March Madness: Combo Family Birthday Celebration + Remote Work

Friday, March 3-Friday, March 10

Mr. E and I headed to Austin on Friday morning for a combo family birthday celebration! A and F came from Denver for the weekend because both C and F were turning nine years old this year (yikes!), and their birthdays are just a few days apart. For me, the milestone day a bit later in the month was to mark my half century, and it was lovely to have a family gathering to celebrate all of us at the same time.

We stayed at the same Residence Inn as we had over the winter holidays, but this time we didn't bring Louis XIV along with us. Since our flight arrived late afternoon on Friday, we went directly from the airport to Mom's to pick up both her and her car, which I was then able to use for the rest of my visit since I stayed for an entire week to work from my J's house and help out with some Mom stuff. Our first family dinner was at J's that evening, and we made a quick stop on the way at our favorite local adult beverage shop, the Austin Shaker, to pick up some supplies for the weekend (and the week). I discovered the small canned cocktails selection right by the register and decided to get both the Bee's Knees (not so good) and the Negroni (quite tasty) to try later in the week.

On Saturday, Mr. E and I had breakfast at our hotel and then went to J's house to meet up with the family and hang out a bit before doing a bunch of family photos. J had bought fabulous birthday hats for C, F, and me, which was a fun accessory for some of the group photos. Later in the afternoon, a group of us went to iFly to try out the indoor sky-diving. OMG! SO AWESOME!!! I can't wait to do it again!!! Once we were done with that adventure, Mr. E and A and I went to pick up Mom on the way back to J's house, where we had our combo birthday dinner with food from family favorite EurAsia and cupcakes from HEB. The three of us birthday folks got to open some gifts and of course donned our amazing celebration hats for the evening.

After breakfast at the hotel again on Sunday morning, Mr. E and I picked up Mom and brought her over to J's for some family visiting. F and C burned off some energy in the pool, and a few other folks joined them there and in the hot tub. Eventually, the group headed off to C's soccer and lacrosse games, but Mr. E and I opted out of those activities, especially since his flight home was scheduled for the mid-afternoon. After I dropped him at the airport, I went for a treatment at Deep Relief Massage, which J had recommended and which is in the same nearby shopping area as EurAsia. J took Mom home before dinner, and the rest of us enjoyed a final evening together with a lively game of Scrabble before bed. Such a fun visit with the family group!

I stayed at the hotel one more night since A and F were staying at J's until Monday morning. They had a super-early airport pick-up and got home in time to go to work and school (!). I spend the day with Mom, bringing her to a doctor's appointment, going out to lunch, and starting to work on taking over responsibility for her finances and bills. Then I relocated for the week to J's house in the evening, unpacked, and set up my work station in the guest room.

I was able to meet up with Mom for dinner on Wednesday evening and skipped my Spanish class on Thursday night to have time with C and J and B and M on my final evening. I took Friday off again to spend with Mom, doing some errands, taking care of her taxes, and finishing up the bill pay set-up. My return flight to Sac was in the late afternoon, so I got home to Mr. E and Louis XIV in time for dinner. Having a weekend at home was a welcome reprieve after some challenging conversations and situations with Mom.

The next visit will likely be in mid-May, over Mother's Day weekend. But there will be other travel and stories in the meantime!