Weekend update

We had a gathering to honor my grandfather. He died on a perfect wednesday. This was a Sunday. Carolyn and Dawson and I flew to Ohio on Saturday. We argued for and got the basement, which is the VIP room.

Grandpa's house never changes. But, I don't remember the living room carpet being that soft. I would remember that carpet as annoying, though. I would have preferred a better carpet for Legos and cars, so the softness of that carpet, though pleasant, wouldn't have been a memory for me. I'd have been more likely to remember the surfaces that did matter, like the basement door (the "escape"). The trimmed hedge (not trimmed now at the time of his death), and the carpeted porch (not carpeted during my childhood, so formerly a perfect surface for matchbox cars). No legos wer eplayed on the porch. We always preferred level surfaces for legos.

I did suggest a race down the stairs, one that would be one or lost based on two factors (i) how quickly you could get down the stairs, but more importantly (ii) the decibel level of the stairs during this descent. I'd like for the winner to be determined using high-end recording equipment, and an iphone. Nostolgia will leak from the walls and will make the race more difficult.

I got of the airplane, a southwest flight with the usual mixing of passengers. Actually, we got a row tro ourselves on each of the two flights on this trip. It was fun to have the extra room. On the trip home, our first plane arrived late to Chicago midway and we decided to run through the airport after hearing our names announced on the intercom. We ran through the airport; at one point I was on the magic carpet and at anouther we raced on opposite sides of the pair of maghic carpets. Dawson rode the ride and looked around. I did not seem worried.

We sat on separate rows. I kept the big boy with me for the takeoff and the two people in my row did not complain about but did not act bothered by the 7.75 month old I held. He had a different experien ce mid-ride in Carolyn's row. He met two ladies who both liked him. He came back to my seat for the landing. He had a fun trip through the tunnel; a chinese 8-yr old stood so that he could sit down in the front car of the airport subway. His dad acted sad so that the chinese young person would give up her seat. It was a good interaction overall. Dawson participated in the occasion.

We made it home and Dawson met his uncle, Alistair. Al slept and was super polite. I was shown GoPro video of skating but mostly waterparks and waterfights. That gopro unit woud be fun to install on Dawson when he learns to walk.