Day 20

Life is good in the fast lane. Except when you get tired. Wilmer had expressed yesterday that he is willing to go home now. I think partly because the last week or so he hasn't been anywhere with lots of other kids to play with. Today he got his wish when we went to Hanes Park in Winston-Salem where we hit a park with swings, climbing area, tennis courts, track, and about 30 other kids. He ended up making sand cakes with three girls about double his age. Way to go W!

He had some slick lines. He first climbed a rope ladder half way up and saw the girls underneath and said in his manly voice: "Hi girls! What are you doing?" They kindly replied "sand cakes". Wilmer asked two more times what they were doing and finally after two similar replies he was sure about his intent and smoothly joined the girls in their sand cake operation. They got along very well and baked a bunch. At this time mommy had joined us boys in the park as well. She had been lunching with her former boss from the Law Firm days. We men had lunch in a nearby cafe with "Uncle Mike" from my Wake Forest days. He gave Wilmer a big present that he agreed to set a side and wait until we got back to Missy and Danny to open it. Oh my, it wasn't just any kind of present. W got six individually wrapped top of the line sports cars, including two Porsche 911, Camaro, two Ford Mustangs, and a BMW 850. He took them immediately out for a spin and we were racing them for an hour until the late thunderstorms moved in and forced us indoors. We wrapped the day in Winston by visiting Helen and Charles in their law offices and running up and down the stairs of the building. Wilmer changed the oil and tuned up the engine in Helen's pink Cadillac (he claims). Charles had an aquarium in his office that did not have any fingerprints prior to our visit. Now it has. When you bang the glass, the fish tend to swim away and hide. Wilmer proved that theory with exhaustive experimental data. Fascinating.

Back at the house and escaping the rain, we needed some more action and decided to play "stuff Zoe in Danny's cooler". It was fun, everyone was laughing until the bellies were hurting. Zoe herself was enjoying it since she was able to reach the side pocket with 6-7 containers of Danny's protein portions and what's more fun than keep tossing them to the table. Danny on the other hand was a bit uneasy and fidgety because he did not want to lose a gram of his carefully measured and portioned "man juice" powders. All the fun makes you hungry, an old Chinese proverb. So, we had some delicious hickory-grilled salmon, and wine, and ice cream, and pecan pie, and...

Well, better pack some calories since tomorrow evening we are forced to participate in some "Ultimate Runner" practise sessions, a race where you run 5 races from 100 meters to 5K in one evening and try not to pass out or puke in the end. I am the one who is supposed to participate in the running whereas the other family members are there to socialize - nice.

Speaking of other family members. Maaret has added almost 45 pounds (20 kg) of extra weight. She is trying to become the world's strongest mom. You should see her bicep... To be honest, her belly is even more impressive. She has Wilmer's brother waiting to pop out in mid-July. She has been doing great so far and threatens to do a half marathon in Finland next summer. She keeps her running to minimum at the moment, only about 20 miles per week. Just kidding! About the mileage. The doctors cleared her for up to a three 3 week trip and I guess we will use it up pretty much completely. We still have Virginia to conquer before heading home. The two villes, Danville and Charlottesville, respectively, seem to be the final two destinations.

Busy evening. Penguins 3, Red Wings 3. Lakers 2, Orlando 1.