Brothers and stuff

I realized I had not yet posted about my brother's visit. It was great. It was much too short, though. He arrived at my house shortly before noon, family in tow. The kids have grown so much, as kids are wont to do. My brother's namesake, the middle child (as was he), reminds me so much of my brother when he was a teenager. He looks very much like a darker version of my brother and has the same droll wit.

His daughter, the eldest, is very much a teenager, in every sense of the word. She seems constantly annoyed with the world, especially her brothers and parents. As a young child, she was a very happy, bubbly little girl who adored her Aunt Gina. I think she still might adore me a little, but the adoration is buried beneath her facade of boredom and disgust with everything. I am sure it drives her parents crazy. Once my brother snapped at her about her attitude. I wish I could give them some sage advice on how to deal with her attitude. All I could say was, "she'll outgrow this eventually. She doesn't really hate you and her brothers. This is perfectly normal." I know that doesn't help. It didn't help me when my daughter was behaving the same way. It took everything in me to keep from slapping her silly most days, especially after being on the receiving end of one of her long sighs accompanied by eye rolling and a look of utter disdain for what I had just said. I usually resorted to a verbal slap, letting her know just how little I thought of her behavior and attitude. It didn't help. It just made life difficult, stressful, and contentious. I wish I could make that point to my brother, but it's like someone saying your grief over a lost love or a death will subside if you just let time take care of things. You know it in your head, but hearing someone tell you that doesn't change how you feel. I know my brother knows his daughter is behaving normally and will outgrow this phase, and me telling him so won't make him "get it" any better.

The yougest is delightful. He is adorable, fun-loving, and sweet. He's only 9. Give him time. He was just 6 the last time I saw him, so he barely remembered me. I hope I made a more memorable impression on him this time.

Arriving so close to lunchtime, everyone was starved. We were going to just go for a burger at McD's (it's cheap), but I hate their food. I decided we should go to Serv-A-Burger, our locally owned burger joint that makes amazing burgers and the best onion rings in the whole panhandle of Idaho, maybe thte whole Pacific Northwest. On our way to S-A-B we started talking about Mexican fast food. They frequent a place in Medford called Muchas Gracias. That made me think of Joel's, a Mexican food place here that started in a little stand like an espresso stand, but due to incredible popular demand, had to move to larger quarters with seating for about 25 people. Joel's is run by Joel and his wife, Rebecca. They are both Mexican, from the part of Mexico that is closest to Cozumel and Cancun (I forget the state) but both have lived in the US for most of their lives. Rebecca told us about their heritage, but I don't remember the details exept for the fact that they have Aztec in them, which not a lot of Mexicans do, and they look very different from most of the Mexicans I grew up around in that they are not very dark-skinned and have very different features. I guess it has a lot to do with which Indians are in their line. Anyway, Joel and Rebecca are the coolest people, and they make some amazing and cheap Mexican food. So, I decided we had to eat there instead of the burger joint. At Joel's, a carne asada burrito that is enormous - almost too big for one person to eat - is only $4.25. At the local Mexican restaurant, it's $9. The one at Joel's beats the other one all to heck. The 6 of us ate, with drinks, until we were stuffed, for just $25 - my treat. I think even McD's would have cost us close to that much and wouldn't have been nearly as good.

After lunch, we went to my daughter's house and hung out there for a couple of hours. My husband stopped by on his lunch break to hang out with us. After my son-on-law came home, we headed back to our house so my brother could take a nap. While he was napping, my sister-in-law, the kids, and I watched some shows I had Tivo'd. My sister-in-law, by the way, has managed to stop time. She looks as amazing and beautiful now as she did when they got married 24 years ago. I don't know how she has accomplished this. She does have some gray hair now, but she does what all women our age do - she highlights and colors her hair - so you'd never know she had gray. She has no wrinkles. She's as thin as ever (I hate her for that), and she's just as sweet and caring as ever. There isn't a mean bone in that woman's body. I adore her and just wish I had more time to spend with her.

Time... it went by much too quickly. All of us (me, my hubby, daughter and her gang, brother and his gang) gathered at another Sandpoint landmark - Second Avenue Pizza - for dinner. This place makes the most amazing pizzas you will ever eat. Whereas one large Domino's or Pizza Hut pizza is almost not enough to fill up two people, one large Second Avenue pizza will feed 5 people to full capacity, no problem. One piece is almost all you can eat. They are loaded with toppings and have the best crust in the world. I ordered three pizzas - the usual fully loaded one, a Mexican one (soooo good!), and a pepperoni one for the kids. We had the equivalent of an entire pizza left over, and that was with 3 men, a teenage boy (we all know how much they eat), 3 women (we eat our fair share), and the rest of the kids (4 more) eating. After pizza, my brother and his family returned to our house to spend the night. We visited for about an hour before we all had to hit the hay. The next morning I had an early appointment and they headed out to see my dad. After their stop at Dad's, they came by work and said goodbye to me. It was a whirlwind visit. I felt like I was talking 1000 miles an hour the whole time. We decided they would come back the week of July 4 for a week (we'll be off work) and spend some quality time together. That is, if it doesn't conflict with their mission trip to the Dominican Republic. I'm praying it doesn't. I didn't really get enough of them.

When they went back to Spokane, they did hook up with Jonathan, picking him up and taking him with them to visit some friends of theirs from when they lived in Spokane. They spent the evening together, which was a nice change of pace for Jonathan. My brother couldn't believe how much Jonathan has grown in the past three years and how big he is. Jonathan couldn't believe how big my brother's kids are. Kids remind us of how fast time is flying by, and how old we are. Sigh.