The Visit, Pt. 2

So, I left off yesterday at our trip to the wildlife preserve.  I just have to include another shot of that beautiful peacock we spotted.

Here I am with Abby.  We're huddled close together because we were trying to stay warm!

And here with are with Connor...who makes us all look like munchkins!  Either he's really tall or we're super short!

The two little love birds.

Brittany and me.

After we got home, I got ready to prepare some hamburgers for dinner.  Brittany asked me if I had any plans to marinate them. No, not really.  I mean, I sometimes take an envelope of Lipton's Beefy Onion soup mix and stir it into the hamburger meat for a little flavor, but I hadn't planned to do so that night.  She said that Connor told her that his family always uses Dales's Steak Seasoning on their hamburgers.  Connor told me it makes them SO GOOD.  So, off to the store they went and they came back with some in hand.

Now, the only thing that got my goat about all of this is that I was raised so that when you're a guest in someone's home, you eat whatever they serve and are gracious about it.  I would never think to suggest to someone I'd just met how to make their meal different to suite my own palate, you know?  Just kind of struck me as a little bold, but whatever.  I mixed about 2 Tbsp. of it in with the meat and it made the burgers very moist and tasty.  Connor ate 3 of them, so he must have approved!

Now, Brittany pulled me aside and told me that Connor really liked us and appreciated everything we'd done for him, so to show his appreciation, he bought us this at the store...  

Yep...I now have my very own canister of Tony's Creole Seasoning.  I got so tickled!  Connor must believe that the way to someone's heart is straight through their stomach!

Though we ended up having a nice visit, it just wasn't the same with him here.  Brittany, Abby, and I didn't get much one-on-one time, at all, and I missed it.  No late night talks, giggle sessions, or shopping trips.  I mean, Connor, obviously, makes Brittany very happy and she does him, too, but I feel that this kind of visit is rapidly becoming our new norm.  Part of me wishes that things could stay as they "used to be", but I know that's not possible.  So, I guess I'll try to go with the flow as much as I can and take life as it comes.