And a fun time was had by all....

Last week, I attempted something for the first time: I, along with my mother, grandmother and Benevolent Dictator, drove to see my sister in upstate New York. I was admittedly nervous since the trip would be about 14-hours in the car. I'll also be honest too in that my relationship with my mom can be volatile and the thought of being enclosed in a car with her for the majority of a day raised fantasies of me throwing myself out of the car and onto the freeway.

But the trip was great overall. The only rough portion was the drive home, and if that's the only thing that was a bummer, I'd call the trip an overall success.

It was great bonding time with my sister, which I think we both needed. Also, I spent most of my time whinging rocks at Canadian geese threatening to overtake her backyard pond. For animal lovers -- I was not aiming to hit them or hurt them (despite threats of turning them into foie gras) -- but to scare them off. Because if you don't know already, Canadian geese are assholes.

It was like I turned into a border collie -- every morning and afternoon I'd look out the window, searching for those damn hissing bastards. When I saw them, BAM! out the door, like a shot stalking over to the pond with a handful of rocks to hurl at them. Sadly, by the third day, the geese were onto us and refused to leave.

I personally like the idea of a scarecrow in the middle of the pond that would pop up via remote control to scare them. And we'd dress the scarecrow up like Lady Gaga in the Telephone video. I need to make that work somehow.

As for the kids, they had a great time together. BD had way too much fun wandering around the house playing with toys and Maddie and Elliott enjoyed all the attention lavished on them. Mali -- the youngest of the clan -- has a nasty reach, which is great for pulling your hair out by the roots and ripping glasses off your face.

I also got to enjoy the joys of pho for the first time. Asian noodle soups are the best, in my opinion. I'm also pleased that my knowledge of Sondheim got one bar trivia question correct. Also, at said bar trivia event, I met one of my sister's friends, who is a lovely woman.

All in all, it was a great trip. I'm pleased that it was fairly inexpensive overall (seriously, the cost for gas, etc was cheaper than plane tickets) and I'm glad that BD was a great sport about staying in the car for such a long time. Hopefully I can convince Jeff to repeat the experience with us, thus reducing the chances of me hurling myself out of the car.