Because Derek and I had already like...figuratively blown our wad on the place we were SUPPOSED to be staying in the Springs, we just grabed a really cheapy motel. I think it was a Travelodge? What's the budget hotel that has bedsheets that look like kickballs from elementary school? I just had to google it, it's a Super 8. But it was surprisingly great for a 50 dollar a night place? I was not expecting to sleep as well as I did, but I slept like a fucking brick. So did Derek.
We woke up, had our leftovers from Little Nepal, got gas and some donuts for Derek, and then I drove the first leg home. We had to switch a few times, it was a VERY sleepy day. We stopped at Jinya in Kansas City, because we weren't able to go one more time in Denver. I was so fucking disappointed with our Kansas City Jinya experience that I didn't even bother to take pictures. It was fucking AWFUL. All of our add ons, that are of course extra charges, were literally like..the barest. Derek and I both ordered bok choy, a 4.50 charge per person, and we got literally TWO LEAVES EACH. Leaves. Not choys. LEAVES. I can'tt speak for Derek, but my ramen was tepid. Not even like, restaurant warm for immediate eating. Tepid. Slurpability was a no. But at least Derek and I didn't drive the 3 hours to Kansas City JUST to eat there like we had thought about doing. The Denver Jinya is so fucking phenom. The Austin one is so fucking phenom. The Honolulu one WAS phenom, but they closed it and I don't know why. We've been to several locations (I just saw that there are a couple in Dallas, so obvy we'll be taking the kids to one in September), and almost all of them have been really good to fantastic, but Kansas City? Derek was like, "if we had never been to a Jinya and this was our first? I wouldn't want to go back" and I immediately agreed. As an aside, I love how food is part of how Derek and I love each other. It's how we love other people. We feed them, we feed each other, we experience food together, it's part of the core of our relationship. Delicious. Wonderful. No notes.
From Jinya, we took me to Sprouts, the very last one I would get to stop at, Derek took a quick nap, and then we drove home.
We had an amazing trip overall, despite the emotional hiccups, and as sad as I was to leave Colorado, I was so happy to come home to my kids, to my kitties, and to my FULLY EATEN CRUCIFEROUS GARDEN:
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We do have a momma chog, and I am 100% confident that she is who ate up my veggies. Which were looking SO TASTY before we left. Rhyann was in charge of the garden while I was gone, and none of this is to say that that's Rhyann's fault, chogs get to shit and that's just how they operate. Everything else looked great, Rhyann did a great job.
We got home at around 7, it was a long ass day, and all Derek and I wanted to do was sit with the kids for a little bit, eat something, and go the fuck to sleep. So we crawled into bed, and immediately my Beaky Beakerson got up into her poppa's lap:
Someone missed me!!!
Derek and I had been quoting Gentleman Broncos for almost the entire trip (I quote it a lot anyway, I say OH MY HOLY CRAP all the time), and we tucked in together to watch it, and we went to sleep.
And THAT concludes the overview of our trip. It is 6/21/24, we've been home for ten days, and considering that I went back to work on the 13th, and I spent the 12th doing like, basic catch-up-after-vacation shit, I didn't do too badly. I hink this is probably my best turn around of blogs after a trip, I'm fairly pleased with myself.
Let's see, what trips do we have left this year:
July 25-28 we will be in Iowa for the con with the kids
September 11-14 we will be in Dallas for Rhyann's 21st birthday
We were going to go to Arkansas for the World Cheese Dip Championship, but we changed that to do Rhyann's birthday. We can do that another time, maybe. Three of us have big birthdays this year: I am turning 40 in a little over a month, and Rhyann and Laurel are turning fuckin' TWENTY ONE this year. Twenty one! My first baby is turning 21. I just can't believe it.
I talked to my dad last night, and if my FMLA gets approved, I think we're going to head down to Florida to help my dad sell some of the stuff in his storage unit. Maybe spend a week there, since all we would need to buy is a hotel in Atlanta there and back, gas, and some food. I have to wait to see if my FMLA would get approved, but I wonder if a little trip to drag Alex out of the house and get her out of her funk to maybe enjoy the beach, enjoy the sun, maybe if that would help her feel a bit better. I am worried about my youngest. Yesterday was a strange day. Derek took her to her appointment hoping that they would fill out the FMLA paperwork, but her psychiatrist wouldn't do it, and said it had to be her primary doctor. I emailed my big boss and was like, I don't understand that, her psychiatrist is the one who gives her her meds and hears the most about her current mental health struggles? Derek went to her doctor's office and her doctor is out on leave unttil September and they told Derek that Alex's psychiatrist has to do it. So Derek went back to BH, they told him they don't fill out FMLA paperwork and it isn't something they do, but Derek is a real get shit done kinda mother fucker, so he got an appointment with the head of BH to do Alex's FMLA paperwork. The only downside is that her appointment isn't until July 8th, and I feel like...I don't know how ot explain it. I feel like my work is kind of pressuring me o get it done faster than that. And I think they're doing that out of concern, because like, when I told them that my daughter is struggling and I thought I needed to quit to help her, I explained how hard things have been for Alex, and how guilty I feel as her mother spending all of my mental energy and physical time with OTHER people and leaving her behind. I think they are trying o be compassionate, bu like, the other side of the date I gave them, July 23rd, is I am so fucking BROKE that I can't afford the FMLA. I couldn't afford to quit, either, but money is for real a concern. I am going to have a shor check as it is because like, I was kind of misdirected and I took a week off when Rhyann had their accident. I wish they had talked to me about emergency FMLA for that week instead of like...forcing me into using my PO after I told my director I couldn't afford to use it and I couldn't afford the time off. I am just venting here, I don't know, but money is something I have to worry about, and while I know that utilizing FMLA is the absolute right call for my daughter, the money gets me. I needed to be able to work through until the end of July so I could get a couple of months of mileage reimbursement to cushion the lack of my income for the house. All of this to say that my dad offering to give us a little cut of whatever we help him catalogue, photograph, and sell is pretty needed. We'll see. Maybe Derek can sell some of his walnut slabs out there. We're talking about it, but we'll have to see how the FMLA shakes out.
Anyway. The last entry I am going to make is going to be for any of the photos I took on my camera that turned out well. That's a wrap on Colorado!
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