Genevieve and Chris Visit

We had visitors arrive Friday night! It was a guild gathering! 

Shane was so absorbed in Sim City he didn't realize they were inside and talking until I opened his door.

Gen and Chris brought their cats, Ollie and Lille, with them this time. Ollie is on cancer meds, so they couldn't leave them behind. We parked the cats in the guest bedroom (and learned later on that when Ollie takes a dump you can smell it all the way down the hall through a closed door!).

Carrie and Shane were happy to show Gen and Chris our new cat and horses. They'd been to the house, but not post-ponies.

Everyone crowded into the tack room together. Happy hopped up on everyone she could. I slid out after the picture, because allergies.

It was a weekend of food and games. Soccer was over, TKD was closed, and a lot of Shane's friends were travelling. We were bound to the house due to animals, so Shane got more electronics than usual.

The adults played a chunk of WoW when it was our turn, but everyone humored me with one board game. Carrie even blinged out Chris' character by gluing on some accessories!

Alas, the chores don't stop just because there's company. Carrie and I were out twice a day every day. Shane generally stayed inside and kept the company company.

There was some drama in the horse word. Nibs has continuously been aggressive towards the other mares. They're fine 95% of the time, but the other 5% could have been dangerous. Carrie and I talked it over and she separated Nibs from Annie and Maddy.

That put Nibs in the dry lot and we learned something else: Nibs was in heat.

Nibs calmed down the aggression and amped up the squirting and courting once she was closer to Sam.

Despite being the victim, Annie seemed to really miss having Nibs in the same pasture. She kept standing at the fence line.

Maddy trotted off and ate hay. Little fazes her.

She'd check in, too, though. The mares all seemed to miss Nibs even if they didn't miss being chased around.

Carrie went to run some errands, so I enlisted Chris and Shane to help with some poop busting.

They tore around the field while I handled other horse chores.

'Tore' was a deliberate choice of verbs. When Carrie came home, she was upset and worried that the wet ground allowed for pasture grass to be torn up (I'd told Chris, "Have fun," so it's not like I said to go slow).

Was it?

The jury is still out. You could definitely see where Chris had driven the day of, but over a week later it basically looks normal. The real test will be how the field looks when it's growing season.

Everyone was tuckered out by Sunday afternoon.

That gave Shane a chance to play around on a monk Carrie made for him in WoW.

Chris, Genevieve, Ollie, and Lillie packed up and we said our goodbyes as the sun headed below the horizon. Everyone had work and school come the sunrise. It was great to have visitors when we were homebound for the break.

World of Warcraft

WoW has stuck around. It's been hot and cold. Carrie played more than me whenever she was stuck on hold with distributors, etc. I enjoyed leveling and exploring, but once that was done I only logged on when there was something new or I was needed for something. I didn't even log in some months, and thought about cancelling.

The situation has changed, though.

Right now, we're playing two to four nights a week. Everyone hops on between 8 and 9 PM and we play for a couple of hours give or take. Shane's usually earned electronics by then, so he's on Pokemon and I hop up to put him to bed at 9 PM.

It started easily enough.

Carrie, Genevieve, Chris, and I tried to do a Mythic+ dungeon as a foursome and failed (It's typically done with a 5 person team). They're all in to collecting and gearing up. I have no interest save helping them. But running challenges? That seemed more fun to me.

Or it would have been if we had five players. We seemed to be perma-capped at four. We didn't know anyone else who played and who'd want to be #5 with a pair of married couples?

And then Bill showed an interest.

I had been playing a game a couple of times a week with Bill, John, and Dan. Dan moved to Vegas. John lost interest. Bill and I were still interested, but frequently busy. The game itself wasn't enough to hold our attention, either. It had been running as a group of four that made the magic happen.

WoW classic came out around then. Bill and I had played for a few months nearly 15 years ago. Carrie and I tried it out and I related the experience to Bill.

Nostalgia kicked in.

Bill decided to do a free trial and things changed. Carrie was thrilled and offered to help fly him around and smite anything that bothered him. We tried to get John to play, but he wasn't interested. Bill wanted to run around more with us, so he upgraded his account which gave him a level boost. We introduced him to Gen and Chris, he joined the guild, and everyone got bit by the mythic+ bug.

We had our five! That gave us a chance at running mythic dungeons. Everyone was hooked and Carrie and Gen started making plans to meet on certain nights. Everyone helped Bill here and there when he needed it to get him up to speed.

Ironically, around this time Carrie made a new friend online, Emily. Emily was in college in NC and played the same type of character as Carrie. Carrie and Emily had the best gear in the group and Carrie invited her to join us on a run Bill wasn't big enough for yet.

Our too small group of 4 changed to a too large group of 6.

Thankfully, it's worked out most nights. There have been a few times everyone was on and ready, but there were only five slots and someone was temporarily left out. Chris is the healer and I'm the tank, so we're required for each run. I would be willing to bow out, but that would be like playing soccer without a goalie or football without a defensive line. Gen, Emily, Bill, and Carrie are the four DPS trying to fill three slots.

I wrote a lot more about that than I planned. Just feeling wordy, I guess.

TLDR; Bill started to play WoW. It's more fun now. We met another friend and we're playing several nights a week which is much cheaper than eating out.

Labor Day Farewell

Monday came and it was great to be off work. However, it came to an end. Gen and Chris needed to get back to their cats (one with cancer) and jobs. We needed to get ready to face our week.

It rained before they left and there was a rainbow!

Shane was saying he already missed them before they left.

Shane would love to have visitors 24/7.....and honestly, I probably wouldn't mind either as long as they didn't drive Carrie crazy.

Weekend Visitors

Carrie's birthday hit this week. The party didn't start until Chris and Genevieve arrived for a weekend stay! I had high hopes we'd pick up D&D again or some board games, but it was mainly a weekend of electronic lounging. 

And food. Lots of good food! 

I took Shane to TKD on Saturday and then he and I drove to NoVA on Sunday for Jama's 90th birthday. Gen, Chris, and Carrie stayed home to watch the puppy, binge Netflix, and play World of Warcraft.

We did have some other weekend visitors on Saturday. Kyle put out word there was free lumber after pulling down the old fence. A few people walked up and introduced themselves to us.

Others appeared in the yard!

I found the whole process interesting. I called it a "Scottsville yard sale," and was glad for every scrap someone claimed.

We still had some lumber left over at the end. Kyle and crew will haul it away at some point.

Genevieve and Chris for the Weekend!

Genevieve and Chris drove down Friday to spend the weekend with us! We'd given away the guest mattress, so they had to sleep on an inflatable one.

Shane wanted to show Chris and Gen our 'new' basement. Carrie put on Super Mario RPG. The flickering, electronic lights captivated Shane and we all went upstairs without him noticing. Carrie started a timer on my phone to see how long it took him to notice we were gone.....but after half an hour we decided to check on him instead!

Saturday morning, Shane played a lot more Super Mario RPG. He was the first one up, followed by Chris. I came down next, then Carrie, and then Genevieve.

Shane played a lot of that game over the course of the day (The music was a little annoying!).

We had a soccer game at 11 AM.

The size of our team:

The size of their team:

We won! It was 5-1! The kids looked fantastic! We had one loaner player (To whom I yelled, "Great job 'Loaner!'" after one play. He replied, "My name is Willey!").

Shane was almost a member of the orange team. It was coached by Hayden and Harrison's dad! Coach B wasn't there for some reason, though, so I didn't get a chance to say hi to him.

I did come away with a slight pinkening on half of my face (#GingerProblems).

Carrie had driven Chris and Gen to look at our home site while Shane and I were at the game.

We met up for lunch burritos!

Shane wanted Jersey Mike's so I walked him over to pick up a kid's meal before meeting back up with everyone.

There was funniness, goofiness, and "Shane will snuggle with anyone on a couch with a blanket" shenanigans in the house, but there was still time for neighborhood friends. I got a picture of Henry and Sam out Saturday evening...

...and Raheem played around on Sunday. They played some Mario Kart in the basement before going outside.

Throughout it all, the adults found time to nerd.

Friday, Carrie said, "Let's play a game!" If it's in the house, I enjoy it. I'm not picky. I put out a few choices and Chris picked D&D. I didn't realize neither Gen or Chris had ever played, so I asked Gen if she wanted to DM or not and then launched into DM mode.

We ended up playing off and on all weekend! Sir Tiffany the folk hero, Zazie the academic mage, and Cirilla the rogue runt started their adventuring careers. A half-deaf shopkeeper had trouble understanding Zazie, and she almost lit the group on fire a couple of times. Sir Tiffany tried to pet a wolf in the mouth, then slept in a bugbear's bed, and got lice. Cirilla had the darnedest time noticing and getting away with anything, but got the hang of sneak attacks and was the last party member standing after an owlbear attack (She had to drag everyone to safety).

I look forward to seeing what they do next time! The core rulebooks went on sale, so I might have ordered them......just in case.

Shane was really sad to see them go. He loves when we have visitors!

I love when people visit, too. Shane gets that from me.

Chris said they'd be back to ease the sting. Probably not to this house, though!

It was good to take the weekend off. The night ended with some bamboo mattocking and electronic contemplation.

Not too much longer before we're homeless.

Roller Skating (+Bonus Surprise Visit)

Shane and I met Ryan and Sarah for roller skating at Carver Rec Center today. It was a lot more popular than I expected. We had to wait in line over 40 minutes to get inside! Shane and Ryan wrestled and entertained themselves for the most part.

Shane does not know how to roller skate.

Typical me, I was trying to break it down in steps and explain concepts, but all Shane wanted to do was get right at it. He's a pretty crappy listener at times if I'm going to be honest about it.

When Shane wasn't instantly good (and after he fell on his butt multiple times), he was ready to give up. "Skating is not for me!" "I wasn't made for this" "I don't like skating anymore." "Can we go to Ryan's house?"

I made him keep at it for a while and then told him to sit down, rest, and let his butt heal some while I skated. We waited in line for 40 minutes, and it's good to teach kids the world doesn't revolve around them. I was going to skate no matter what!

Shane popped up and tried to skate on his own almost immediately after I skated off each time. I think it was more from impatience and being left out than grit, but I made sure to praise his effort and progress whenever he got up.

He made a lot of gains for his first time ever. I told him he'd gone from level 0 to level 1. "You're doing way better than everyone who hasn't tried and everyone who gave up after falling once!"

I'll need to make him go again to keep improving. I'm not sure how he'll react to that, but I guess I'll find out.

Shane tried to invite himself to Ryan's house afterward. Ryan invited him afterward. I was invited too, but Shane really, really, really wanted to go without me.

I felt bad dumping my kid on someone, but I let him ride home with Ryan, Sarah, and their dad. Truth be told, it made me a little anxious. I'm not used to letting Shane drive off with other people, but it's gonna happen.

It was only for a short time. Ryan's family had to go somewhere, so I picked Shane up around 50 minutes later.

They played Fortnite the whole time.

Not my first choice, but when it's social and at another kid's house I don't mind. It's a popular game with my students, as well.

Bonus visit: Genevieve and Chris stopped by! They were on their way back from visiting some friends in Roanoke. Chris scratched at the door instead of knocking and gave Carrie the heebie-jeebies! I was upstairs having a talk with Shane. The laughter clued me in we had visitors. There's a short list of people I knew Carrie would invite inside, so I was merely surprised instead of shocked to see them!

Shane wanted them to spend the night, but they had to keep on driving. Adults have to work to pay bills!

Guild Timewalk Weekend - WoW's 14th Anniversary

Genevieve and Chris came to town for a nerd weekend! They all wanted to run a raid and several dungeons. I'm the tank, so I was enlisted. Carrie stocked up on food from Costco and Shane went to Ninja Night at TKD on Saturday to give us almost five hours of adults only time to play!

Gen and Chris laughed as they presented me with a Scottish bull! They'd seen it in gift shop and thought of us.

The Scottish part makes sense if you know about my kilt. The bull is because in the game I'm a Tauren Paladin (AKA - A bull wearing plate armor). I discovered the command to moo in game.

We're a small guild of four. Carrie is a hunter and our ranged DPS. Gen prefers to play a rogue for melee DPS and Chris is a priest and our healer.

It was fun, but I definitely got video gamed out! The others probably could have kept going.

Late Fall Soccer

Shane may have played his final soccer game of the season.

We lost 5-4. The other team scored in the first 10 seconds on us! The score was 5-1 though the first half. We suddenly started playing like a team and nearly caught up in the second half, but it wasn't enough.

I had to have a talk with Shane at the end. The other coach came over and let me know that one of our players was laughing at and mocking his kids whenever they made mistakes.

Can you guess who it was?

I somehow had to come down on him hard enough while congratulate him for a playing well as a teammate with passing while Mommy and her friends came to the game to cheer him on from the sideline!

I think I managed that.

Shane ran to join Mom, Chris, and Genevieve after the game.

Chris took Shane over to the playground and even hopped up himself!

Everyone's a friend on a playground. Both teams ran rampant! I stayed with Shane on the playground for over half an hour while Carrie, Gen, and Chris went to see Nibs.

Classic Shane: He loves to climb. He's good at it and he knows it. The other kids all ran off to play other games and he kept trying to call out and get them to come back rather than joining their game.

"Who wants to get high!?" Shane yelled.

That's comedy gold!

I vaulted up and surprised him to give him a warning when it was getting near time to go. I like to climb, too!

However, kids circled back after my warning and I let the fun continue. We were one of the last to leave the playground.

We had a make-up game the next day, but company visiting. There's a game after Thanksgiving, but I'm planning on being on the road. The final game should be on the first of December, but I don't know if weather and wrestling will permit us to attend.

It's been a good season even with all the cancellations. I'm looking forward to the spring season!