July 4th Weekend

We spent the weekend of the 4th with Grandpa and Grandma. I asked Shane what he thought the 4th was all about on the drive.

"Fireworks!"

Well done, kid.

Carrie presented Grandma and Grandpa with a special gift when we arrived Saturday.

Grandma loved it.

It was a 1975 copy of Fodor's Ireland. That's the year Grandpa and Grandma were married, AND Carrie and Grandma are researching a business trip to Ireland in August. "This book was meant to be found," Carrie said. She was right.

Predictably, Shane wanted Grandpa to take him fishing right after.

I tried to stay in the shade some.

Saturday night, we watched the Lego Batman movie. It's been at the top of list!

It was worth it. Shane got to stay up late to finish.

Sunday, we had a fancy breakfast, went to church, and enjoyed the day (The food is always great at Grandma's).

We don't know any kids at Grandma's, so I struggle to find ways to keep Shane active. What he really wants is to gorge on electronics and eat ice cream. That's fine for him, but it's a recipe for disaster later. He eventually gets up and runs wild.

I forced him out to practice some putting Sunday night.

Bunny walks used to be a thing. Shane's not so impressed anymore.

At least there's always fishing.

We don't do anything advanced. Bread, hook, and stupid bluegills.

We were very surprised when Shane caught a bass!

Seriously!? We never knew those were even in there. When Shane's rod bent and he had trouble reeling it in I didn't know what to think. I figured he was reeling slowly to savor the moment. I reached to help so the fish wouldn't be on the hook too long and realized something was different.

It was awesome. There was another boy fishing whose jaw dropped. "You're using bread?!"

It was neat to look into the mouth of the sucker. Our tiny hook had barely caught on to it's lip. Grandpa knew the right way to hold it.

Monday, Shane and I accompanied Carrie on a Nibs run.

Obviously, it was my job to keep him busy.

We went back home to check on all of our animals. Our house is closer to Nibs than Grandma's. Carrie frowns upon fireworks, so we planned to return to New Kent Tuesday. There'd be family and less explosions. I figured I'd take Shane to Williamsburg or somewhere nearby Grandpa knew while Carrie hid out.

It was a good thing we swung by the house. Shane got to catch up with some friends.

Monday night:

Tuesday morning:

We drove back with Shane's fishing rod. I helped him assemble it. I showed him what to do, took it apart, and let him do the final job.

The weather turned stormy and we never went out that night. Carrie went to bed early, and Shane didn't want to put down the iPad when I tried to stir up his interest. To at least make it a little special, I let Shane stay up late. He put away the iPad and Grandma, Grandpa, Shane, and I watched the DC fireworks live on TV.