On Thursday night, Tim and Hope flew in from LA to visit us. We have been waiting all year for them to come, so it was a much anticipated visit.
True to Cone form, we decided to wear them out with activities. Thursday night, even though their flight got in at around 10pm, we stayed up talking. It took its toll, as things didn’t get moving around the house the next morning until around noon! We took a short drive through the countryside, feasted on burgers at Sonic, and then met up with Michael and Topher at our wonderful coffee shop, Bon Giorno, to drink espresso and iced coffee. Courtney joined us later after she was finished teaching a piano lesson.
From there, we went home to print our tickets for the baseball game, Dodgers vs. Rangers! As we parked at the stadium and got out of our car, it hit us- oh! We’re going to have to spend hours outside tonight! In 100 degree mugginess! Yes, folks, it’s been muggy here, even for Texans who are used to the somewhat less dry air. Due to thunderstorm after thunderstorm pounding our city day after day, the moisture in the air leaves and returns again almost immediately.
So….the beginning of the game before the Gaspards and Unruhs joined us was a little bit hot. Hope and I tried to devise ways to fan ourselves and keep the hair off our necks at the same time. Then, the sun went down and the wind kicked up, so there was a nice breeze that cooled things off a bit.
And that’s when the storm decided to roll on by, just to the south of us. I mean JUST to the south- we got to watch the whole lightning display from our stadium seats. It looked like sparks and webs, chasing each other across the sky. The wind was also picking up all the trash from the entire stadium and dumping it onto the field, where it would gather into mini twisters all over. They kept calling time outs for the ball boys to come out and clean it all up.
And ever seen a green sky folks? We did!
But the end of the storm was just in sight, so all we had to do was wait for it to roll on through.
My phone did report that a tornado warning had been issued. When I passed my phone down to Courtney, she thought we were all going to die. Katie’s response was that Topher and Anna (the Gaspards’ baby girl) would HAVE to get married someday, because they’d unite over the fact that both of their parents died in a tornado.
After the game, we finished the evening eating icecream at the Unruhs.
On Saturday, we woke up and made eggs, toast, orange juice and applewood smoked bacon. The Unruhs joined us later with news that their car had to go in the shop for a repair 🙁 But they took care of it quickly and were able to rejoin us before we headed off to Dallas.
In Dallas, we met up at Panera Bread with some of Jesse’s high school students who had never been to an Orthodox church before and wanted to try it. We took them over to the church, and as I was in choir practice, Jesse took Tim, Hope and the kids on a tour of the cathedral.
After the 2 hour Vespers/Vigil service, we went to our new favorite hamburger place, Jake’s! There was live music as well, which was fun because we were all able to sing along to Beatles songs. Once we got home, we went swimming in our pool, even though it was 10 at night. But it was still fun to play in the fountains- I really wish we’d taken a picture of Jesse stopping up one of them with his face!
On Sunday, as is also our custom, we went to church. Right afterwards, we all headed to Gloria’s Restaurant, inviting Josh and Heather who had not yet gotten to meet the Bartels. Full to the point of bursting, we all left to go home and nap for a few hours before heading over to the Unruhs to say goodbye.
Goodbye Bartels! Come back soon!