The sleepover didn't go as planned. Shane woke me up at 1:30 AM with a headache. He climbed in bed with me rather than go back. He felt all better when he woke up a little after 6 AM.
So I took him to get donuts.
I didn't expect there to be a line at 7 AM on a Tuesday. We waited through it and then walked around.
When we got back, Shane heaped praises and encouragement upon the Duck Donuts employees. "You're really good at that!" and "You make a good donut!"
In a rare move, Nana took my phone and insisted on taking some pictures for me.
She wanted to get a picture of me with the donuts.
I try to peel off immediately after. Shane jumped in!
The girls had already had morning treats, so Stu was on distraction detail. They were playing hide and go seek when I spotted them outside.
The girls were none the wiser by the time everyone came downstairs. Megan was on a videocall checking in with Big B and showing him everyone. He was still in Chicago handling family matters.
Matt and Renee wanted to do an early morning beach trip. I agreed, but wanted to wait for the other cousins, too.
They had decorative sand and other things to do, so Shane and I eventually went on our own.
Imagine our surprise to see Matt and Renee coming back. It hadn't been that long!
"The wind is blowing sand like crazy," Matt said. "You can feel it hitting you."
He wasn't exaggerating. It felt like the beach was trying to sand off my leg hair. Pictures didn't do it justice, so I tried different angles to try and record it.
We walked down to the wet sand to avoid the sandblast effect. I had Shane lean in to the wind to see how far he could go with it holding him up.
It was too gusty to hold his position for long, but you get the idea.
I asked him to take a picture of me doing it, too, but his camera skills are subpar. After several attempts, this is all I got!
Fantastic day for wind sports, though. I watched one guy wrestle his parachute on the beach before heading out. If I didn't have a kid to watch (and it was free!), I would have loved to have tried it.
We didn't get in the water.
Shane chased a bird around a bit and then we headed back home.
Note: Shane came much closer to the bird than I expected. It was funny to see it try to fly forward only to hang suspended in the air as the wind helped Shane out.
There was an air of tension, however.
Shane and Cole are usually a good pair. But they need breaks from each other. Shane doesn't take subtle hints about when to quit. Cole tends to run right past them to battle stations, anyway. It can create situations where Shane thinks everyone is having great fun while Cole rages and it ends with hurt feelings.
B makes it worse.
It's not that he tried to. It's more that B's presence added a new option. Instead of making up with each other, Shane and Cole now had someone else to turn to. After any argument, both wanted B to take their side. B's the youngest, so it's not like he could read the politics of the situation and mediate. He'd just say who he thought was wrong and keep playing. Whoever's side he didn't agree with was unhappy.
I spotted Shane sitting in a chair after a splash fight gone wrong. He didn't seek me out, so I let him process and kept an eye on it from afar. Megan saw him and went out to see what was up, so I took a picture of that.
It was good most of the time. The first couple of days went smoothly since all the boys were so excited to see each other. They share a lot of the same interests, so there weren't instant arguments over what to do. Three kids is a harder dynamic to master for young ones, as well. With two kids, they have to figure out something to do or they'll be alone.
With three kids, if two agree to do something the third has to join in or go solo.
But like I said, it normally worked out. B and Cole liked Minecraft more than Shane, but oftentimes he was happy to curl up near them with a device. He'd try to show them Minecraft videos he was watching as they played (The Illager, BeckBroJack, etc).
I enlisted all of the boys to play Marvel United. They haven't learned how to communicate as a team, but they grasped the rules quickly. They're all bright and nearly beat the Red Skull on their first try!
Most of the afternoon was free time for the kids. They had devices...
...or they horsed around!
Nana played Charades with Tenley and Evelyn.
Matt, Aiden, and Graham roamed and Sammy tagged along.
Which helped Megan, because she was cooking dinner.
All of the kids were real social with each other except Graham, but he had options!
It was around dinner time Patrick and Shelby showed up! I saw them drive by and ran out to help them park.
The whole house piled upstairs for food and fellowship.
Megan made a beef stew and garlic cheesebread.
Shelby stayed upstairs and talked to Nana and Pop (and probably answered a ton of baby questions) while Patrick came down and checked in on the sibs and kids.
He'd only be staying a few days, because of work....and he couldn't zoom it in like Kathleen!
I'd brought a couple of Mark's beers to share and we joked and traded stories.
Eventually the party moved to the steps (they weren't bad when it wasn't raining!). Shelby and Nana joined in.
The boys took over the table and Shane booted up Slime Rancher (and resurrected "FluffTurd" or whatever the joke was from last year!).
Evie, Tenley, and Sammy rounded up rocks and put them into the yard under Stu's watchful eye.
While Cole and Shane tried to set up Kathleen's computer for Slime Rancher, B slipped outside to play with the other kids. B exhibited the family trait of climbing.
Don't worry. We supervised.
Renee was the most worried. Especially about how B would get down. "He can hang and drop," we said. "It gets him closer to the ground."
And he did. Smart boy!
A game of sardines broke out. The younger kids played at first. I kicked Shane and Cole off the computers and they joined in!
No one was allowed to hide inside, but Shane was a clever toot. He climbed up the stairs and laid down behind all the adults.
Matt signaled. B picked up on it. Look at that face!
The game of sardines was my highlight for the night. The kids ran! They laughed! Together! You could see the excitement (and hear it even when they were on the other side of the house!). The group games are some of my favorite memories of growing up.
Everyone ran themselves silly before going in. It made for easy bed times!
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