The Brookston Family Blog
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Tonight the Honda Diaries begin as Ruthanne and Chay boarded a plane for Dallas. We left Tuck & Debbie’s wedding reception early and I drove as quickly as I could to SFO. We parked the car at our friends Michelle and John (who are getting married next Saturday in Monterey) and John was kind enough to shuttle us to the airport. After an uneventful flight, we arrived in Dallas on time just before midnight. Sarah’s brother Dave picked us up at the airport when we emerged into the hot Dallas night and drove us the 37 miles to his house. All of the furniture had been packed up so I had an empty bedroom to sleep the night away and prepare for the 2600-mile trek that we would begin the next morning.

Ruthanne “forgot” to take Lyman’s swiss army knife out of her purse before going through security so things started out a little more slowly than anticipated. But then Ruthanne does fit the terrorist profile.

The sunset shortly after our plane took off from SFO.

Tucker and Debbie, after getting married in September, finally had an actual wedding reception today near Debbie’s folk’s place in Isleton, California (which is in the Sacramento delta). Sarah’s mom, Ruthanne, and I had to leave the reception early to catch a plane for Texas. To find out why, see the Honda Diary posts that begin later today.

Uncle Tucker and Porter.

Much of the Johnston clan (missing Margaret and Don & Dave and his family).

Alice climbs up the slide.

Using her tongue to slide down (with Kit’s help).

The delicious handmade cupcakes served in lieu of cake.

Porter tries to swallow a cupcake whole.

But he magnanimously tries to give half of his hot dog to Uncle Tuck.

Success!

From left: Lyman, Ruthanne (Tucker’s parents), Tucker, Debbie, Barry and Diana (Debbie’s parents)

This morning Porter continued to be fascinated by the giant “O” balloon. We’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of it.

Porter and his “O”

Porter holding his “O” while in the background Alice is eating his leftover popsicle.

Since we were getting ready for the wedding and my trip, we thought we’d try putting Alice in the swing in the back bedroom rather than our bedroom for her morning nap. Well that was a huge mistake. For whatever reason, she hated being there. I don’t know if it was the new surroundings or something else, but her level of being upset reached new heights. She wailed loudly, cried real tears and thrashed about trying to get out of the swing. Even Porter came to us, saying “Alice is not happy,” “Alice is crying,” Alice wants to come out” [of the swing], and “Let’s take Alice out” [of the swing]. Now he’s expressed concern for her before, but this time he seemed downright bothered by her unhappiness. He was on a mission to help her and it was very sweet. We did, of course, take her out of the swing. But the positive side of this story is that Porter has really started to show actual affection for his sister and continues to seem personally responsible for her well-being. When we put her down for a nap in the more familiar surroundings of our bedroom, Porter took Alice’s new teddy bear upstairs so she could hug it to help calm her down. After she was all settled, Porter then said, “she’ll be happy.” Let’s all try it in unision, “Ahhhhh.“