America - part four

Thursday 13th August 2009

8.55am
well there’s obviously not that much to write about this early in the morning but I decided I might as well start today’s blog anyway.

I figured out how to set the alarm clock in my bedroom last night so set it for 7am and it got me up just when I wanted to :-) My feet feel as if my feet are burning slightly from yesterday – in a way I like this cos it means I’ll get stripey / patchy feet where my sandals have been :-)

I did my normal, got up had a shower and went downstairs where, as usual Pat was the only one downstairs. By the time I’d had my breakfast my mum had got up. One of Pat’s granddaughters was supposed to be coming down for the day today but the daycare people were taking all the children swimming so she decided she wanted to do that instead – and I don’t blame her at all!!

I went out and took some pictures of Pat’s house cos I promised Connie I’d show her what Pat’s house was like cos we’d had trouble describing it.

We’re having a ‘cookout’ later this afternoon so most of today will be spent preparing food for that. We still want our American souvenirs so we’re going to ring the visitors’ centre at some point to see if they have them or at least if they know where to get them.

2.40pm
Well we didn’t ring the visitors’ centre – frank said he wasn’t going there.

Just before we went out I went into Pat’s bathroom (I usually use the one upstairs) and she had a set of scales in there. I decided to try myself on her scales to see how much damage I’ve done on this holiday. I didn’t believe it cos they said I was about 125lbs (not even 9st) so I asked Pat if they were right – she said she’d like to believe so but everyone else who tries them tells her they’re wrong LOL

Pat said she wasn’t coming with us – she was busy making food for tonight’s cookout. I actually think she was probably glad to get rid of us for a couple of hours so she could get on with her stuff uninterrupted hahaha.

We went out to a few different places in Lorain trying to find souvenirs, we did find a few bits but we weren’t really very impressed with what we got. A lady in one flower shop did tell us about a shop in Amherst where we could probably get some stuff but that was a bit of a drive away.

When we were driving round looking for souvenirs I was thinking I needed a ‘bathroom’ (I obviously drank too much water before I left the house) but was hoping we’d be stopping for food soon. It didn’t look like we’d be stopping so I had to ask, but it seems I asked at the right time cos we weren’t too far from a McDonald’s. I hate having to admit to needing the toilet before anyone else, I don’t know why but I just get embarrassed.

Anyway, we got to Amherst and found the shop the lady had told us about – Ben Franklin’s and it was in there we got all the stuff we wanted – I got some more paper plates as a joke for Katie, a windchime, a toy windmill, some placemats, 2 magnets, and some stars and stripes pencils. That shop also had some pets for sale including baby mice, in the cage were some really tiny newborn mice that didn’t even have any fur yet :-o I was trying to get a picture of the babies but the adults kept getting in the way LOL

Once we’d got stuff we were pleased enough with we headed back towards home. Frank asked us if we wanted to eat so we went into Rosie’s restaurant. We got quite mixed up when we were ordering food, I initially thought I was ordering a chicken salad sandwich but when it came it was basically a plate FULL of lettuce with some cucumber, tomatoes and 5 chicken strips on top :-o It was quite nice and of course salad is healthy but there was FAR too much lettuce and I left a lot of it. My mum did similar, she thought she was ordering a veal cutlet sandwich and she ended up with a meal with a salad on the side. Frank was the only one who knew what he was getting and got exactly what he’d ordered LOL

Once we’d eaten we had to go over the road to get some groceries for this evening, my mum and I also bought a few bits and pieces to take with us for snacking on the planes tomorrow and Sunday. When we got back Pat shouted at my mum for buying food – I knew she would hahaha.

Every so often when we’re getting in the car Frank offers me his keys – whether he’s being serious or not I don’t know but what I do know is that I don’t want to drive over here with Frank. Apart from anything else, although his car is automatic his gear stick is on the steering column and it doesn’t appear to have anything on to tell you what each position means, obviously there must be at least Drive, Reverse and Park – I’m guessing there may be other positions but I don’t know and even if there are I don’t know *what* they are. Also at one point today we were turning left and Frank was asking me was it clear at my side – I had to tell him there was a red light in front of us :-o :-o

9.20pm
Well the cookout is over, little Patty is still here, Frank’s gone out to his poker night and I’m sitting here doing my last update that will go online before we get back to England.

Denise arrived with Julius at around 4pm and they sat on the deck outside, I didn’t actually join them until after 4.30 cos I was blogging and doing photos and surfing the internet.

When I went outside and joined them we just sat chilling and chatting. At the moment Julius has got crutches cos a big log fell / got dropped on his foot and they think he might’ve broken his big toe – OUCH!!!!

I think Lesley arrived at about 5pm with Michaela (Michey), Tom and little Patricia (Patty). We’d been warned that Michey was hyperactive but she wasn’t too bad today, her and Tom went into the woods for a short while and then she mainly stayed indoors on the computer.

There was plenty of food, we had burgers, wieners, bratwurst and a variety of salads. There was a fruit salad that Lesley had made but it had vanilla instant pudding in it so there then ensued a discussion about what would the English equivalent be cos Lesley printed out copies of the recipe for us. I’ve just googled and done a bit of research and my mum came up with the idea it might be Quick Gel – I’ve looked online but we don’t appear to have any other than red :-/ We’ll have to see properly when we get home.

We spent the whole evening just chatting and laughing, the parents were telling stories about the children, we were discussing the differences between English and American and generally just having a nice easy time.

Patty is staying with us tonight, she’s sleeping on the couch in the other room. Frank is out at the moment cos it’s his poker night tonight but apparently he’ll be home not too late and he knows we need to get up for the airport.

Right, this is the last time I’ll have the opportunity to be online before we get back to England. I’ll still be typing my blog but it’ll have to stay on the computer – ttfn (wavey)