Happy Surprise

Millie is here!

Millie and her boyfriend Kevin came to visit. The hard part was, she told me they were coming, but it was supposed to be a surprise for Tori, so don't tell her. You think that wasn't hard to keep from her for a month? I picked them up at the airport yesterday, drove home. Walked in, then a couple of minutes later Kevin walked in and casually stood in the living room. Tori saw him and screamed. Millie came running in saying "What's wrong?"

Much tears and hugging.

Right now Tori and the kids are out finding out what they can about fishing. It's something Kevin would like to do. Apparently he's an outdoorsy boy from the wilds of Michigan, now trapped in the concrete jungle of Manhattan. But Tori and I don't know about regulations here, or seasons or anything. They'll also be going to a gun range (Millie loves shooting) and we'll be going out to dinner. The most exciting thing in the plans is the downtown St. Patrick's Day Parade. Don't want to miss that.

Especially since I missed Mardi Gras this year. I'd been feeling generally run down anyway and then shortly before the day I tweaked my knee badly enough that marching with the Krewe of Pirates through the bead-strewn streets of the French Quarter was not really possible, and it seemed a little much to ask someone to carry me.

There are some pirate activities coming up this spring that will require little more than sitting on a bar stool drinking. I think I can handle that.

Meanwhile, though I wasn't able to celebrate Mardi Gras, Tori and Max sure did, if walking something like 20 miles counts as celebrating. Max is in the band at East Jefferson High and they took part in four parades this year. Each parade was about five miles long, usually a little more. And the band needed parent volunteers to chaperone, make sure the kids got hydrated and generally keep an eye out. Tori did three of them, including the big parade – the Krewe of Bacchus Parade. When you see news coverage of a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans, this is the one. Actor Hugh Laurie was the grand marshal. Apparently it was a wonderfully insane time.

And Tori got a foot run from me when she got home after each parade.