Friday, May 30

Today is Granddaughter's and Niece's birthday. Happy Birthday to both!

We were up around 7 a.m. this morning, so we could get ready to go on a shopping trip at a town about an hour and half east. We were on the road by 8:30, and arrived at Hubbie's daughter's house around 10 a.m.

Mother stayed at Daughter's house while we shopped. Our first stop was a department store, where I hoped to find something I could purchase with a gift card. Spent about an hour at the store, browsing and trying on lots of blouses, none of which suited me.

Around 11:15, Hubbie, who had been shopping at another store, found me and said that we needed to go back to his Daughter's house to get Mother and then go to a restaurant, where family would meet us for lunch.

We arrived at the restaurant before noon. Family was already there and had gotten a table big enough to accommodate the three of us, Daughter and her husband, and Great-Granddaughter, Hubbie's two sisters, and his niece and great-niece.

At the table behind us were seated a very large woman and her equally large husband. Naturally, I needed to get Mother's wheelchair in the space at our table directly behind the very large man. He apologized for being in the way, but he didn't get up and move his chair to make it easier for me to maneuver the wheelchair. But with a little "back-and-forthing", I finally got it in there.

Most of us ordered the restaurant's soup/salad/bread sticks specialty. One of Hubbie's sister and niece order pasta. A real oops happened when a waitress brought our drinks on a tray. She somehow tilted the tray and a tall glass of ice water tipped over, spilling the drink on two-year-old Great-Granddaughter's head. Naturally, the toddler screamed and cried. I would have, too. What a shock!

Once the child, her place at the table, and her chair had been mopped dry, we proceeded with lunch. We were a hungry bunch, so we ordered two more big bowls of salad, more bread sticks, and second helpings of soup, which we enjoyed while visiting for about an hour. We paid for lunch with a gift card that Son and Daughter-in-Law gave me.

After lunch, we took Mother back to Daughter's house, and then we continued shopping. We went to the mall, where I browsed another department store, where I found one blouse I can use. Bought it with another gift card.

While I was in the dressing room at the department store, it began raining really hard...I could hear it beating down on the mall roof. When I mentioned it to Hubbie, he said he hadn't heard it, because while he waited for me in a comfortable chair outside the store, he fell asleep. He roused at some point and searched out a cup of coffee, but that must have been after the rain storm.

From there, we went to the hobby store, where I used gift cards to purchase rubber stamps, glue tabs, and scrapbook paper.

Went to the big box store gas station to fill the van, then shopped the store for bulk items like toilet tissue and paper towels, as well as food. While we were there, Hubbie and I looked at at a particular brand of e-tablet that Daughter had suggested to us. It's smaller than my tablet, but seems to feature everything Hubbie would need. So he told Daughter that he likes it, and would be glad to have one for his birthday/Father's Day.

By 5 p.m., we were ready to head back to Daughter's house to pick up Mother for the trip home. She had spent a comfortable afternoon at Daughter's, where we were told she napped most of the time...despite rambunctious, talkative Great-Granddaughter. Mother said there had been a respite from her hyperactivity when the child was put down for a nap.

Back home, Mother was ready to go to her house right away, so I accompanied her. As soon as we unloaded the car, I took sandwich materials to Mother, and later in the evening, I went back to put drops in her eyes.

Hubbie and I settled for a sandwich supper, too, and then we played on the e-tablet (Hubbie) and laptop (me), while we watched TV.

It was a long day, but a good one.