New Year's Eve Visitors

We had some visitors to make New Year's Eve special! Kim and Ryan drove over from Richmond to see the new house (and dog!).

We met up at the barn before we headed out to the tavern for lunch. They chose to drive the back roads to get here. Kim was happy to report they didn't get trapped behind any tractors or slow-driving country folk on the way over. 

Shane wanted to show off his room (and Pokemon stickers) to Ryan before we headed out. Like me, Ryan said, "That's Mewtwo," only to have Shane correct him, "NO! That's a Mewtwo Y!"

I tried to catch a wild Shane on the way back from lunch. Shane rode with Ryan and Kim. Kim's window was down, but I missed!

I had to hop out of the car, pick it up from a puddle's edge, and slam dunk it in.

"Daaaad!!!!" Shane yelled.

No, we weren't driving. We were parked at the hardware store for an errand. The roads don't have passing lanes, so it's not like I could drive up beside them. Plus, Carrie would have been in the passenger seat and killed me. 

Kim commented that she didn't need a radio while we sat around. Ryan and Shane kept up a steady stream of beat-boxing to keep her 'entertained.'

We gave the official tour of the property when we got back. Heidi pulled up and Carrie peeled off from the group to saddle up herself.

Kim, Ryan, Shane, and I went back to the house and opened presents! I don't know how they find time to shop for as many people as they do, but they manage and they're good at it. Shane got some Harry Potter LEGOs, a HP coding game, and a LEGO Technic car.

He pulled out the wand right away and started to treat it like a weapon. "Say it! Don't spray it, kid!"

There excitement was broken when Max stirred up some excitement of her own. She was stalking some shelves, so I shifted them to see what she was on to.

A mouse shot out. Max caught it.

"Good girl, Max!" I said.

"Let me see! Let me see!" Shane shouted. Kim had the opposite reaction.

I had to stop Shane from racing over to Max. She trotted out of the kitchen and down the hallway with her prize. I started to laugh as she moved to Shane's room. (She was bringing him a present!).

"What!?" Shane yelled. "Noooo!" He ran after and Max dropped the mouse! The mouse skittered into the laundry room and I had to move shoes to help Max zero in on her target again.

I'd hoped she'd kill the mouse, but she was treating it like a prized toy. Stress can kill a mouse and I didn't want it tortured, but I wouldn't cry if it keeled over.

After Max dropped and caught the poor thing multiple times, I pulled out the camera to take a video.

You can tell I got highly distracted at the end. We never had the chance to see if Bucket had hunting instincts. By the time Ryan and I had retrieved her from behind the TV, Max had dropped the mouse and it had run under the fridge.

When the excitement died down, I let Shane show Slime Rancher to Ryan. Shane interjects Slime Rancher into any random conversation, so I figured it would be best to get it out of his system.

With Shane plugged in, that gave Kim, Ryan, and I time to sit down, talk, and play a board game! We learned to play Azul!

That's the temptation with video games and kids. The games can buy you a moment's peace, but if you overuse them...

I pulled the plug shortly after our game. Shane showed Kim his room and ended up wrestling with Ryan and Loki!

Carrie came in from riding and showed Kim Happy-cat while the boys played. (I didn't get this picture pre-approved, so I put it in small until the censors could look at it!)

"We should get a picture before you go," I said. 

Everyone agreed, but not everyone had the same type of picture in mind.

This led to a few tries.

Ryan applied tickling to try and get a smile.

And I guess that's the best we could get out of Shane posing. He stood still, at least.

Amazingly, Kim barely moved even with some wrestling adjacent to her! She knows how to avoid getting blurred out!

I'm glad they visited, because it made New Year's Eve a special memory. We weren't planning on staying up or anything of the like. I would have been happy if they chose to stay the night, but it was not to be!

Shane started working on his new Harry Potter LEGOs right after they left.

I'm going to need to get him working on a thank you note....in 2020!