Friendly Meet Up

It was a quiet final week of summer, but I did manage to schedule one play date. Shane and I met up with Dylan and Eli to walk a trail.

 John had the idea that he could use the outing to teach Eli how to ride his bike.

The older boys ran off with Goldie.

John stuck with a whiny Eli. 

I moved ahead in the middle to keep an eye on both groups (and with enough distance I could listen in or turn on an audiobook!).

Eli was not a happy camper. The brake lines had a loose end that sometimes bumped his heels. He thought it was terrible! The bike was stupid, everything was stupid! John's lower back was taking a hit. He walked next to Eli hunched over with one hand on the back of the seat and the other on the handlebars (and he's tall!).

Meanwhile, Shane and Dylan were happy campers. They talked Minecraft, Roblox, and "ANTS!"

We took a short rest break in some shade. Dylan, Goldie, and Shane took off at a run when we were done.

John gave me his backpack to help him balance while balancing Eli! Eli refused any attempts to speed up which double the effort John had to exert to keep him upright.

It was cooler out than earlier in the week, but the heat index had to be in the lower 90s. John and I made the call to turn around early before the troops got grumpy. Eli was fed up with the bike, so I rode it for a while....which is probably what made him jealous enough to try again a few minutes later.

Shane offered to help! However generous that was, it was clearly a disaster in progress! Ha! 

I took a turn. I only held the front handlebar to spare my back and tried to coach Eli on keeping his weight in the middle. 

John took back over again and they had a father-son practice session.

The boys and Goldie rested in the shade.

Shane, the dumb-butt, poured out the last of the water from the water bottle we were sharing. "Why'd you do that!?" I asked.

"For the grass?" Shane replied.

I'd say my son thinks of grass before he thinks of sharing with me, but the truth is he frequently doesn't think before he does something!

It was a shorter visit than expected. Shane and I needed to grab groceries afterward, so we didn't go over to their house.

However, we got a surprise visit from Landie that evening! Ellie was going to help rescue a bunch of pigs and needed childcare while she did. Loki was thrilled while Kila was afraid (She eventually got cornered and warmed up by force!).

We put Is It Cake? on at Landie's request. Shane was the only one the TV ensnared, though.  Landie was trying to jump on the couch, on Shane, and run everywhere!

Ellie came back after about an hour. It turned out the pigs didn't need rescuing after all (but that's another story!). 

Side note: I discovered I could link my camera to the TV. I told Carrie she was on a reality show!

Thursday ended up our social day of the week. It was a little less than 3 hours, but we got some adventure in.