at work.
But the weekend was absolutely fantastic. We went to the beach on Thursday, with clear skies and warm sunshine. I don’t care to go into the water much; I’d rather sit on the shore, in the shade of my umbrella, reading a book and listening to the surf. This is usually a problem because Justin wants to go out in the water and doesn’t want to go alone. So it worked out well this time – Pat and Judith went out and were willing to go into the deeper water and goof around with the boogie boards, and I held down the fort and sat in my chair, in the shade of my umbrella, reading a book!
Friday, we drove down to the Georgia Sea Turtle Rescue and looked at the turtles. Always, always a delight. It doesn’t seem like much – it’s just two buildings, one with a gift shop area and a learning center and another with big pools for the turtles to be in during their rehabilitation. But we went through all the learning stations and stared at Kathy in her tank, and then went out and spent a good amount of time staring at the turtles in their pools in the next building. I can watch the turtles for a long time before I get bored. And Judith was in the same boat as me, I think.
After we had our fill of turtle staring, we drove up to Atlanta to spend the night. Our friend Julie had to work, but came up to the hotel after she got off – meaning she got to the hotel around one o’clock in the morning.
The next morning, we went to the Georgia Renaissance Festival. It opens at 10:30, but there are musicians and cast members out in front of the gate before it opens, so we got there at 10:00 to watch the spectacle. And then we stayed until they kicked us out around 6:30. We saw comedy shows, a birds of prey demonstration, shopped and shopped and shopped, and got a good broiling in the sun. Judith bought herself an entire outfit, including a corset, to wear the next day. And I got to feed the goats and sheep in the petting zoo.
We went back to the faire Sunday morning to catch a couple more shows, do a little more shopping, get a smidgen more sunburn, and generally enjoy being at the faire for as long as possible. (I got to feed the goats/sheep again!) We had to leave around 1:00 to get home in time, and it’s a good thing that we did because we got caught in a snarl of traffic for about an hour. All southbound lanes were closed due to an accident and we were in between exits.
But we did make it to the drive-in theatre in time to watch Epic and The Croods. I really enjoy going to the drive-in, even if the bugs are getting vicious. And I laughed so hard during The Croods that I couldn’t breathe. It was great!
It made for a long day, so on Monday we all slept in and then spent the day at home, playing games and watching movies and just relaxing and enjoying the last day we’d get to spend hanging out together. I went to bed earliest because I had to get up around 5:00 to get ready for work, so I said my goodbye’s when I went to bed. And then they left around 12:30 yesterday to head back home again.
All in all, I’d say it was a successful visit, full of fun times, laughter, playful punching, and sunburns. (Those last two are not a fun combination, unfortunately.) Judith left me a drawing of elephants when they left and it’s *super* adorable. I have a ton of photos that I have to upload sometime soon.
Today, Justin’s mom’s flight lands around noon. Jessi is going to get her from the airport and they might spend tonight in Savannah instead of coming out to our place. Justin’s grandma (Rose) decided she wasn’t able to make it at this time, so she won’t be coming into town. And we’re still not really sure when Tony is getting here. But the commencement is on Saturday, so it’ll be sometime between today and Friday night.
So we’re getting all geared up for round two of our hosting extravaganza! Here we go!