Friday we confused Illa but not only getting ready for a trip, but actually bringing him along to Dad’s. The longest trip he’d previously been on was over to Arlington and back, and he paced in the back seat (getting tangled repeatedly in his harness) nearly the whole 90 minutes it took us to get there (we had to backtrack a little as the 14th Street Bridge was not our best idea). Once we got there he was pretty happy, as much from the attention as the opportunity for new smells.
Soon everyone was there (Mom and Dad, Sharon and her friend Bill), and we got lunch going. Dad hadn’t used his grill in a couple years, but it worked fine, and we had a big spread of salad, corn, fruit, hamburgers and hot dogs. Mom made a fancy patriotic cake in the shape of a flag (bed of whipped cream with blueberries in the top left corner and strawberries everywhere else) that was very tasty. After lunch Illa was restless, so I helped him explore the bay.
The true reason for gathering was to celebrate Father’s Day and Mom’s and Jill’s birthdays, so we did that after everything was cleared away (everyone’s very busy during summers). Gifts were exchanged, and everyone seemed to like theirs.
We’d talked about taking a walk down the boardwalk, but the rain started soon after that, and Mom had to head home (she had to work in the morning, but the rest of us stayed over). We chatted and watched some of the TV pre fireworks, then went out on the dock as the rain had finished and watched the 180 degrees of fireworks around us, from Annapolis to Solomon’s Island. We did finally take that walk, ending up at the Tastee-Freeze for ice cream before calling it a night.
Saturday I made scrambled eggs, veggie sausage, hash browns and toast for breakfast, then we walked down the boardwalk and Jill and Dad shopped while I watched a very vocal about being left behind Illa. We had a late lunch of leftovers before heading home. Thankfully all the activity had tired out Illa, and he laid down (as close to the air conditioning vents as possible) on the ride home. Jill went shopping and made an Italian chicken dish while I read the paper and went online, then we had dinner and watched another episode of our latest obsession before bed. Today much more computer stuff (last round of auctions for a while, Jill was out all day studying) as well as bill paying, cleaning, TV, reading and steaks for dinner.