Getaway

Well, we were supposed to have gone down to Maryland to visit Isabel's family this past weekend, but they suggested we hold off on our visit, given that the 40 inches of snow they've had might make it tough to even get onto their street. We took their advice, but reluctantly. We were all really looking forward to seeing them and hanging out for a few days. (And I had planned on making a special Red Velvet Cake for Valentine's Day dessert. I'll make it up to you all next time we see you -- I promise.)

The kids were especially bummed about not being able to go, and we wanted to do something fun for them on their first weekend of February vacation. So we got online and found a nice hotel with an indoor pool a few towns over, and we made a reservation for Sunday night.

The hotel is about two miles from a sports complex -- bowling, lazer tag, mini-golf, ice skating, arcade -- so we made that our first stop.

Catherine had been asking us to play lazer tag for months. Both of the boys had played before at birthday parties, but Catherine never had (and neither had Isabel or I). But then the kids saw the skating rink at the complex, and begged to go.

Ice skating is big around here; lots of the kids' friends play hockey. I played as a kid, and Isabel used to go skating for fun, but the kids had never been on skates before. We rented 5 pairs and hit the ice.

I remember the "open skating" times at the local rink from when I was a kid, and I was concerned there would be a whole lot of very good skaters flying around there making things difficult. But, really, I'd say 75% of the people there were newbies, from toddlers to seniors, and the rest were friends or parents trying to help them out. So that made it a little less intimidating.

The kids did great. There were some falls, but they all hopped right back up and kept on trying. We skated for about an hour, and when we were done, they all seemed willing to give it another shot sometime, which was nice.

As for me? Well, it's been over 20 years since I've been on skates. I remember the last time; it was with friends, and I was wearing borrowed skates that were a size too small, and it didn't go well.

This time, I was a little wobbly when I first stepped out onto the ice, holding onto Catherine to keep her from falling. We clicked blades a few times, so I ended up skating backwards, holding her hands. It all came back to me pretty quickly after that. By the time the kids were finished and ready to leave, I asked for one more lap by myself. I was having so much fun, I took about five more laps, weaving between people and crossing over on the turns. It brought back a lot of memories.

When we were finished skating, we went upstairs to the lazer tag place. I don't think Isabel was planning to play, but I paid for 5 admissions, so she had no choice. The only other people playing at that time was another family -- a young-looking mom and dad, a teenage son, and three smaller kids, probably Catherine's age and younger. Our family was the red team, and the others were the blue team.

I won't get into details of the lazer carnage, but let's just say the McEacherns were fist-bumping all around when the battle was over. The boys captured the other team's fortress 4 times each; Catherine had 34 hits while guarding our perimeter, and Isabel and I did respectably. We beat them 789,000 points to 390,000 points. And we did it the right way: Peter helped one of the smaller opponents who wasn't holding the lazer gun properly ("Kid -- you need to press this button....Kid, you need to press this one here..."), giving the helpful advice during the 5 seconds he was disabled after Peter shot him. Peter was basically shooting, disabling, and then advising about seven times in a row. We finished up at the arcade.

The we checked into our hotel, had a swim in the pool, ordered some pizza, and watched the Olympics. It was a good night. (Peter tried swimming, but it was tough to keep the cast on his arm from getting wet, so he watched the Olympics and decided on our dinner pizza toppings. He was fine with the alternate plan, especially since he was still flying over getting the second highest score ever on the Guitar Hero game at the arcade.)

Don't know when we'll see our Southern relations again, but I'll start working on a menu once we know for sure.

And I think instead of beating my brother at pool next time we get together, I'll have to suggest we put on the skates....