Ka's New House!

Sunday was a day of firsts. It started by seeing Harper Blythe in person!

Sort of. Renee works to up the level of gift giving in the family (and nails it).

While I was admiring Nana's new coasters, she and Shane did a little light Bible story reading. 

A little after 9 AM, Shane and I drove over to explore the cousins' new house.

They'd just closed on their old house the week before Christmas and hadn't moved all their furniture to the new house yet.

It was definitely a fun setup for kids with balconies to look over and a big yard to play in.

And the adults could safely watch from the kitchen while drinking coffee.

I took some overhead shots that made the kids look like they were in their own video game before coming back downstairs.

Shane fired the big nerf gun in the house one too many times and got the "Fire it one more time in the house warning..." from Stu. Cole said he'd be "super mad" if Shane got his nerf gun taken away, so it seemed like a good time to go outside!

Nana said that Ka might want my help to tighten their new zipline. Ka loosened the line and then held a (wobbling) ladder for me to push the line further up. 

Reeses was thrilled people were outside. She'd left a few 'peanut butter cups' under the zipline that Kathleen picked up before any kids could land in them!

Shane and Cole each took a turn zipping across the yard. Then they disappeared back inside. The zipline's new height made it too tall for Evie and Tenley, so we attached the rope and seat. 

Stu helped the girls get started.

Evie flew across the yard before Tenley.

Tenley thought it looked easy and wanted to do it all by herself! Or maybe she didn't want to wait.

She allowed Stu to help when the first try didn't go quite as planned.

Soon she was flying across the yard, too!

Evie and Tenley got into a squabble over who's turn it was not long after. "Sisters," Ka said. "Sometimes enemies and sometimes best friends!"

Tenley got upset and huffed inside.....which was where we found the boys. They'd jumped on Slime Rancher when no one was looking.

Nana, Pop, and Indy arrived as the kids played inside.

Someone kicked the boys off the computer (I don't remember who, but Nana or I are the most likely candidates!).

Cole decided to show off a drone he got for Christmas.

It was different than our camera drone. It was made to fly automatically while being shot at by a laser gun.

Surprisingly, the dogs ignored it (Loki would've been barking his brains out).

Cole got a turn after Shane, but the batteries died before everyone could shoot.

The boys ran right back to the computer.

Pop poked at them. While Shane can't take a joke, Cole's a big fan of the banter and wordplay....but they were hyper-focused at the moment!

Nana gushed over Kathleen's chairs. She insisted I try one out. They looked pretty comfortable from Tenley's modeling!

Pop approved, too!

And then he had to defend himself as Tenley tried to start a pillow fight!

Pop tried to involve Evie, too, but she just smiled and used the pillows to build herself a better fort.

Fresh out of pillows, Tenley tried to tackle Pop instead!

But she mainly got tickled!

Not that it stopped her. She kept coming back for more! 

She's a physical kid. Ka says she likes to go outside and just run. Maybe she'll end up as the most athletic of all the cousins.

We kicked the boys off the computer again. Shortly after, Cole got mad at Shane. Cole shut himself in his bedroom and Shane.....well, Shane switched to playing with the girls. If Cole was trying to punish Shane, it didn't work. If Cole was trying to get some space to calm down and breathe, it worked perfectly.

Evie was an egg and Shane and Tenley tried to knock her over on the trampoline!

I was able to pull a few stills showing smiles.

Evie's made a ton of progress since I saw her last. She chats, plays, and laughs away! She even used some words around me and I haven't seen her since the beach!

Nana said that all of Ka's kids have become so much closer than they used to be. I don't know how much of it is from age and how much is from the pandemic forcing them to play with each other. Nana said Evie started to play more video games with Cole and he decided she was cool after all! 

Cole cooled down and rejoined the fold. Or maybe my pictures are out of order?

I remember Cole wasn't as upset by the time the pizza arrived. He ate at the kitchen table instead of with the other kids and then went back upstairs to play Zelda on his DS. I went upstairs to say goodbye to him in case he didn't come down.

Shane and the girls ate outside with everyone else.

Nana went on and on about the porch and back yard. She thought it was the best!

In addition to the zipline and trampoline, there was a hammock, a swing set, a jungle gym, oh my!

And it was warm! It didn't feel like winter at all. All of the adults worked to stay in the shade while the kids ran around.

Megan called on WhatsApp and it was like a mini-family reunion.

Megan got her boys some belly bumpers for Christmas to roughhouse around in! It would've been awesome to add them into the mix at Ka's!

However, I had to get back home. I left a little after noon. I got some gas near the border of SC and NC and drove straight on through from there.

Carrie was awake when I got home, but she didn't last long after that!

Loki and Aria were happy to see me. I was only too happy to take a picture of Loki standing over Aria, too!

It was a quiet night after a busy couple of days. It should be pretty quiet at the farm, but it's going to be a raucous festival in SC with all the cousins playing together! Winter break is awesome!