Baby Shower 2 and More Christmas

We had two relaxing days at my parents’ house after the baby shower. Everybody went home Sunday evening, and Dave and I were left with Mom and Dad. It was just lovely! We slept in each morning and stayed up late watching TV each night. Mom had to work on Monday, so we went to the mall and the bookstore with Dad. We ate beef stew for dinner and played Scrabble (Dad won). On Tuesday, we went downtown to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.

It was much cooler than Dave and I expected! There are all sorts of rock artifacts, including hundreds of guitars and lots of outfits worn on stage by famous people. We saw letters to Elvis, Janis Joplin’s Porche, some interesting video of people protesting the moral turpitude of rock, a pair of Freddy Mercury’s pants (with underpants built in—on the outside), ZZ Top’s furry drums, Jimi Hendrix’s capes, and much, much more. We could’ve spent another few hours there, since we didn’t even get a chance to see the movies. We parked underneath the science center, and I would’ve loved to go there, too. We’ll have to head back to Cleveland one of these days!

On Wednesday morning, we went to the coffee shop with Dad and then headed east on the Ohio Turnpike toward Pittsburgh. Some city traffic slowed us down a bit once we got to PA, so we were a little bit late to meet Dad Gribble for lunch at Penn State Greater Allegheny (he had to work that day). We went to Luciano’s and then got a tour of some of the computer labs. Looks like they have a pretty nice setup for a branch campus, and we know they have a good director of IT!

After lunch we headed over to Erika and Heidi’s. Genevieve was napping, so we had a few minutes to get settled and say hi to Rowan (the dog) before she woke up. Valerie and Don arrived just half an hour or so after we did, so we carted luggage and gifts into the house and snacked and visited for a while.

We got to open a few baby gifts, too, which was fun. Baby Gribble is sure to love the rings Aunt Erika and Heidi bought! And we’ll love the useful stuff, including a nail clipper for tiny nails and a cool caddy for diapers and creams. We played a game of Parcheesi, which Dave won. Then we ate dinner: Erika and Heidi had prepared a delicious meal of ham, au gratin potatoes, green beans, and green stuff (otherwise known as pistachio fluff, or, the Internet tells me, pistachio pudding or pistachio and fruit delight). We were all kind of tired that evening, so we went to bed fairly early.

The next morning Dave and I went out for a long walk—he was eager to have a mocha and we were both looking forward to getting some exercise after all that time in the car during the past week. We walked along Brownsville Road from Erika and Heidi’s house in Carrick to the Brentwood Town Center, where we knew there was a Caribou Coffee. It took an hour, so we figure that it was a three-mile walk or so. We speculated that in certain parts of Boulder, we would’ve passed five or more coffee shops! We got out some cash so that we could take the bus back. It’s always a pleasure to ride the bus; it makes me feel like a grownup to navigate the city. We were lucky to be on a bus route that had a bus going by every 10 minutes. We got back to the house before Valerie and Don got there (they were staying at a hotel), so we played with Genevieve a bit and then had some lunch. Genevieve had Christmas a bit early so that she wouldn’t be overstimulated and we could all get a good view of her opening her gifts.

We played a game of Carcassone (which Dave won) and then Don and I went out for a walk. We headed the other way on Brownsville and went about a mile or so and back. The streets were a bit snowy and icy, and my awkward gait led to a few sore muscles by the end of the day! We had some dinner and then Dave and I got ready for church, since it was Christmas Eve. We said goodnight to everyone and drove downtown, where we had time to look at the manger scene in front of the old U.S. Steel building (now the UPMC building). Then we found a seat at First Lutheran Church and were joined shortly by Dad, Sandy, and Aaron for the 10:15 p.m. pre-service music. The church is just gorgeous, especially the ceiling, and the music was very nice (flute, harpsichord, violin, and choir). I really enjoyed the service, which included all the standard liturgy and a very good sermon, but I was really tired by the time we got back to Erika’s around 12:30 a.m.!

Christmas morning we had some breakfast and played with Genevieve until Valerie and Don arrived, when the grownups got to open presents. Thoughtful gifts all around, but I got the food processor I’d been wanting, so I think I made out the best.

We left Erika and Heidi’s around 2:00 p.m. to drive over to Dad and Sandy’s for Christmas dinner. A nice full house included Megan, Jeff, Darren, Grace, and baby sister, Aaron, Dad, Sandy, Erika, Heidi, Genevieve, and the two of us. We had ham, potato salad (yum!), baked beans, green salad, and rolls. And plenty of cookies, everywhere we went! We ate a lot of cookies for breakfast that week.

After dinner we opened gifts (lots of fun toys for Genevieve, including a mock blender that played many different little songs, some of them very strange, and mixed up fruit drinks out of plastic shapes with fruit stickers on them). Then we played a game of Scattergories, which I won handedly. (It helps when Dave isn’t playing; he and his dad were discussing some computer stuff no one else was interested in.) I was so tired by that evening; I’m not sleeping particularly well (thanks, small Gribble!), and lots of driving and strange beds didn’t help. Dave and I sacked out on the pull-out sofa (a very comfortable one) in the chilly basement, and I slept like a rock. It was so nice to sleep well—and so crummy to have to get up at 7:00 a.m. to eat some breakfast and hit the road.

We planned to leave at 8:00 a.m., and made it out the door at 8:45. Grandpa and Grandma Hoot were visiting Uncle Brian and Kassie in Anderson, IN (near Indianapolis), so we wanted to stop by and see them. We hadn’t seen Brian and Kassie for years. We had a nice, albeit brief, visit, exchanging some gifts (a gorgeous hand-crocheted outfit for the baby, wine, and chocolate…yum) and eating dinner (ham, green bean casserole, cheese, olives, potato soup, and rolls). We played a long game of Aggravation, made decades earlier by Grandpa, and again Dave won. Around 10:00 p.m. we heaved deep sighs and headed out to the totally packed car to drive back to Colorado. The journey loomed long, but we were both eager to get home and back to our own house, bed, and routines.

At 4:30 p.m. Colorado time, after a snowy delay in Missouri that I slept through, we arrived at home to unload the car and watch some TV before bed. It was wonderful to spend time with everyone, and we can’t wait to see many of you this summer when we’ve become a family of three!