Visit To Uncle Bobby

Yesterday we drove to Clarkston to deliver Uncle Bobby's new iPad and to visit for the afternoon.  The boys were delighted with his presents for them -- a Christmas mug each (Jack was especially excited about that) and a slinky for each (both were enthralled), as well as several books and a whole bag of crackers and cookies, which Ben promptly chowed down on.  While Brian was showing Uncle Bob the ropes on his new gadget, Jack played nicely with his toys.  Ben, however, was restless, so he and I wandered the halls of Columbiere Center, meeting a number of new friends, including Father Hattie, who served in India and Africa for longer than I've been alive, and Brother Tony, who adored Ben.  Ben gave more high fives to Fathers than I ever thought possible.

After our visit (including some ice cream), we went to The French Laundry, a restaurant in Fenton that I've been wanting to try for a long time.  It was a charming, open bistro-style restaurant and our table was in a corner window looking out on historic homes.  The food was delicious (I had the shrimp and friend green tomatoes -- to die for!) and the boys were as well-behaved as we've seen them in quite a while.  All of this led us to the fatal mistake of ordering dessert.  Jack, who had packed away his entire PB&J and side of grilled veggies, took too big a bite of his bugbar (a specialty cookie/bar similar to a blondie) and started to cough.  Coughing, unfortunately, triggered him to throw up.  His entire dinner.  Into his lap.

I am honestly quite proud of myself that I didn't instantly burst into tears because I've been known to get hysterical in the past when he's thrown up on me.  But instead we stayed calm, cleaned up the table and Brian fetched Jack's back-up outfit from the car.  (Thank God I decided to pack extra clothes in case they boys had gotten icecream on themselves at Uncle Bobby's!)  I changed Jack in the bathroom and wiped off his shoes to the best of my ability and we started our long, smelly ride home.