He's Home!

Anthony is home!!! That is the big news for today. Patrick drove to Houston yesterday afternoon so he could pick up Anthony this afternoon and not have to drive back and forth in one day. He stayed at my sister Cynthia's house, but didn't see her because she and my brother-in-law John were out at a neighborhood party. Patrick got to see my nephew Nick and niece Aly, though, and took them out to dinner. This morning, he was out for a walk when Cynthia got up, so they barely saw him. Anthony took a while in Customs so they didn't actually leave Houston until around 4:30pm after Patrick took him to Smashburger for food (one of Anthony's favorites).

Anthony left Venice yesterday and had an overnight layover in London. He said he didn't sleep at all there, on purpose, so he would be super tired by the time he got on the plane going to Houston. He said he was able to sleep on that plane for eight hours.

Patrick missed seeing the Packers game because it was at 3pm and he was waiting for Anthony at the airport then. Natalie, Eric, and I were with him in spirit, though, wearing our Packers T-shirts and Eric wearing his cheesehead, just like last week. Eric was still wearing his cheesehead when he greeted Anthony.

Eric was so excited to greet his brother that he had to run out to the garage. Anthony still had to grab his suitcase and come in, but Eric ran up to him and hugged him. When they got inside, Anthony immediately took his laundry and put a load in the washer, then Eric hugged him again (see photo above). Eric and I had a full day today that started very early.

Eric got up around 6:30am this morning. I had asked him to knock on my bedroom door when he got up because I wanted to spend some time with him and because I wanted to know when he got up. I originally wanted to go to the gym when I got up, but I was not ready to go to the gym at 6:30am. By the time I was ready, around 7:30am, I realized that if I went to the gym then, I wouldn't get home until 9:30 or so, and Eric would be super hungry by then, so I decided to take him to breakfast instead. Eric's choice was Starbucks.

Eric placed his order all by himself. I only said "tall" as the size drink he wanted. He got everything else. He proceeded to sit in one of the comfy chairs instead of one of the tables, and pulled up one of the side tables so he could use that as a table. He then ate his blueberry scone over his bag, just like I've made him do since I started taking him to Starbucks, except now, he doesn't leave crumbs all over the floor. In fact, he got very few crumbs even on his lap.

After Starbucks, we went to HEB. I needed to get some muffins for everyone else to eat for breakfast (Natalie, Alex, and Alex's three friends that had spent the night), plus some supplies to make food for Anthony to enjoy when he got home. I decided to make Chocolate Chip Toffee Bars and Stuffed Jalapeños for tonight, and have the ingredients to make Banana Pudding later in the week.

I let Eric play on my phone, so I put him on the cart so I wouldn't have to worry about what he was walking into or where he was while playing on my phone. The cart was getting full with everything arranged around him so he wouldn't be too crowded, and I wished that I could take a picture of him distracted by the phone in the middle of that, but I needed my phone to take a picture. I asked for my phone back to take a picture, and of course Eric decided to pretend he was a Jedi with a lightsaber in this picture.

I went to the gym shortly after we got home and unloaded the groceries. When I got back, I took Alex and two of his friends (Jeremy and Christian), Natalie, and Eric to Torchy's Tacos in Lincoln Heights and then to Paciugo's for gelato. Oh how I've missed gelato since our trip to Italy! I started cooking soon after we got home. It took me from about 4pm to about 7pm to make the two dishes plus clean up. I had just taken the stuffed jalapeños out of the oven when Patrick and Anthony got home.

Since then, the sound of lightsabers and gunfire has filled our home (from the Star Wars Battlefront PS4 game). There's been laughter shared by siblings, bonding over smoothies (Alex couldn't wait to make smoothies for Anthony), and conversation. All is well in my world tonight. Anthony is home.