More World Cup, A Kid Returned, and a Gift From Patrick = A Beautiful Day

The flight from Kentucky was 45 minutes late so I downloaded the FOX sports app so I could catch the final minutes of the Russia/Croatia game. I sat in a Friendly's parking lot waiting for Chitunga to text he was at baggage and watched Croatia take the lead, shocked a bit when he actually got in the car and I told him, "You need to report the score, because I gotta drive." He said, "Oh, it's tied." I was like, "No, it's not. Croatia is up by one."

I guess in the time I drove from Friendly's to American airlines, Russia scored. Of course, that led to penalty kicks, which Chitunga dutifully reported as we headed towards Hartford from the airport. We knew it was tied in the kicks, when the app quit and reported, "Your time with the Fox Sports App is up. To register for more time...."

I was like, "Ahhhhh." I immediately called Abu to see what the score was and he said, "Oh, Croatia one." What an awful time for an app to time out - the last two penalty kicks.

The drive home then turned into catch-up of his trip and all he did with Sue, Dave, Alice, Charlie, Jennifer, Ruby and Pilot.

Upon return, we grabbed pizzas from Paradise and headed to see Leo, Bev, Pam, Kaitlyn, Jake, Patrick, and Stephanie. Patrick returned from California and visited the Ballast Point brewing factory, bringing Chitunga a Barmy plaque to hang on his wall. That is one heck of a strong beer as memory in Monroe will attest.

As for the weather. Perfect. It is rare to get such heavenly days, but sometimes they arrive: low humidity, cool breeze and great sun. Nirvana.

And we have one more day of it today. I plan to soak as much of it up as I can.