Rock Hill

Luis and I spent four days in Rock Hill, a little over a week ago. We went to visit, but also to allow me to do some work in the office. It was a fun visit! It's not hard to say what Luis liked best in Rock Hill - Lucy. He asked about her first thing in the morning, asked her to sit by him in the car and at meals, wanted to hold her hand whenever they were walking anywhere, and snuck in to her office about every 10 minutes when we were working. He dubbed her GrandLucy - an off-shoot of Granddaddy, his name for Thomas.

Thomas picked us up in his car, "Granddaddy's sports car!" as Luis called it on Tuesday (9/25). Getting Luis's car seat in the back was a challenge on two fronts - not surprisingly, the Jag is not equipped with the LATCH system for car seat installation and after it was in, both Luis and I complained of not having enough leg room!

On Wednesday night, Thomas and Lucy took us to Luis's first minor league baseball game. He got to see his first real home run, try his first baseball hot dog (which he didn't like), be amazed by Homer the dragon mascot, and unsuccessfully try to pick up the 20-something woman sitting behind us who was there with her boyfriend. Luis lasted 6 innings, I think, before Thomas and Lucy suggested we go home.
Luis loves all of the animals at Thomas & Lucy's house. Here, he was having a visit with Poor Cat. I didn't get any pictures of him with the (four) dogs, but we spent lots and lots of time visiting with them and "giving them love".
It's not a trip to Rock Hill without a trip to see Lucy's horses. A big hit, as always! Luis really likes giving the horses sugar cubes - and makes sure to get one for himself...
Thomas and Lucy have lunch (almost) every day at Thi's, an Asian food restaurant in the down town area. It was great because I could order something for Luis that I knew he'd eat, but wasn't on the menu and Thi generously made it for us. She was also very kind about entertaining Luis while I finished my meal. One day, she took him back into the kitchen for about 10 minutes. He emerged holding this platter of fried dough. After putting it on the table, it turns out that he was only interested in eating the "white part" - the powdered sugar!
The last day we were there, someone was using the conference room where Luis and I had been working (well, where I had been working and Luis had been watching movies on an extra laptop). Thomas had to be in court and graciously allowed us to use his office. After about 40 minutes of Luis needing LOTS of attention, I figured out that I could play his movie on one of the monitors while doing my work on the other monitor - and we could both sit in Thomas's big chair together. It wasn't the most efficient working conditions ever, but it was definitely making the most out of a tough situation.

I did find it very tough to get both Luis and I up, showered, dressed, fed, lunch made (for Luis) and out the door in order to be in the office by 9a. Luis may be an early riser, but he is not fast moving in the morning (or at least, he doesn't take direction well in the morning). My hats off to my working-mom friends who do it every day (or even just some days a week).