Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Walking the Walk: Part One

On May 21, The Princess and I ventured into the Big Bad City with family members to take part in the annual Walk Now for Autism Speaks event at Soldier Field.  I fully intended to write a post about this the following day, but things just didn't work out that way. 

On Sunday, The Princess started a whole-house round of the worst flu I think I've ever had.  Last week was spent either tending to a sick Princess, a sick Hubbs, or being sick myself.  I'm extremely happy and relieved to report that we are all feeling back to normal, and we can even stay awake for prolonged periods of time...without necessarily even trying too hard!

So...that's my excuse for not posting until now.  You got a problem with it?  Keep it to yourself.  I'd like to see you do any better in that situation!  :)

Without further ado, I present to you the first installment of "Walking the Walk."

The night before the Walk, The Princess and I hopped in the car and headed to Nana and Grampy's house.  JAK were coming from out of state, and we all planned to drive together on the morning of the walk...which, of course, resulted in a super-fun slumber party at the in-laws' house. 

After our hour and a half in the car, The Princess was ready to move.  I opened her door in the driveway at Nana and Grampy's house, and she was off like a shot...careening toward the front door at a breakneck pace.  When Nana greeted us at the door, The Princess looked up and was all, "Oh, cool, yeah, here I am, ain't I cute?  Oh, Grampy, you're here too?  Sweet!  Wait a minute...what-the-heck-is-THAT???"  Well, you know, if she talked.

Nana and Grampy had a 10x10 dome tent set up in their great room, and The Princess was all over it.  She proceeded to claim it as her territory, going so far as to systematically push the grown-ups out one by one until we finally got it through our thick skulls that this was her place, darn it.

While we were waiting for JAK to show up, Nana suggested a trip to this wonderful little ice cream shop.  Who was I to say no?  So off we went to The Fluffy Pony.

When we got there, the place was an absolute madhouse.  There were people crammed in like sardines, and boy was it loud.  My sweet little Princess was a champ, though.  She did so very well while we were stuck inside with all of the people and noise, but you should have seen her when we got our ice cream and went out into the garden to eat it.

I had gotten two scoops of butter pecan in this fabulous-looking waffle bowl that had been dipped in chocolate.  I know...heavenly, right?  The Fluffy Pony, by the way, just happens to be one of those places that counts a pint as a scoop.  I had no idea they'd be giving me that much ice cream, or I never would have ordered it in the first place.

Good thing I had The Princess with me!

She sat on a bench with Nana and me, and proceeded to eat almost every single bite of my ice cream.  Thank goodness for the waffle bowl, or I may have starved! 

Once my services were no longer needed, she took Grampy's hand and galloped around the garden, dragging him along with her, twin grins on their faces as their hair blew back in the wind and they did everything they could not to run over the other people in close proximity while they were traveling at such high speeds.

After The Fluffy Pony, we all headed back to Nana and Grampy's house, where The Princess held court in her tent before crashing out for the night.

JAK showed up late in the evening, and I'm happy to say that we were able to slightly gross out Grampy at least a couple of times with our immature joking during the wee hours.

After some winding down and visiting, it was time for bed.  We had a big day coming up, after all.

Up next: Part Two

1 comment: