A little late, but here we go!

Anthrocon began for me Tuesday when my first guest arrived,  Rimme. He arrived during my first therapist session and Angie was thrilled to see him again as he enjoys playing at her level and can do so for longer than I can anymore. It had been two years since either of us had seen him so it was very good to host him again. We didn't do a whole lot else other than catching up a little before bed though; the real zaniness began the next day.

Wednesday, Rimme, Angie and I drove out to the airport to pick up  LurkingWolf. He arrived about 12:30 or so, and we only had to wait about ten minutes after arriving before he reached the terminal. We stopped for food at Cracker Barrel on the way back; it was Rimme's first time and so I was delighted to introduce him to the place; love all the crazy amount of great food they serve. We got back to the house and mostly hung out chatting and playing a bit with my daughter. Angie had gymnastic that evening after dinner, so once they were gone, we got to talking about movies and when I learned neither had seen 'Fire and Ice' we started watching. We got about half way through when my next guests arrived,  Killer.Narwhal and  Sasha_Driften. Narwhal wanted to make chili for us the next day so he got started preparing that in his crock pot. We mostly just chatted until Angie got back, and after I put her to bed we spent time chatting again. I don't recall how late it was, but  WolfFriend showed up last after a very long day's drive. We called it a night at some point after that.

Thursday most folks slept in a decent amount. Angie and I were up well before the others and she wasn't too happy I wouldn't let her go downstairs and wake everybody up. But eventually folks did get up and we shared breakfast and just relaxed for a while before it was time to head down to the convention center. Angie wanted to come of course, but this was not her day.

We made it with ease and stood in line for an hour to get our badges. I had a really nice conversation with the Dad of a teenage furry daughter who was there at AC for the first time. Very adventurous guy, loved caving but couldn't do it anymore. I remember thinking and hoping that my heart would be good enough to do the kind of adventurous stuff I enjoy at his age.

We discovered that poor Rimme left his wallet at my house so he couldn't pick up his badge just yet. We weren't terribly interested in any of the activities at the con for that day, so after getting something to eat and wandering for a little bit and ending up at the pier for a good while (and running into a few friends like  Salvestro,  Lukaryo,  Soba,  Sodalite,  Tiptoe,  SandySchreiber, and a few others I cannot remember now) we decided to head back to my house. We spent the rest of the day relaxing, chatting, playing this or that, and enjoyed eating Narwhal's chili. Narwhal even showed Angie how to paint miniatures and she did two and made them look pretty good, especially for her first time trying. He gave me a pair of Rat miniatures that are supposed to be my Metamor Keep character; got them on my desk right now.

We did hit the sack early for a con because Friday was going to be an early day as always for Anthrocon.

Friday we were up early and in line for the Dealer's Den by eight o'clock. There was some confusion among the security staff where the attendee line would be, but we finally got settled in. We played a couple of games of Betrayal and some others I don't recall now while waiting for the Dealer's Den to open. Rimme was able to get his badge during this time at least and he had almost no wait.

There was some confusion about who was in line toward the opening and a bunch of folks who were not waiting with us were able to get in first. This made me a little anxious which did not help my health, but once the doors opened I was able to get in line and secure a sketch commission from my usual gang of  DarkNatasha,  Michele_light and  Caribou. I was also delighted to find  CZGoldEdition there and snagged a sketch slot from her too.

I then got into suit for my Rodents panel. It was the largest room I'd ever had and perhaps the best attendance I'd ever had too. Because of the size of the room and the heat I took my head off for most of the panel. It went well with lots of good discussions; mostly media featuring rodents and not too many stories about owning pet rodents this time, but everyone enjoyed themselves and that's the most important part.

I was pretty low on energy so I didn't suit for very long, mostly just long enough to get back to the Dealer's Den and get changed. After spending an hour or so wandering the dealer's den I headed off to the Hoofer's panel with Fulminar. I definitely had a lot of fun there, and I helped the panel organizer figure out how to get the group photo to work. It was mostly group table discussions and I met a few cool hoofers, including  BlueStreak98, and it was good to chat as a Zebra for a while. I had hoped to show off a new Zebra badge from  CatMonkShiro but it wasn't quite ready yet; I was happy to wear my certified Zebra badge and the 'I'm a Stripey Zebra' badge I picked up which were both quite neat.

Afterwards I went up to the Game room and played Rabbit Island with my friends and then I think we did a few rounds of Forbidden Desert (winning both times). I had bought Jimmy Johns for lunch and snagged a double sandwich so I had the second sandwich for dinner, saving me a trip out to get food. I had thought to stay for a round of Werewolf, but the game tends to make me really anxious and that's the last thing I needed then so after doing a few more games with my friends we headed back home.

Saturday we took it easy in the morning, sleeping in and so forth. We got to the convention center a little after ten o'clock. I checked on my sketches and moved my book around some. I think I was finally able to pick up mny new Zebra badge from Shiro; very cool and happy to show it off. We went to Jimmy Johns for lunch again and I bought two sandwiches once again. I started to feel really beat down then, wasn't sure if it was just the heat or if my heart was part of the problem, but because of it I decided that I was not going to do the fursuit parade this year. Instead we went to the Game Room so I could just sit down for a while. We did a few games of Betrayal there and that proved to be a lot of fun. I even ended up helping run a game or two of Rabbit Island.

At some point I started to feel better and went back to the Dealer's Den to check on sketches, browse, and chat with artist friends. I then went to the Scalies panel and had a blast. It started with some group discussion and some motivating questions which seemed to work okay. It then ended up another mostly small table discussions which was cool. I got to meet some nice scalies and had a really good chat with one in particular. Sadly our social media presences were not lined up, but at least it was good to meet another fan of Star Fox Adventures and somebody who understands what tolerance and diversity actually mean.

I then returned to the game room and after playing a few more games with my friends we headed back home. It was pretty late and we stopped at Sheetz on the way back so my friends could get something to eat. Two miles from my house we hit a pothole and one of the manifolds in my exhaust system snapped which was quite scary, but we made it home safe and sound; the repair bill ended up being almost a thousand dollars, gah!!

Sunday I brought my daughter to Anthrocon again. We went to Epiphany with the Catholic Furs for Mass in the morning and then we spent the day wandering around. My daughter tried to wear my old rat tail, but it was too long for her and she got tired of carrying it around in five minutes. I ended up buying a pink and purple wolf tail for her to wear; she is going to need better belts before she tries this again because the belt she did have was barely holding together. Still, she loved it and naturally went around hugging all the fursuiters she could and trying to get any who would to play with her. I am WolfFriend followed along pretty much all day, and I'm grateful for WolfFriend backing me up there.

I was able to pick up all of my sketches that day, and I also bought a cute little children's book called "Hello Officer Voof" for my daughter while there. Another fur offered to buy her some silly badges from  Flinters which I let him do after he checked with me first. Flinters saw my badges and was so intrigued by a Rat and a Zebra that he did me a free sketch combining both into one shape -- sadly I cannot seem to scan the thing and get it to show up; probably have to just take a picture of it to share it.

Angie didn't find too many folks who would play with her like she did in previous years; there was one dog fur who played a bit with her by bouncing the tennis ball he kept in his mouth back and forth. Otherwise it was a ton of walking as Angie wanted to explore around to find all the suiters. Lots of pictures of her hugging various suiters and showing off her tail. Once again she managed to get on film by Kibawolf; no idea if she made his Anthrocon video this year yet or not, but it would not surprise me if she does (still waiting for it to come out).

We said goodbye to Sasha and Narwhal that afternoon as they wanted to get back that night.

Once the Dealer's Den closed we made our way back to the cars and headed for home. We had hoped to order Chinese take out for dinner but the place was closed so we all headed off to a Thai Sushi place nearby and enjoyed dinner there. Angie's legs were hurting really badly but she seemed to walk around okay, which is how I knew it was just her legs getting stiff on the car ride home after walking so much so I told her to just keep moving around a bit to loosen them up and she was fine.

After we all returned to my house we just relaxed, showed off the various cool stuff we got, while Angie played with Rimme. I don't remember when we went to bed that night, but everyone was tired after a fun Anthrocon. Monday morning Angie was worried she wouldn't get any playtime with my friends, but she did get a little bit before they all headed off by about 9. I honestly don't even remember what else I did that day, but Tuesday it was back to work. And later that day I got the word everyone made it home safe and sound.

I'll get the pictures I scanned shared soon. Thank you to all for a great and fun Anthrocon! Here's hoping next year I'll be in much better shape and actually be able to do some suiting again!

Dominus vobiscum