Once again, both kids were enjoying a lengthy lie-in this morning. Sandy was on the couch with her Kindle when I got up, so I parked myself behind the laptop to write up yesterday’s blog. It was a longer-than-usual entry, which put me squarely into the writing zone for several hours. When the writing is flowing, I can easily lose track of time. However, I figured time was the one thing I had available this morning, since we had no concrete plans. We weren’t visiting any of the parks today, and the only chore I had was to replace the broken side table mirror with the one now standing ready in our bedroom walk-in closet. So, I set to work writing up everything we did yesterday at Epic Universe.
I was on the veranda when Sandy emerged in her bathing suit to pop into the warm pool for a bit. She floated around, Kindle in hand, while I sat there and continued typing. After a while, I noticed Sandy looking a little upset, so I went to comfort her. We’re nearing the end of this holiday, so Sandy was somewhat emotional about that. But she was also hoping that I would join her in the pool to enjoy some quiet time together. It was early afternoon, and the kids were still not up. When I suggested I do so, she pointed out she’d already been in the pool for an hour and a half and was now drying off. I had totally lost track of time, immersed in my writing—so much so that I lost sight of the fact I was neglecting Sandy and everything else around me. Oops! I tried to make amends, but the damage was already done, and I was now fairly and squarely in the doghouse. How long I remained there wasn’t going to be easy to determine.
I shut my laptop and we discussed what we could do together. Since neither of us had eaten anything substantial, I suggested we go out for lunch or even an early dinner. I then remembered we still hadn’t yet had a decent steak dinner. Both of us had been pining for a traditional prime rib, so I started looking for options. As luck would have it, I found a steakhouse which specialises in steaks and prime ribs just a few minutes from here, so I suggested we throw caution to the wind and give it a try. “Shall I get the kids up and see if they want to join us?” I asked. “No! If they can’t be bothered to get out of bed, then they can fend for themselves!” Clearly, I still had to tread carefully, even though I thought I was onto a winner with the whole steak dinner thing. Remember that analogy from a few days ago about a female spider biting off the head of the male, and eating it? At this point, it could still go either way.
The Texas Steakhouse in Davenport was a cosy restaurant, not at all touristy, unlike many other eateries in this region. The staff were all friendly and accommodating. As we entered, a glass display counter featured a range of enormous steaks, all presented for inspection. I didn’t see a prime rib, which was a little worrying. At the moment, Sandy was teetering on a knife-edge, and my very survival was still in the balance. I pleaded with one of the staff members behind that counter. He confirmed that they had plenty of prime rib cuts in stock. I let out a massive sigh of relief. This drastically increased the odds of my retaining my head and getting out of here alive.
The food was excellent—just the sort of thing Sandy and I both enjoy. Sandy went with the prime rib, of course, and I tried the rack of ribs. We often share what we have when we’re at a restaurant, as it allows us to sample more of the things we like from the menu. I offered Sandy half my ribs…and she sliced me off a small sliver of her prime rib. That seemed…fair. I could easily have eaten half what she had on her plate, but this meal was all about making her happy, so I was pleased with what I was offered. Under the circumstances, I didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth.
The only thing missing from the menu was garlic toast or bread, which is a favourite of ours. Otherwise, everything was perfect. After the blood sugar levels returned to normal, we both hobbled out of the restaurant, as though we’d just eaten half a horse between us, leaving our plates decidedly empty. Operation cheer-sandy-up was a success. I would keep my head after all, or at least for another day.
Sandy reminded me that Jae wanted to get her nails done. Jae is studying hair and nails at college, so getting her nails done is one of her favourite things to do here. She has already been to a nail salon several times over the past few weeks. I told Sandy I wanted to treat Jae to getting her nails done, so I called to see whether she was up yet. It was around 3 pm by now, so there was a decent chance the kids would be awake, although admittedly not a foregone conclusion. Typically, we get the kids up, but today was a social experiment to see just how long they would stay cocooned in their bedrooms when left to their own devices.
When I called, Jae pointed out how coincidental it was. She had just gotten out of bed and was walking to the door to contact us when she received the call. It was now gone 3 pm. The social experiment partially confirmed my predictions—given complete freedom, the kids would happily sleep until mid-afternoon. Not surprising for teenagers on holiday, but it did make me wonder what time they’d been staying up until. Jae was immediately on board with the idea of getting her nails done. Sandy also wanted to take Joey to Target, so we agreed I’d stay at home while they all went out to do their things.
Once Sandy and the kids were out of the way, I finished my Epic Universe blog (I was tantalisingly close to doing so when this whole saga kicked in). It was one of my better entries, for which I was really proud. With that out of the way, I turned my attention to repairing the broken side table mirror. My primary concern was that the existing pane of glass would shatter into numerous shards, but when I pried it loose, it turned out that a piece of cardboard backed the glass. Fortunately, that held the whole thing together, making it a lot easier than I thought to remove it safely. I quickly installed the new pane, which looks as good as new—actually a bit better, since the new pane is considerably thicker and will be much less prone to breaking than was the original. I sent a photo of the new fixed side table, for which the owner was grateful. Problem solved, and there wasn’t a need to involve the insurance company or anything else complicated. That’s now one fewer problem to worry about, and a load off my shoulders.
Sandy and the kids eventually returned. Clearly, both kids enjoyed themselves, as both Joey and Jae immediately came to show off their afternoon achievements. Joey enthusiastically demonstrated the combination transformer toy he has been slowly assembling, acquiring components for it bit by bit every few days. He had picked up the final two Transformers to complete the build and was practically bouncing off the walls with glee. I took it to scrutinise it, holding it deliberately in the light and inspecting it from all angles, as if to show my genuine interest. Joey gave me his signature grin and nod, acknowledging my acceptance, then took it and went upstairs to play with it. Jae showed me her nails, which were now shiny and painted in a dark colour. The nails on her ring fingers were painted a different stripy pattern. She said she should have had her nails on the middle fingers painted differently, but hadn’t considered that until it was too late. That way, she would proudly be able to show off her nails to me by raising both her middle fingers at me, which she did while bursting into laughter.
We all started turning our attention to the monumental task of packing our suitcases. The world championships of Tetris were soon in full swing. Everyone sprang into action, each turning attention to our own suitcases. We brought four suitcases (three large and one small) with us, but Sandy has an extra couple of bags if we need them. Between vacuum-sealing, re-packing, and weighing, we broke the back of the problem with three suitcases now full and zipped, but I still have misgivings that we’re going to squeeze everything in. Jae was asking who had extra space in their suitcase, as she was just now coming to the realisation she didn’t have enough space for her shoes and clothes. About the only one of us with space to spare was me. I had a smaller half-size suitcase. I ditched some of the older T-shirts and socks I had brought (I never once wore any socks while here), which freed up some space that was then occupied by the sandals and T-shirts I acquired. Eventually, I managed to squeeze everything into one half of my smaller suitcase. That made Jae happy, as she claimed that space for herself.
Joey had a much more laid-back approach to the packing. He was afforded two suitcases and was quietly confident he would have enough space. I did question his lack of urgency at one point, but he claimed he would do the lion’s share of his packing when the rest of us were not around, arguing that it would be less stressful that way and he would therefore be less annoying to the rest of us.
At this point, I’m still trusting everyone’s judgement and confidence in the task at hand, but I still have my doubts. There is still a lot of stuff visible everywhere I look. I’m worried it’s the ‘Oh, that still needs to go’ phenomenon that will catch us—things like shoes, loose articles of clothing still dotted around, chargers, cables, etc. Tomorrow is our final theme park day, and we will leave the day after. It’s coming down to the wire already. It’s going to be a close race and a mad dash to the finish line. I’m already predicting we’ll need a holiday from it all by the time we stumble through the door back home.