I’ve spent the day dozing and aching. By about 5 PM I began to feel somewhat human again. The timing is great because Kelly is leaving for the next two days so I’ll be parenting solo.

Wow, this has not been fun.

I became the latest victim of the stomach bug this morning at 4 AM. Because of my prior fundoplication surgery I may be in for a long recovery since I can’t, uh, empty my stomach.

If anyone comes up to you and offers to make you sick, don’t do it! Trust me on this.

Exhaustion is driving single-handedly for 8 and a half hours, caring for your sick spouse and kid, spending a restless night as spouse deals with said illness, then spending the next day caring for everyone. Hallie became the third (and final) victim of the stomach bug this evening right before her bedtime. I could have three sick family members on my hands tomorrow, though Kelly seems to be rallying at the moment.

Life is full of adventures, isn’t it?

Kelly has been hit hard by the stomach bug I mentioned in the last post. Travis is also a victim though his spirits are considerably better. I found out my sister-in-law, niece, and nephew fell victim yesterday during their drive back. I feel bad for them. At least we were home when it struck.

My guess is the “resort’s” pool. I’m thinking the kids might have swallowed the water while (most) of the adults did not, though Tanya was in the pool and I don’t think she drank the water. It could be a virus, or simple food poisoning. I’d appreciate hearing from any fellow Turners who may have also gotten sick (or gone swimming and didn’t get sick).

On most mornings I would be thrilled to wake up after 8 AM. That kind of thing usually doesn’t happen once you become a parent, so its to be savored. Sleeping in this morning meant that I missed saying goodbye to my relatives, some of which hit the road before I was fully awake. I had also hoped to get in a group picture this morning but that didn’t happen, either. No group, no group picture.
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We’re in Pine Mountain, Georgia this weekend for the Turner family reunion. We’re staying at the Pine Mountain Club Chalet ..uh, “resort,” with a nice cabin right on the lake. The weather has been sunny and hot, with the exception of yesterday evening when afternoon thunderstorms cooled things down.

I am particularly enjoying this trip because I was last here the summer I met Kelly, ten years ago. I could not have imagined that the next time I would return I would be married and the father of two wonderful kids. The cabins haven’t changed but I sure have!
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Today we have the fifth birthday party for a special girl. Wisely, Kelly booked an indoor venue today. She’s pretty happy its raining since the law of karma means all future outdoor birthday parties will be perfect, too.

Little or no blogging today, ‘natch. Look for an update tonight, though.

No, I wasn’t seasick, but we did go sailing while I’m suffering from this unseasonal head cold. Amazingly, I felt fine while we were on the water.

We did our usual lazy Sunday morning routine but packed our stuff for a 10:45 departure to Lake Gaston. There, we spent the next few hours floating around the lake.

Right off the bat, Kelly lost her hat to the wind. We circled back to pick it up and while reaching for it Kelly fell in! Thus, we got to practice our man overboard drill. I was going to sail back over to pick her up but the wind wasn’t cooperating. We then opted for her to swim to the boat. Kelly’s a strong swimmer but with the hat one hand she couldn’t keep up with the boat.

Finally, I put the boat in “irons” (turned it directly into the wind) long enough for Kelly to clamber up Whimsy’s ladder. The kids and I spent the rest of the trip teasing her since she was nice and cool while we were sweating in the sun.

Before we got two miles away from the dock the wind seemed to die on us. It became oppressively hot. All sorts of powerboats, jet skis, and pontoon boats were swarming around us, dumping air out our sails with every wake.

The kids, who are usually good sports about sailing, weren’t too thrilled with the wakes (and the heat, I bet). They asked repeatedly to go home yet as soon as I caught a good puff of wind they began to whine. Thus we cut things short. When we got back to the dock and unloaded the boat – sure enough – the wind began to howl. Argh!

Retrieving the boat was relatively easy. The combination to the lock on the launch ramp had changed overnight, which caused us some delay until Kelly spoke to a nearby neighbor. Then the minivan had trouble pulling Whimsy up the ramp. It was the first time that we had had a problem with that. I chalked it up to the chalky dirt on the ramp: it was so dry that the wheels spun into the dirt. After a few minutes of rocking and changing some direction, Kelly got the boat up the hill like an old pro.

On the way home, we spotted crossing gates down on the nearby track. This is the same track that runs behind our house, so we decided to stop and wave at “our” train. The engineer obliged, giving us a good wave and a few toots of the horn. He was hauling wood chips in a two-unit consist (6359 pulling 6138, for you fellow railfans) and was making about 40 MPH. We figured we could beat him into Raleigh so since we had nowhere to go this afternoon we tried to follow him there.

I suppose either the train stopped somewhere or we somehow missed him on the way home, but we waited at the downtown CSX yards for 10 minutes and never saw the train. Oh well. Back in the car for the trip back home.

I began to sneeze vigorously after dinner tonight. I’ve gone through a handful of tissues already. Last night I slept very lightly from the cold. I’m hoping tonight isn’t a repeat performance.

With any luck I’ll have turned a corner on this cold tomorrow.

I’ve got the unfamiliar feeling of having a head cold while its 90 degrees outside. Its making me sweat more than usual this morning while I try to get some things done. My body has a dull ache all over. Yay.

Hopefully it will all blow over soon.