Getting out of bed and walking to the living room, I was greeted happily by Uncle Jim and Aunt Judy. They look older, naturally. It was good to see them again, though it was a bit awkward being welcomed around noon when I've been in the house for a solid ten hours. After a few minutes of small talk, they told me to make myself at home. I did.
Breakfast consisted of Weaties, and lunch was an hour after since it was already midday. Seeing the younger kids was astonishing. They have really grown. At first it took me a bit to remember the names of the three youngest, and then it took me another bit to get the names right with the certain person. Jenna, Karen, and Angela...from oldest to youngest in that order. Or was it Karen, Jenna, and Angela? I caught on after a while when talking with them. Brad has grown incredibly. He's got an inch or two on me now, and I remember him being a little runt back in the Davao days.
Laura told me last night that the girls will take a while to warm up to me, but once they do, they'll get really comfortable with me being around. I guess she was right, for not too long after lunch did Karen and Angela give me a tour of the whole farm that they live on. It was a lot of fun; I think the girls enjoyed it more than I did, but it was great to see the whole place including every room in the house. I appreciate the high plant life that's around here. Much more green and trees than a lot of places in So Cal that I hang out in. I had no problem getting over the concrete landscape of LA while I've been gone. Moreover, seeing the sky in a strong blue is refreshing.
I also took a bike ride "around the block" with Brad and Angela. That may not sound like a lot...but this is farm country where the Olson's live, so a block is about four miles long. It started out pretty rough with one of their dogs Levi chasing a passing truck and getting run over. God was taking care of him, though, and he came out with only a sprained leg and a scratched face. The hit looked really bad, but he seemed quite fine. He's limping right now, but there seems to be hardly any pain. The rest of the ride was a nice scenic trip. I miss isolated areas where you don't see a lot of people around.
Later that afternoon, Amber Larson drove by to hang out with me. She was only available today, so she drove from St. Paul just to hang out. That was cool. So we caught dinner at Applebee's, and we took silly pictures at Target. It was a great time hanging with Amber. We can talk about anything and be really crazy; we're tight like that.
Don't ask me why we took these pictures...I can't really say.
Um, yeah.
I came back to the Olson's later that evening. Laura was back from work, where she worked a double shift. She looked exhausted. I chilled with the kids and we all looked at pictures from our trip in Ohio. The girls seem to love pictures and stayed up past ten looking at all the pictures that Laura took.
All in all, the day was more eventful than I expected. The family is much more welcoming and fun than I remember, but then again, I only really knew Julia and Laura back in the Philippines. It's good to have an opportunity to see how everyone else in the family live out their individual lives.
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