Sunday, July 12, 2009

The Red Dragon Tour

Road Trip Day 8: Cymru
Man, I wish our flag had a kick-ass dragon on it. David likes anything red and has this weird thing for animals that breathe fire, so we could so turn him into a Welsh patriot. The Welsh name for Wales is Cymru, which means 'friend', but more about Medwyn's friendly Welsh family after hosing down the animals.


David is a natural dirt magnet. I really don't know how he manages to completely cover every square inch of his body in dirt, mud and dust every time he is not sleeping, but by this point it no longer phases me. It did surprise me when Peter's funk-o-meter started pinging. He is normally such a neat freak; I would have thought that His Cleanliness would have complained long before my nose. Teaches me and my nose to think.

After clogging the hotel drains with Johnson gunk, we quickly checked out and got the hell out of Dodge.


I should point out that this is us before getting on the road. It was also when I started to regret that we let the boys have those 'Chocolate-covered Sugar Smacks' for breakfast. Luckily, it was a relatively short, albeit loud trip to the ferry.


As we waited for the ferry, we sent a message to Medwyn, Rob's brother, to tell him that we would be passing through Wales and see if we could meet up. If you know the Johnson's, you will certainly know how unorganized we are when it comes to organizing things. Our whole trip was unplanned and this was no exception. The ferry ride was only two hours, which is not a lot of prep time for a family you have never met to welcome you to their home. I prefer to call it 'spontaneity'.

Medwyn wrote back straight away and offered for the Zoo Crew to stop by and invade his home. We, of course, accepted this challenge.

Medwyn and Joyce were great! They took us strangers in as if we were family. Their kids were also incredible and most certainly left a lasting impression for all three boys.



Sioned loves babies and I love anything or anyone who can shut Tom up for more than two minutes. Talk about a win-win. Dafydd is the Welsh spelling of David and he was wearing a red shirt, so David was in complete awe.

David also bonded with Medwyn.


He is a younger version of Rob and even though Medwyn was not sporting a Viking cap, David proceeded with his aggressive hugs and head butts of love. Medwyn held his own.

Peter was on cloud nine - not only did he find a BIG KID; this one actually talked to him.

Dafydd racked up points for being tall and talkative, but he also collected MEGA cool points by playing video games with Peter. Papa, can I stay here...please!

At some point, Medwyn and I left to pick up Chinese take-away. I swear, it took all I could muster not to crack up at hearing a Chinese person speaking with a Welsh accent. My polite manners kicked in and somehow I managed to stiffle my politically incorrect giggles.

Dinner was excellent and just as quickly as we took over the Medwyn castle, we left in search of new hotels to storm. Thanks again, cool family!


After leaving Medwyn's, we were supposed to drive to the next city and find our hotel. What nobody knew was that there was an ocean on the way! Okay, Medwyn lives on the coast and we did actually land on a ferry that went across the ocean, so it should not have been a big shocker for any of us. Angie, though, has proven time and time again that she is not 'one of us'. Aside from missing the necessary masculine bits to be 'one of us', Angie is not so good at controlling herself when it comes to scoping out prime shell-collecting spots.


Two hours later, Angie returned to show me her stash. I had been stuck with Tom, so I was less than thrilled. Oddly enough, Angie was not so interested in seeing 'the stash' that I had changed while Angie was off smooching seashells.

This only looks like a cute photo. Actually, this was Peter and David teaming up against Mama to drag her shell-collecting ass off of the beach. Mama, please - can we go sleep now?

Today was such a perfect day. I didn't want it to end until I saw this beautiful sunset.

It was such a fitting close to such a lovely day. As the sun set on Angie's spastic shell frenzy, I could only think of one word - Cymru.
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Ladder Talk:
1) What was the best part of your day?
Peter: When Dafydd teach me the games and we laugh.
David: When we meet that Dafydd kid, 'cause he name like mine.

2) What was the worst part of your day?
Peter: When we no find the hotel so soon.
David: When I not stay by the house from Rob.

3) What would you like to do tomorrow?
Peter: To go home and play with Gizma.
David: To eat and eat and eat - I hungry, can I a banana eat?

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