The Opposite of Homecoming

So I've been dating this fantastic girl, and we had our 1st anniversary in April. I've been lucky and had some great girlfriends, but there's always seemed to have been, "something," that's been there that's not allowed it to go to the next level, but with Beca, that hasn't been an issue. The irony is that the obstacles were definitely harder, at a first glance, than with nearly any other relationship:

First off, she lives in Utah... Guess that shouldn't be an issue, except that I live in Texas!

Second, she has two kids that she has to balance with dating me... and remember, I don't live nearby

Third, we'd both just gotten out of long relationships. Not really an issue for either of us, but it was an issue for both of them.

Fourth, we were both going through financial issues. I think this is generally considered to be the most difficult thing in most relationships, and we had it from day 1!

Funny thing is that none of these have been issues like they could have been. My parents were concerned because of the combo of number 2 and number 4, and the fact that Beca definitley concerned them because of the obstacles involved. I'd never seriously dated a girl with kids before, so this was a first for me on all levels. It's joked about all the time that a single girl (or guy for that matter) with kids has, "baggage," and if I was younger, that may have been on my mind as well, but the irony is that it's completely the other way around with the three of them. Those kids are awesome, and if things keep going the direction they're going, hell, I'll even catch up or even surpass most of my friends on the "kid count!"

The begining of this month marked the first time that Beca's parent or kids came out to Austin to visit. It was Memorial Day weekend, and we stretched the 3 days into 7. I wasn't sure what to expect, although I knew that Mom and Grandma were going to be very anal regarding the cleanliness of the house, so the cleaning really went into full swing about 4 days before their arrival: Get the ferret room cleaned up.... Yes, I have a ferret ROOM, not just a cage. This consists of a tarped floor, and huge tubing system that I built for them to run through, a 2 story cage for them to still play in, several pieces of furniture, and of course a fan that circulates 24/7. This set up is the perfect playground for ferrets, and if you're interested, let me know and I'll blog about that and add some pics! Anyway since this was a big weekend, I basically disassembled the whole room, redid the tarp, soaked and cleaned out all the tubing, and gave the ferrets a full grooming, including hairdrying them to where they looked like they were straight out of some Ferret dating magazine. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I love my kids.

So the cleaning continued to manicuring all the rooms, mopping all the floors, getting the drawers and entire kitchen straightened out, rearranging the garage, and getting all the sills and blinds done. I guess sometimes you need to have major company to get you off your butt to do a major cleaning! So now the outside. The pool was suffering from a little mustard algae, so let the treatments begin! I'm on an acre lot, so there's quite a bit to do. Cutting back the trees, edging the grass, hedging the bushes and plants, pulling weeds, blowing all the debris into piles and getting it all to fit in the trash... Needless to say, it was a busy 4 days!

Grandma got out here first. Very fun to hang out with her, she's a Brazilian raised Italian who has more energy than the City of Austin and Salt Lake combined. First thing off the plane, she's ready to hit Costco to make sure there's enough food for everyone, and within 24 hours of being at my house, I found her on her hands and knees in my bathroom cleaning out my shower! This is one of the smartest women I know (she's a nurse practitioner on top of the amazing life resume she's built), but I don't think she knows how to just throw her feet up and relax on vacation!! Anyway, Beca and the kids got re-routed because of bad weather and had to come into San Antonio which is about an hour and a half away. I went and grabbed them around midnight, and even though the kids were just off of two planes and delays, they were bouncing off the walls so we made a run to iHop on the way home.

NOTE: I am a huge fan of the Rise and Shine breakfast at iHop, which is one of the best "all day" breakfasts ever: 2 eggs sunny side up, 2 strips of bacon, well done hashbrowns, and sour dough bread.... Soooo good!

So back on the road... I was so tired, I was blasting AC onto my face to stay alert. I got out to take a stretch break or two, but we finally made it home around 3am.... Finally!

Grandpa made it out the next day, and although we had all these great plans for the week, the majority of the trip was spent in the backyard in the pool. Now this was amazing for me to be a part of. When the kids first arrived, neither one of them could really swim legitimately (they might push off, and if there was a wall or person near enough where they wouldn't submerge their heads, they'd be okay). That was completely changed by weeks end.

We had a standing deal - If they could just tread water for a full minute by the end of the week, they could have one of the ferrets as their own. This was enticing for both, but especially for Jenica, Beca's 7 year old, who spent at least 2 hours a day playing in the ferret room with Smokey, Bandit and Powder. She loved them, and even insisted on helping build another couple of tubes for them that would act like a mini hill. Well both kids went from needing to have life jackets on, to pulling cannonballs into the deepend (and swimming to the side), and even having contests as to who could hold their breath for the longest time underwater!! I was so proud of them, especially Landon, who I think overcame more fear than Jenica did to become so much more comfortable in the water. By the way, for any super fearfull parents out there, all of this was done with in the pool supervision at all times!

The week was a blast, and we toured some of the best spots in Austin. Memorial Day weekend was spent with Kimi and Kai out on Lake Travis. We rented a pontoon boat and took everyone on a tour of the lake and Devil's Cove. We hit up the Memorial Day festival over at Hill Country Galleria, and had an amazing dinner to the sunset at the Oasis, overlooking the lake.

The really fun news now is that Beca just started working with Delta, so everyone can start flying for free (including me), and this will open the door to taking the kids to some amazing events! Yes, I've already started a list:
1) Wrigley Field for a Cubs Game
2) Fenway Park to see the RedSox
3) New York to see my brother and his family and see the sites
4) California to hang with the rest of my family and explore San Francisco and the Napa Valley
5) All the Disney properties
6) etc
7) etc

BTW, yes, this is my list, and by no means is this inclusive of where everyone else wants to go ;-)

Life is good, and I'm a verrrry lucky guy.