Lunch, cookout, evening walk

For some reason, I woke up early yesterday. It was one of those mornings we all have, when you start to wake long before the alarm would go off. By 4 am, I was in the “you’re getting up soon” sleep patterns. By 5 am I was past the point of staying in bed any longer. I was not upset. I just knew I was not going to sleep any more. As I thought about it, I realized it was a good thing. If I got to work an hour early, I could leave an hour early. That would be a help to Mama as she was preparing to entertain that evening. So, I was at my desk a little before 6 am. I thought about taking half a day of vacation, but I scrapped that idea.

Brittany called me about 11 am to see if I would like to join them for lunch. I thought that was a great idea. So, Mama, who was just getting back from Sam’s about that time and Brittany, et. al., met me at the office. I took the twins inside for just a quick introduction to everyone. I even interrupted a meeting so one of my superiors, who is always asking about the girls, could see firsthand how big Zoe was. It caught my boss a little off guard, but she – and the group she was meeting with – recovered quickly. She thanked me later that day for taking the time to show her the girls. We all went to a Thai restaurant for lunch. The adults enjoyed the meal. The girls, not so much. Lunch is not their best meal. It is understandable when you see how much they eat for breakfast; oatmeal, eggs, avocado on toast, fruit and yogurt, pancakes or waffles and chocolate milk. Their normal breakfast routine takes close to an hour. All of that time is spent eating. I went back to work for a couple hours after our lunch date.

When I got home, I started the grill. As it warmed up, Mama and I went out to feed. Brittany and Andrew were just leaving the house. The girls were still napping. Brittany had taken the time to put all the steaks in a marinade. So, once the grill was ready, I began putting the larger pieces of meat on to cook. Eventually, I cooked two large bone-in sirloin steaks, two smaller sirloins, four T-bone steaks, beef ribs, a couple hot dogs, asparagus and pineapple. Mama fixed buttered potatoes, salad and a blueberry dump cake. We had plenty of food for us and our two guests.  I worked through the meal getting things off the grill. Fortunately, everything turned out well.

The last thing I put on the grill was the pineapple. It came off about the time our guests were about done with their meal. However, after tasting the grilled pineapple with the steak, both Nathan and Hannah went back for more meat to eat with the hot pineapple. The girls, who would not eat the leftover noodles from lunch, enjoyed eating from our plates for their dinner. They ate the hot dogs and the potatoes. A little bit of the steaks. Red meat is not their thing. It requires too much chewing. But when I brought out the pineapple, that became the complete focus of their attention. They ate so much that we had to move the dish away from the table. Everyone got full. Mission accomplished.

Nathan and Hannah have a ten-week-old baby, so they did not stay long after dinner. They left early enough that we had time to go out for an evening walk. It was very pleasant evening. We have so much privacy at our farm that it is easy to take it for granted. But we took our time enjoying it last night. As we walked with the girls a water hauler came from the well on the property to the east of our house. The driver proceeded very cautiously as Mama and I picked up the girls and shooed the dogs off the road. He stopped to greet us and thank us for being kind to him as he makes his daily runs to haul the water from the well pad. He is one of the drivers that does his best to keep the dust down and care for our road as he carries out his duties. We appreciate the conscientious drivers. Not all of them feel that way. Brittany called while we were out for our walk. She was still in Dallas. Her flight had been delayed. Andrew was already in Seattle. They had booked different flights because of the late timing of Andrew’s leave request. Hopefully, both of them are in Seattle this morning.

The girls were ready to get dressed for bed by the time we got back in. A bedtime book reading, a kiss goodnight and they were in their beds fast asleep before it got dark. Mama and I were in bed soon after. It had been a long day for all of us.