Shane in SC + The Pickup! (Summer)

Shane's in paradise located somewhere near Greenville, South Carolina. It started off with a bang, too. Tenley always wants a pool party, so, even though her birthday is in the winter, she waits until summer to have it! There was a youth activity at Nana and Pop's church, too.

They were so busy I didn't start getting texts right away! We'd sent some outgrown clothes south with Shane, but Nana quickly pointed out we'd forgotten something!

I, uh, forgot to bring the other shoe to the hand off. Thankfully, Nana forgave me or forgot to mention it. Nana and Pop stay busy with grandkids, so that could have factored in. They had Matt and Renee's crew before Shane and helped out at VBS before that.

I'd love to have a schedule like that sometime in my retirement years (with time to recuperate in between, of course!).

I'd asked for Shane to do some swimming each day at the pool since he'd be missing swim practice for the week. 

He loves to visit their pool anyway.

Their neighborhood pool was sadly inactive. Shane longs for there to be a party wherever he goes, but it was a chance for everyone else to recover from his energy levels!

I talked to Shane while I was at BLAST and asked Nana to have him call Carrie, too. She didn't pick up, but it's better to have people who care calling you than no calls at all.

Shane spent the week doing all sorts of crazy activities. Urban Air was probably his favorite.

Nana posted a bunch of pictures on her Facebook page.

There are a plethora of fun places for kids in the Greenville area. I keep reminding Shane that life isn't like that year round. Everyone just goes into overdrive when he's around, because it's summer and time is short!

I got a few exclusive videos and commentary as the proud father of the grandson.

Nana and Pop trade back and forth with Ka and Stu and sometimes Dot. It takes a village to raise a child well.

Nana had Shane play online with B some, too. They're going to be moving back stateside soon! There will be three of my siblings in SC as of July! Nana gave me a small update on what was going on with Megan.

I wish I kept better track of everyone. It's easier to get news from Nana. I need to pull WhatsApp off Shane's phone and switch it back to mine at some point. I'd switched it to the pink phone, so he could talk to B in Africa to play Roblox.

There were less pictures than some visits, but Nana kept texting me updates about all the fun activities they were up to!

Time flew and the day for pickup came. Carrie and I started with chores while Shane started it waking up from a sleepover with Cole (more on that later!).

The farmers were out in force where we were. Look at all the hardware!

Carrie and I tried to stop at a Starbucks in Lynchburg on the way, because we had a gift certificate from her parents for our anniversary. It was closed and the next one down the road was swarmed with all of it's usual customers.

So we stopped at Joe Beans instead. Honestly, I like it better and would've picked it first if we hadn't had the gift card for elsewhere! It's a "drive to SC" staple. 

Shane was a mix of emotions when we picked him up. 

He missed us, but he'd prefer if we packed up and moved to SC as a family for good! We're tied to VA with my job, the horses, and Carrie's folks, but he wants cousins, cousins, cousins!

We shared a meal at CFA and heard all about Shane's exploits from the week. It's such a blessing to have a supportive, loving family.

Shane had a sleepover with Cole the last night in SC. It's both one of his favorite times of the week and the most exhausting for everyone else (there's a reason they timed it for the very end!).

Shane was chill and reading in our car, so it's not like he's completely inexhaustable.

Though he perked straight up when Carrie stopped for ice cream at our new favorite spot.

Carrie really wanted to try a certain flavor as a family, but Shane (predictably) wanted his own. She was a little disappointed, but consoled herself with eating the rest of it. 

Shane gave the stop two thumbs up and a huge smile at the end!

We saw some crazy clouds coming down the mountains when we made it to Nelson County.

I was a passenger, so I took a bunk of pictures and videos of them as they rolled (I won't subject you all to them here).

Carrie and Shane had a little Sims bonding time when we got back.

I say a little, because, once she got him hooked up and happy, Carrie came over to me on the couch and we watched some Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Carrie found out there was going to be a crossover episode with Star Trek: The Lower Decks and she is ecstatic. I was told to skip Star Trek: Discovery and Carrie started me on Captain Pike so we can both be ready when the crossover episode comes out.

So far, Strange New Worlds is fun! Granted, Carrie only showed me half of the first season (she skipped the ones she found unnecessary), but it feels like a step away from dramatic, dark, thriller territory and more into character based stories and hijinks (with perhaps temporal anomalies being a common core plot device like The Dominion for DS9 or The Borg for Voyager).

We planned a quiet evening to let Shane come down from the vacation highs.

He got to greet all the house animals, but avoid the chore animals at the barn.

Shane's only going to be around for one night. He ships out to Camp Highroad tomorrow! This is part of the busy stretch of the summer for us. It's going to be stuff, stuff, stuff until August when I booked absolutely nothing.