Well, we all made it back safe and sound. I’d forgotten how much I absolutely love having the shit scared outta me (well, not literally, but you know…)

It was a great weekend. This rollercoaster, for those of you who aren’t C.P. aficionados (the first time I was there was in 6th grade-1974!) is “the Mantis”. Here’s the description from the Cedar Point site:

Guests board high-tech trains and fly down a 145-foot-tall first hill at an outrageous top speed of 60 mph, all while standing up! That’s right, standing
up!

By the way, that is a loop there and there’s lots of twists and turns and rolls and….wayyy too much fun. We met the 19-year-old (NYO) and the 23-year-old (TYO) on Friday afternoon and hit the park for the twilight (5 pm - 10 pm) hours. Came back and played board games until after midnight. Spent Saturday morning playing cards (where were those prayers people? I asked for no rain) and then the afternoon and evening at the park (it finally stopped raining around 2 pm). Then Mr. Hot and I kicked back on Sunday at our 400 sq. ft. cottage right on Sandusky Bay and (oops) finished a bottle of vodka. Luckily the three children (can you count them as children now?) didn’t come back until after 11 pm. I had sobered up somewhat, and Mr. Hot had fallen asleep, so they didn’t have to hear any liquor induced conversation

Amazingly enough, Mr. Hot and I have been together 16 years. We’ve been traveling with these 3 kids for 15 of those years (since Mr. Hot and I begat the Shortman) and this was the first time I’ve felt like we were a family. Being the stepmom was never easy with this crew. And as the sole wage earner in the family for most of that time (yes, I paid their child support and college expenses) - and with us living nearly 300 miles away, I never felt like much more than a checkbook. I’m not sure whether they didn’t keep in touch because of me, their feelings toward their Dad, or something that their Mom did/said about us, but we were rarely included in their lives and they “graced us” with their presence once/year - early on it was Spring Break, then Christmas (for which budgets were blown). Recently, the NYO has started keeping in touch and suggesting that we get together (Thanksgiving the past two years, this C.P. trip), so I guess we’re all just growing up. As a 16-year-old would move toward some level of maturity, so moves our 16-year-old family. I’m hoping that this time the “Please keep in touch” and “We will” will not just be an empty promise.

—- Monday we drove home, and figured out that we had no food in the house. How depressing is it to have to go grocery shopping the same day you return from a really great weekend? —-