#002 Winkles Update: Onto Washington

It’s now three days past Christmas, and we are on our way to visit our relatives in Washington. Having not had enough of traveling yet, we have decided to venture on in our journeys through the foggy roads of I-5 and into Washington. I cannot tell you how hard it is to drive on foggy roads and type an update. Why can’t I tell you this?

Because my wife is driving. What, do you think I’m crazy?

Hey Mom, it’s Green and Blue!

My kids have been having a blast at my brother’s house. They have also enjoyed the tremendous freedoms they think they have now. Each day, they wake up to a Nintendo Gamecube, a Gameboy, or the X Box. They play this until we grow weary watching their brains rot away, and we send them outside. They skateboard for about 15-20 minutes, and then come back inside for more gaming. They take the occasional break to consume breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but otherwise it’s all about high scores and reaching the next level.

I tried to show interest by playing my six year old Christian at one of his Gamecube games. All I managed to do is smack, pinch, poke and prod all my enemies until we eventually cleared the level. I’m not sure how I did it, or even if I was doing anything (we were a team), but we cleared a level. I played this for all of five minutes and decided to move onto something more stimulating: watching him play.

Why is it that I remember being so much better than this when I played video games as a kid? Is it that the games were that much easier, or that I had better reflexes back then?

Who knows?

Along with the gaming superpass, my kids have also been granted free reign over my brother’s pantry. Nathan seems to have taken the most advantage of this. Frank has these Fruit Roll-Ups that are about 6ft long each, and Nathan took one day to consume as many as he possibly could in that day. I believe the final count was around 7 or 8. He managed to do all this when I wasn’t looking, because he knows I would have told him no.

I really must teach my kids to use restraint when they get treats.

After eating all this candy, it will eventually resurface when my kids use the restroom. With Nathan, it made a wonderful kaleidoscope of colors. He was quite proud of this, and even went as far to tell his mom come and look at the creation that came from his bowels.

Lovely.

It’s always nice when your kid is proud of an accomplishment, right? Even the little things like this. Ah, Kodak moments. I hate it when I miss them.

Onto Washington

We are now en-route to Bonney Lake in the State of Washington to visit my mother-in-law, or Livonia’s Mom. I know many of you are wondering why I had to say that my mother-in-law is “Livonia’s Mom,” but it’s because just saying mother-in-law is not enough. You see, I have three.

Delores is Livonia’s mom, and we are going to stay with her while we are visiting relatives in the Seattle area. For reference sake, we’ll just call her Mom-D.

Anna is married to Al Harlan, who is Esaiah’s “Papa” on his Dad’s side. Anna is Esaiah’s “Nana,” and is Esaiah’s Dad’s step-mom. Anna has adopted us into her family and treats us like her own. She my other mother-in-law. Anna is Mom-A

Karen is also Esaiah’s “Nana.” Karen is Esaiah’s Dad’s natural mother. Karen also has opened up her home and her heart to our family and adopted us as her own. Karen is Mom-K
My kids are very fortunate, as they have no less than four “Nana’s,” all of which love them very dearly. Alas, my side of the family was only able to provide them with one grandmother (my mom), but as you can see, they are not suffering because of it.

Bonney Lake is about a 3-hour drive in normal weather conditions, but we are traveling at night, and in the fog. It is now 5:50pm, and we have been on the road since about 3pm. I’m thinking we’ll be taking a little longer than 3 hours to get there, but I am very thankful my wife is driving and not me. I’m sure all the other drivers on the road share this same sentiment.

They just don’t know it.

I’m looking forward to seeing Mom-D, her husband Eric, and her daughter Fallon. Fallon is her 17yr old daughter that I first met when she was about 8 yrs old. She stayed with us in Arizona when she was 12, and I cannot seem to get it out of my head that she has aged past that. Not sure how I’m going to react to seeing a 17yr old teenager, soon to be graduating from high school. Yet another reminder that I’m aging along with everyone else. This will become even more obvious to me when my son finishes out 8th grade and starts up next year as a high schooler. How can I possibly be the parent of a high schooler? Didn’t I just graduate?
And why am I getting gray hairs on my head?

Until next time...