Spring Break, WOOOO!!!!!
This past week was spent for me in Delaware with Kelly. We went out to visit her family that lives out there. The main reason we went is because Kelly's cousin, Katie, just had a baby, Kylie. She lives at home with her husband, Brad, her parents AJ and Debbie, and AJ's mom, Grandma Vaughn.
Got that straight? Okay.
Kelly and I left Michigan at 10pm Sunday night and drove until we got there at 7:30am. We stopped at a Waffle House as well. On the way from Waffle House to Kelly's aunt's house, we heard school closings on the radio. They shut down county after county until the whole state seemed to be closed. Why, exactly, we wondered. There was no snow on the ground, the skies were not darkened with storm clouds. It was only with a weather forecast that they closed everything. Snow did not roll in until 10am, and instead of the 6" expected, they got 4" on the ground throughout the day. In Michigan we would have laughed at this. Kelly and I did laugh at the absurdity. It was crazy.
We slept through Monday, since there was nothing to do and we had to recover from the nocturnal drive.
We spent time socializing when awake with the family. They immediately made me feel welcome, and it was made clear that if I wanted to do anything, it was but for me to ask. We set a date to go to the local microbrewery later in the week as a result. You know my love of beer.
In this time I also got familiar with a little bundle of grunts named Kylie. She weighs about 11 pounds right now, and is two months old. Absolutely adorable. I will have pictures online some time soon.
It was also a challenge to keep clear of the two dogs, Tarzan and Doc. Doc was a short spaniel-terrier mix that is black and white. Tarzan is a big German Shepard-black lab mix. I think. I am going on instinct here for these. They are quite friendly.
Tuesday rolled around, and we had wings for lunch, and lazed. At night, Brad and I went to get some drinks and scary movies. We got Saw, The Forgotten, and Kracker Jack'd. The third was taken because the cover was so laughable (it had the tagline "Whitebread gone bad").
When we watched Kracker Jack'd, well, attempted to watch it, we learned some things. This should not have ever made it into any video store, the makers seem to have used a home video camera, and used a plastic Halloween butcher's knife to kill people. We couldn't watch it after the worst death scene ever. A guy had his throat slit, and he hangs on for over two minutes "dying" by saying things like "NO! Shit, NO! Baby, gimme a cigarette..." It was shut off and replaced with Saw, which was better.
Wednesday was spent on the move. I came downstairs after shower and shave to have Brad say we should get out of the house. We went to the Ommelanden Shooting Range (just the two of us, the girls stayed home with Kylie) to shoot skeet. Yeah, I haven't shot a gun in over 10 years, and we are shooting 50 rounds in strong winds. I hit 6 out of 50, which I was proud of. Brad got twice as many, easily. After our manly male bonding, we got ready for dinner. We went out on the town to The Melting Pot, a fondue place in Wilmington. I hear there is one in Troy now, also.
When we first arrived, we got a table with two fondue pots. It was a pretty simple choice, we went for the Big Night Out. That's a 4 course meal that stretched over three and a half hours. It was amazing and relaxing. Let me explain it all to you. You all know how fondue works: long fork plus food in a pot of whatever cooks or coats it, and you eat.
Course One -- Cheeses.
We had a Garlic Herb cheddar cheese for one and a Spicy Fiesta cheese for the other in which we dunked nacho chips, rye/pumpernickel/italian bread, carrots, cauliflower, and apple chunks.
Course Two -- Salads.
I had a California salad with sliced egg, walnuts, mixed greens, gorgonzola, and a lovely vinaigrette. Other than that, just salads. By this time, I had finished my Signature Margarita.
Course Three -- Entree.
The Big Night Out gives two options: meat or seafood. We got one of each and shared. Meats included filet mignon, chicken breast, peppered pork tenderloin, teriyaki sirloin, burgundy marinated tenderloin, and portobello mushrooms while seafood included black tiger shrimp, sea scallops, ahi tuna, salmon, swordfish, and lobster. I had moved on to a Yuengling Lager and a B-52 shooter.
Course Four -- Dessert.
Two chocolate fondues. The first was a Flaming Turtle fondue with pecans and milk chocolate, and I created the second one of dark chocolate, Frangelico, and graham crackers. We had pineapples, strawberries, pound cake, marshmallows (covered in nuts or in dark chocolate), cheese cake, and brownies. I had a Bailey's and Frangelico with this.
It was a three and a half hour meal that I would love to repeat. I just wouldn't like to pay the bill.
That night, we tried to Watch The Forgotten, but fell asleep half way through.
Thursday was DC day. Kelly's other cousin, Lexi (Katie's sister) goes to George Washington University. So after 45 minutes of getting a fax from her dad with directions and maps, Katie, Kelly, Kylie, and I trekked through Delaware, Maryland, and DC to GWU. We hung out with Lexi in her huge dorm room (it has a kitchen!!!) while her roommates and neighbors fawned over the little cutie, Kylie. She refused to wake up at all except when she was getting fed. Must be nice to be a baby, eh?
On our way out, we decide to get some food. We went to Chipotle, where we got burritos the size of our head. Lexi annihilated hers, leaving her bowl clean. The rest of us ate more than half, but couldn't demolish the beast. I don't know how Lexi did it, these girls are small! After our day there, we dropped Lexi off back home and headed back to Middletown (in Delaware).
We successfully watched The Forgotten this night and we were disappointed. I am not going to give it away, but we expected something to actually happen in this movie.
On Friday, we got out to the mall, since there is no sales tax in Delaware. It's like every store has an automatic 6% discount on everything! Debbie joined us to the mall and we went in her new Jag. Man, it's nice! I was mainly a packmule (hey, I didn't have much money, and it was the least I could do) and I watched as Kelly tried on and subsequently got some clothes. Let me tell you that these clothes looked damn good on her. We also picked up the prom dress that Kelly's sister had wanted and brought it back to MI as a surprise. Or, as Debbie put it, "A little present for her." I forced a stop at the Borders Express (yeah, right, they loved stopping there too). I got three books: The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide by Douglas Adams, Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, and Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore. The last was a suggestion by the saleswoman there. She has excellent taste, it is quite amusing. Very tongue-in-cheek. After the mall, Kelly and I went to Kohl's for a bathing suit, since I had none in my possession, and there was a hot tub waiting for me. Also, no sales tax is very persuasive.
That night we had a Delaware feast: Cheesesteak subs from Capriatti's and Pizza from Grotto's. Debbie had AJ pick up a large sub for me. It was 21" long. I just finished it an hour ago. Today is Monday. The pizza was good, but not amazing. The sauce was heavier, and had a distinct flavor to it also.
Saturday was, in essence, our final day. It was also Lexi's birthday, so AJ and Debbie went to surprise the heck out of her in DC for dinner. The girls went to see Katie's wedding dress and get the bridesmaid's dresses set for her second wedding (this is the fancy ceremony). I joined them in babysitting capacity. Kylie slept the whole time, thankfully. Afterwards, we were getting a bit of relaxation before we went to Legends.
Legends is the restaurant at Delaware Park, the nearby casino. Brad is head chef there. Before dinner, we stopped at a liquor store, where I bought a case of Yuengling Lager for $14.99. $14.99 for 24 bottles of beer. Heck yeah! It is back here in Michigan, safe and sound. Finally, we got dinner, where we had to get a security escort to go upstairs because Kylie is underage. She can't even hold her pacifier, much less pull a handle on a slot machine. Sheesh. The food was amazing, but the service sucked. It was definitely not good. I asked to substitute the dinner salad that comes with the entree for the baby spinach salad, and even offered to pay for the difference, and she just said, "No." Katie spoke up and said, "Yes, you can. Just ask Brad, the head chef, my husband. I'm sure you can take care of it." She was ungodly slow, also. It took 10 minutes to get a draft beer! Yuengling again, of course. Dinner was the Delaware Park Surf and Turf, a 6oz filet and an awesome crab cake. We also had a dessert of bread pudding and a giant eclair. After dinner, I was stuffed. We still had one more stop at Stewarts, the microbrewery. I got a 4 drink sampler, trying a London Ale, IPA, American Brown Ale, and Stout. It was delicious. But I was in some serious pain after all of that.
A hot tub was in order after that, and we enjoyed the rest of the evening before we got ready to head home.
In the morning, we said good bye to Katie and Kylie (Brad was still in bed since he worked till about 1:30am) and were on our way. It was quite a drive, with one stop at Bob Evan's, and we were home by 8. At 10, Kelly's sister was home from work and we surprised her with the dress. It was an excellent feeling surprising her with the prom dress.
But, unfortunately, we are home and back in the real world. School, work, and bills beckon. Back to the grind, eh?
Coming Attractions
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Update coming later today, with a story of my Spring Break in Delaware. Didn't you know? That's where the cool kids are going these days. I updated my age because I'll be 24 in three days. Just so ya know.
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