Shane and I found Stu at breakfast. Cole woke up and joined us a little later (which had Shane dancing for joy. I have video).
The boys got to play outside after breakfast. Shane really needed to use the bathroom, so I gave him the spare room key. I figured it was a good chance to learn some independence. The key "didn't work" until I called out for Shane to look for the arrow. That fixed it.
Later, Shane would disappear to use the bathroom again. Where'd he turn up? Our bedroom. The lesson was learned.
Anyway, Shane and Cole ran all over the place until the other kids showed up.
I tried to have them keep the noise down since it was early in the morning, but joy is hard to contain!
Evelyn, Tenley, and Ka came out for breakfasts later.
Nana and Pop had Stripe! Shane had left him in the dining room last night.
That tiger has been used and abused!
I don't know if Ka or Nana broke down first and handed the boys a phone. Once one had one, the other had one moments later.
The girls stayed with Nana and Ka all morning, but they had their own fun!
There was a raid clock ticking down across the street and Ka offered to walk over with the boys. Where she went, her ducklings followed. Where Shane went.....this didn't make me a duckling. Shane's the duckling! I just had to make sure he looked up from the hypno-screen to cross the street.
The funeral wasn't until 11 AM, so the kids had nearly three hours together to play.
We took them all back to Ka and Stu's room to get ready to get ready.
Everyone got on their electronics save Stu.
Shane and I said our goodbyes to shower and get ready ourselves and I discovered a problem: I couldn't find my clothes bag. I checked the car, I checked the dining room, and I asked the front desk.
It was nowhere to be found. I didn't think it was stolen outright. If I left the car unlocked, why would someone only take a grocery bag with some clothes? I had a bunch of change in the center console. No, I must have brought it out of the car and then set it down somewhere. But where?
I didn't find out before it was time for the funeral. I had a button up t-shirt and shoes, so I didn't look totally casual, but it wasn't what I considered proper attire. I wasn't going to let mild embarrassment prevent me from being there to show love and support, though.
I don't have any pictures of the funeral. I didn't feel like it was appropriate for me to play amateur photographer. It was at the same church as Matthew's funeral, so there was a sad, deja-vu to the experience. Shane and I stood in line at the end to give Dennis and Kyle hugs outside. They were upset, but holding it together. There's a lot of family and friends nearby, so I think they will have a lot of support as they grieve and adjust.
Shane and I didn't follow the hertz to the burial. He did a good job behaving through the funeral, but he was hungry, tired, and we had a long, hot drive home.
We got a chance to say goodbye to the cousins before we went. Shane kept going on about what they could all do when he was at Nana's in July...
Shane requested a lunch pit stop at CFA. He would have liked to have stopped much sooner, but I told him we were getting past Charlotte and the I-85 construction before I would even think of stopping!
Of course, Shane made a bunch of friends in the play area. He's almost never ready to go long after we're done eating.
Traffic didn't add an hour to the journey this time and we got home around 6:30ish, iirc. Carrie was happy to have us back.
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