Florida Trip - Kevin home

It's been awhile since I last wrote in here. There is no way I will be able to remember everything and I'm not even going to try. Anyway, I thought I had better at least put in two of the bigger events that have happened.

As a family, we decided to go to Florida for Christmas vacation. We left home on December 22 and came back home on January 4th. It was a two week vacation. We had told our kids that they would not be receiving any gifts for Christmas. This trip was taking the place of that. The kids agreed to this and we went ahead as planned. We have my mother-in-law to thank for covering the plane tickets for us.

There was supposed to be a storm on December 22nd, so we had them come to our house early so we could get to the airport without any problems. The storm didn't actually hit until we had already left. I'm told it put down about 4 inches. We have Randy (our next door neighbor) to thank for keeping our walks clean when it snowed. I know I'm getting side tracked here, but it was Randy and Therese who took care of our dog and the bird. They were a really good pick.

Now back to the airport. I had checked in online so it was quite easy to get our bags onto the flight. This saved us $5 a bag by doing it online (I still can't believe we have to pay to take any kind of luggage on a trip). We went upstairs to go through the security gate. My Father-in-law struggled to find his drivers license, and thankfully, he did have it with him. I don't know what we would've done had he not found it. We all concentrated on getting ourselves through and then found that my in-laws both got stopped. I guess there is just something about older grandparents that screams at them that they have tendencies to need extra screening. Rod had kept his glass case in his pocket which set off the alarms and he was taken into an area and spread out so they could check him out. They also had him sit down and hold up each leg individually to make sure all was OK. One officer came out with warehouse size toothpaste and shaving cream and asked me what to do with it. I told them to throw them away (it was no use paying to mail them home). Another officer told me to make sure he gets all metal off of him next time we travel and showed me his glass case. In the meantime our mother-in-law was going through her own search. They actually took the wand down into her pants even though she had a card saying that she had knee replacements. She had also worn her watch through and her sweater. Both no-nos. At last we got us all through and on our way, but not without making Margaret feel like a criminal. She was to the point of crying a bit. I mean, what do they think a 79 year old woman and 84 year old man are going to do? We got to sit for quite awhile waiting to board the plane. They let us all board early because of the elderly parents, and that was quite nice.

We arrived in Tampa right on time where Steve and Kathy picked us up at the airport. I also arranged with my daughter to come over to their house and meet us. She was sick (as was Kathy). We were able to pick up the minivan that we would drive for the two weeks and I had a pleasant surprise to find out it would be about $80 cheaper than we thought it would be (that total cost was $869). It wasn't a very nice van. It was completely stripped of any niceties. And, it continually told me that the tire pressure monitors weren't working.

At Steves house we had a nice homemade chicken noodle soup that Kathy had made. We also enjoyed going into their backyard and looking out at the ducks on the lake as well as grabbing a couple of fresh oranges. My daughter got there and was able to eat dinner with us. We then took her to our condo and settled in for the night with her staying with us. She was coughing a lot and we had to get some Lysol and Clorox wipes to take care of things to try and keep from getting sick.

I can't give a day by day synopsis, because I don't remember what happened day by day. I believe we stayed at the condo most of the day of the 23rd. We did go to the house at some point because we went out shopping for the prime rib that we were going to be eating on Christmas day. I think it was probably just relaxing even when we did get over there. Aubree had to go home because she had to be to work Wednesday evening.

On the 24th, we hung out at the condo till at least noon. We then headed to the house for Christmas Eve with everybody. Steve and Kathy had their son Shaun and his wife Diane come home for Christmas (they don't live too far, but live in a Scientology complex). Shaun had a one track mind as to when he would be able to open his presents. They always open their gifts on Christmas Eve. Kathy had a sister and her husband that also came to their home. There were all kinds of treats to eat and it was pretty filling to us. Kathy and Steve gave us all towels and sunscreen in a bag for the beach. That was quite thoughtful of them. Also we saw some sandals that her brother-in-law was wearing that had bottle openers on the bottom. We thought that was pretty cool and an idea started to form in our heads.

Christmas morning saw us at Village Inn having a Christmas breakfast. Soon after that, we headed to the house again to spend the day with family. Plus there was that nice prime rib dinner that we were going to have. It was wonderful. I saved some for Aubree and she was grateful because it would've been gone. We were able to have Aubree stay with us once again for the evening. I think it was Christmas day that we went to one of the beaches that are in Florida. It was cold for Florida and for the beach, but it was kind of an interesting thing to do for those of us who don't have a regular beach front nearby.

On one of the days around this time, we had a big game of Progressive Rummy. There were eight of us playing and it was kind of fun, although it lasted a long time. Kathy couldn't be with us that night because she had to go as a minister to be with a family who was having a memorial service for somebody that had died. We had Shawns wife with us and it was her first time. She came close to winning the whole thing. It took about three hours to finish that game.

Pam and Anne came to Florida the day after Christmas. We met with them and had some good times. We went to a place called Sunken Gardens at one point. Pam and Anne saved us some money because they were members of the Red Butte gardens at home. I know it wasn't real fun for the kids, but it was fun.

I know it isn't a touristy type of thing to do, but we went to see the movie Avatar in 3D at one of the theaters. One thing that I thought was kind of humorous was that while we were traveling there, I turned on my Garmin Nuvi (GPS) but we were following Kathy who knew the way. We didn't make the first right turn that it told us to do, and then a bit further they turned left. We followed and then they stopped. Steve got out and asked if I had my Garmin. I told him I did, and he said that they would follow us. So, the ones who knew nothing of the area needed to show them how to get there. In their favor, they usually go a different way, but since they had to come to our place first in Clearwater, they didn't go their regular way. It was an enjoyable movie.

On Tuesday the 29th we went to Clearwater beach so we could meet everybody there and eat at a place called Frenchys. Aubree was able to come there and be with us for this meal. I don't like seafood, and they all told me I should have some seafood while I was there, so I at least tasted a soup that my daughter had gotten. I didn't like it that well, but could see how those who like seafood would think it was great. The rest of the food there was pretty good as well.

Later that day, the rest of the group was going to go to the Scientology building for a tour. We opted to go with Aubree to see my ex-wifes brother and his wife instead. They had asked to see me while I was visiting down there and I do consider them to still be related and if not still good enough friends that we should see them. Aubrees grandfather and grandmother wanted to see me as well, but that didn't work out.

We went to their home and it was a beautiful place. They have recently sold it although they aren't telling the family yet that they have done so. I guess it is just too big for them and they want to get into something a bit smaller because of the economy the way it is. We stayed there for a couple of hours and had a nice visit. I'll have to keep in better contact with them than I have in the past. It's been a lot of years.

Aubree stayed that night with us and into Wednesday. We didn't do too much on Wednesday because Aubree wasn't feeling well. She was sick everyday that we saw her. She felt really bad about that, but there was nothing we could do. We finally sent her off on Wednesday so she could get some sleep before having to go to work. While we were with Aubree on Wednesday we went to Clearwater beach. It wasn't too cold but it certainly wasn't hot. Dee Anne got another soup from Frenchys, and some of the rest of us headed to the ocean. I got up to about my knees in looking for various seashells. We got a few good ones, but not a bunch. We did have a good time out there though.

On Thursday, we went to Busch Gardens. We spent the majority of the day in there. Soon after we got there, Dee Anne and I went on Sheikra. It was a fun coaster, but the first drop was straight down. We went on that twice. We also told Pam and Anne they had to get on it. Our kids met up with us (they were running all around the park) so they could have some lunch. When we were going for the lunch, we saw Grandpa wandering about and he went and got in line to go on Sheikra. We sent our daughter with him because we didn't think an 83 year old man should go on the ride (especially alone). After that we went for lunch. A little later Dee Anne and I went on Montu. It has seven loops in it and after about the halfway mark I didn't know if I was facing up, down or sideways. I literally had a green pallor after that ride. I was quite sick for the rest of our time at Busch Gardens. Dee Anne and I just walked around a bit after that looking at the zoo part of the place. We had fun, and then we headed home. Some people played Progressive Rummy again that night and then we headed out with Pam, Anne and Melanie so they could get their purses that they had left at our place. We then got them to a late night pharmacy to pick up some stuff for their various ailments before they left on the morning of the 1st.

Another funny thing with the Garmin. We had to get to the pharmacy. My wife had remembered that there was one on a street called Belcher. The Garmin was telling us to turn. I asked if she was absolutely sure and she wasn't. We followed the garmin. It turned us off of Belcher (left) and then a right turn down a signal and another right turn on another signal on Gulf to Bay. The place was on the corner of Gulf to Bay and (you guessed it) Belcher. I think the reason it made us go that way is because the address was on Gulf to Bay and I had to avoid U turns in the Garmin. Anyway, I thought that was kind of amusing.

We slept in on the first and just mostly did things around the condo. There were only a couple of days of vacation left now. On Saturday we went to the Sponge Docks in Tarpon Springs. That was a place of shopping. We also met up with Aubree for this. This was the last day that she was able to be with us. A bit later when I was saying good bye to Aubree my wife made sure not to be there. It usually gets pretty emotional, and if I didn't have to be there to say good bye to my daughter I wouldn't be there. I usually get pretty moody at times like this. I was glad to be able to spend the time with my daughter that I was able to spend, and I think that God was looking out for me because she had more time than normal off of work making that possible.

Sunday was kind of a lazy day with a little bit of cleaning up. My wife worked quite hard on getting everything clean. I think the place was cleaner than when we got there. We also spent some time on Monday cleaning up. We went to a restaurant and then came home. We then met Steve, Kathy and the in-laws at the car rental place so they could drive us to the airport.

Did I say I hate airport security? I had gotten our tickets taken care of beforehand, so we hopefully wouldn't have to wait in long lines for our tickets (plus you save $5 a bag). Well, that didn't work that well this time because the Kiosk machines where we were to go were broken down. We finally got through that part. Next was security. We were working on getting grandma and grandpa through security, and I almost forgot to take off my own belt. My belt ended up in the same container that had my Cpap machine.

There was an obnoxious guy behind me in security. That didn't help my mood out much. While we were trying to get our whole group through he was told to go to another line. He protested saying that the other line was longer (he was actually mistaken in that). They told him that he had to move to clear this area which he utterly protested and refused to move. I think he should've gone through extra screening just for that, but then I was in a foul mood.

As I said, my belt ended up with my Cpap machine. They told me that I had to wait right there for them to come and test the Cpap. The guy behind me yelled at me to move. I told him my stuff was still there and I was told to stay. He told me that I had better move that it wasn't going to get it through the scanner any faster. What he didn't understand is the scanner isn't good enough. I told him to chill out, my Cpap wasn't going through the scanner and I had to wait here. He was still angry with me. He was a real ass. They wouldn't even let me get my belt that was in with the Cpap machine, so my pants were loose and I wasn't happy. I told the guy to feel lucky he didn't have to go through this extra screening. I still think they should've strip searched the guy. Well, after waiting for a bit, I finally got it all. We headed to the gate.

We waited at the gate for awhile. When they were announcing the people who would be getting on early, I heard nothing that fit my in-laws. I went to the desk and asked. I told them that they didn't want the wheel chairs, but that they needed to get in first because of their age and they weren't real firm on their feet. I was told that only they could go through, but not the rest of us. I still tried to have my kids go on with them. They told my kids they couldn't. So, they had to walk into the plane on their own. We were furious that they didn't even have anybody helping them along. Later a stewardess told us that we should complain to Delta Airlines. I have done this, but haven't heard anything from it yet. Let alone, my in-laws sometimes get disoriented, they really did a dis-service by not allowing us to go on the plane with them.

The plane ride was long and tedious.

Brandon picked us up from the airport and after arriving home, we grabbed some towels and sandals that we had bought for Randy and Therese for taking care of our house and dogs and went to pick up Lizzy.

The sandals that we bought were kind of fun. For Randy, we got those sandals that we had seen that opened the beer bottles. For Therese we just got some pretty sandals that are nice. They both seemed pleased with this though they protested that we didn't need to do that. Randy started to say that it would be cool to open bottles of b... er coke with that (I guess he didn't think we would know that he might drink). We told him he could open his beer bottles with it too.

Anyway, Lizzy didn't seem to happy to see us. Before she could see who we were, she growled, and then she came up to us, but when we went to leave she ran to Randy and tried to get him to pick her up. I guess she was saying don't send me home with these people. I guess that is the problem when you send your dog to be spoiled by somebody else. Interestingly, even their daughter was sad to see Lizzy go. Randy said she isn't even this way with their own dog.

Thanks goes to Randy, Therese and Brittany for taking care of our dog. Brandon for driving us too and picking us up from the airport and mostly, Steve and Kathy who both took off quite a bit of time from work to make it special for us. Also, we are grateful to the guy that allowed us to use his condo. That made it all nice.

Well, Tuesday after coming home, I had my eyes glued shut. I decided I probably had pink eye and better not go into work to give this to them. That was based on the fact that Anne had a strep throat as well as pink eye when she got home. I got some eye drops from my doctor and was told I could go into work the next day. Now, my wife seems to be a bit sick. Hopefully, she can get better soon. I also skipped out on Young Men that night (for the same reason).

I've been busy the rest of this week just trying to catch up at work. I did get pretty much caught up on various things and hopefully next week will be more back to normal.

Kevin came home from prison on Thursday the 7th. Well, at least to a halfway house that is in the Salt Lake area. On Saturday, my kids and I went out there knowing we wouldn't be able to spend a lot of time with him, but hoping too. We got there and filled out some paperwork so they could do criminal background checks on each of us. We were then told that he was out with his family shopping until 4:00. It was 3:30. We went to an indoor swap meet and looked around. My kids mentioned that almost everybody there was of Spanish descent. We then went back. My wife didn't come because she wasn't feeling well and didn't want to give Kevin some kind of welcome back sickness.

Of course, we couldn't go back into the visiting area for Kevin because we haven't had our backgrounds checked, but we had him come out to us. Another thing that would've kept us from seeing him is that my sister and her family were already there. You're supposed to only be able to have four at a time back there (they had to get special concessions because he has a family of six kids plus the wife). My sister came out a bit later and said that she was concerned that somebody would take him away from his family when they asked him to come out to us. I wasn't real pleased with that comment because we were making an effort, and it didn't seem too appreciated. We had taken up a substantial part of our day to be able to see him for a total of about 10 minutes (of course we knew this going in).

Anyway, it was good to see Kevin after 4 years of not seeing him while he was in a prison in Texas. He looked well, if disoriented, and he expressed that my kids had changed quite a bit. He expressed some concern to us of how he is going to cover $926,000 in restitution that he never benefited from any kind of money. That will be hard on him. Money will be taken out of every paycheck of his for the rest of his life.

Well, we hugged him, and then headed out. We ended up going to Rumbis for dinner and bringing that home.

Today was our first day of the 1:00 schedule for church. I hate that schedule. It makes it so your whole Sunday is gone after church is over. It will also make it so it is hard to visit with Kevin if we wanted to on a Sunday because of visiting hours that he has. Well, I won't complain too much. Things could be much worse.