Shane and the Cartwrights all played in Sunday School together again. The kids all wanted to play Minecraft together again, but the schedules didn't mesh.
So we found ourselves at home. Shane was dancing on the trailer in the front yard as Loki paced cars. I don't know who was watching who (They were both in their own worlds).
Meanwhile, there was cleaning to do. Carrie washed all the pillowcases from the couch, there was a backload of laundry, dishes, you name it. Shane sort of helped.
We finished the cleaning before our visitor for the day arrived! Henry was happy to see Loki.
The first stop on Shane's agenda was the walking machine! "The limit is 5," Shane said.
So Henry immediately tried to push it to 6. Shane called him out on it, Henry looked at me, and then backed it down!
The funniest moment was all Loki. The dumb dog tried to run across the treadmill in front of Henry. It swept his feet out right from underneath him! Loki hit the conveyor belt feet up and Henry had to jump over him as he was swept away!
Loki spilled off the back end, hopped up, and started barking at the treadmill. He was ok!
I asked the boys if they wanted me to try and call the neighbors for some group fun. Shane was all for it, but Henry declined.
Instead, Henry wanted to build a fort. Shane thought that was a fantastic idea and they set right to it!
I moved them away from the barn, because Heidi was riding. I told them they were welcome to shop around for materials after she put Eddy back up.
They decided to play on the hay and build their fort there instead. You can do a lot with a tarp and some rebar!
Henry was ready to play Kirby by the time Carrie started to cook dinner. He requested spaghetti and cheesy potatoes.
You can tell both boys are only children by the way they bicker. It's good they get some practice dealing with other kids outside of school!
Shane and Henry have a funny dynamic when they're over here. Shane is excited to have a friend and is extra goofy and dramatic. Meanwhile, Henry tries to play the angel. He corrects Shane's behavior when it's in front of Carrie or I and acts like chores are the coolest thing in the world.
I like to think Shane's learned a little bit of circumspect. Henry just says exactly what he's thinking. "These potatoes aren't as good as last time."
Carrie's eyes popped! "They're exactly the same!"
I pointed out it was the pairing. Some foods go really well together. The last time Henry had cheesy mash it was with BBQ. Situation saved!
Molly came to pick Henry up after dinner. One of these days we'll invite Henry to spend the night and see how that goes.
Today, I was drafted to help in Children's church. The volunteer for the week had fallen down a couple weeks ago and it's only fair I help since we're one of the three families that brings a kid.
The Cartwrights were there today. Last week, they'd asked if Shane could play. Their mother said they had to clean up first.
The lesson must have stuck, because the kids told me at the start of class that they'd cleaned up!
So Shane and I walked to their house after church! He's been wanting to visit them anyway!
The kids played Minecraft while I talked to the parents. The dad was smoking a pork butt about back, because "Carolina BBQ is the only BBQ." It smelled great!
Shane and I left for lunch, because we already had plans for an afternoon trail walk with Dylan and Eli.
Shane semi put his foot in his mouth and semi gave his honest opinion when he saw Dylan and Eli's long hair. "You all look like girls!"
It would have been more tactful if he didn't start laughing and say it multiple times when it was clear he was the only one laughing. He got the hint with a little help, and Dylan shrugged it off.
Dylan and Eli were very proud of their camelbaks. Shane was a little jealous, but Dylan started to regret his pack weighing him down a little by the end of things (especially with Shane running and staying in the lead).
The boys chatted merrily while John and I kept pace behind them. We stopped to throw sticks for a little bit. The boys may have gotten a little over-ambitious with the log.
After our walk (about 2.5 miles iirc), we headed over to John's place. The boys all plugged immediately into tablets and vegged out for the last hour.
Shane was sad to go! He loves to be around people! If I had managed to set up a play date with Shelby in the morning it would have been a hat trick Sunday, but I felt great getting two play dates setup.
Nana used to say she felt like our "social secretary" growing up. I know what she meant!
My day started with horse chores and a trip to the orthopedist. Shane came to look at my x-rays and give Carrie some space.
Nothing was broken! We celebrated with haircuts.
The second half of our hay for the year was being delivered when we got back home.
At least I hope it's for the rest of the year. Carrie's talked about ways to cut costs for next winter already.
The real fun for Shane didn't start until after lunch. We took Loki to the park.
We met Shane's friends from Sunday school there for a play day!
Half the time, Shane's the only kid at our church. The other half the time, the Cartwrights show up. It turns out two of the kids go to Shane's school, too.
Logan and Shane ran around with Nerf guns. Claire tried to skateboard. Julia and the baby dragged Loki around by his leash!
Loki was a really good boy. His neck was probably sore by the end of it.
Julia went back and forth from Loki to trying to mess with the boys. There were lots of shenanigans and some conflicts, but nothing that wasn't resolved easily enough.
I was surprised to find out how much I had in common with the parents. The mom was from NOVA and went to Thomas Jefferson HS until her family moved to the middle of WV (culture shock!). She was a twin and they'd lived in Houston for a while and actually knew where Beaumont was. To top it off, there kids went to Venable at one point and she used to walk them past my old school! She knew Mr. Brown from him walking out to say hello!
The dad wasn't there, but he'd gone to Charlottesville high school and wrestled for Coach Romanac. Coach Romanac's wife, Connie, was my good friend the secretary at LMA! Go figure!
If the oddly warm winter holds up, we'll have to have another playground meetup. All the kids are too wild to have around the horses. Especially with the nervous wreck that showed up today.....but that's another post!
New for the day, was Nick visiting to finish the new stall doors.
Carrie played assistant while I managed horse chores, Loki, and Shane.
We had plans to meet the cousins at 1 PM in Richmond for lunch. Originally, I was going to go to The Point to be closer to the Interstate. I didn't get in from horse chores and random help until 9:15 AM, though. It was a 20 minute drive and the 9:30 AM service wasn't happening. I made Shane bathe and gambled on going to the small local church at 11 AM.
I thought, "[The local church] has gotten out early before. The Point rarely does and we'll be close enough Carrie could meet us or we can drive back for her. It's on the back-road route she likes. She'd have to come to the Point to meet us and I bet she runs late working on the barn, anyway."
I was wrong on multiple levels.
The other interim pastor was the one who we perpetually got out early with. The service ran 22 minutes early. It was a communion Sunday and I didn't want to miss out. I texted Carrie we'd be home in 8 and then the time nearly tripled! A woman stopped me to ask a question as I was trying to herd Shane out and it took a few minutes to politely make our exit.
Meanwhile, there was a bad crash on 20. Nick got the call (He's a volunteer emergency responder). He left to help which meant Carrie was done early on the barn. She was showered, dressed, ready, and waiting by the garage door by noon texting, "Where are you!?"
It's about an hour and ten minutes to Short Pump from where we are. We didn't pull up to the house until 12:27 PM, so we were running late-late. Carrie was upset.
We got in the car and got underway as quickly as I could get us going safely (A ticket or a crash takes more time and costs more cash than anyone should want to risk). I was praying the whole way! We made good time and arrived at 1:35 PM.
Luckily, the cousins were running a little late themselves. They got to the restaurant and walked around for a bit, but we showed up within 10 minutes of them, I think.
We all met at Kabuto Japanese Steakhouse.
The restaurant fits into Carrie and I's personal history. It's where I was introduced to Mom-Mom when we were dating. "He's too short," was Mom-Mom's first impression of me! "And too casual."
I won her over eventually!
We were celebrating Nate's birthday a few days early.
I had a harder time getting pictures of him, because he was on the opposite side of the table! Nate got to hang out between Grandpa and Grandma. At the end of the meal, the hostess brought out a gong and they sang "Happy Birthday!"
Noah, Sophia, and Shane sat on our end.
Shane has been to a teppanyaki grill before, but he didn't seem to remember it well. He kept calling the cuisine "Chinese" food.
"Chinese, Japanese, whatever! They're all the same." he said.
"Not even close kid."
Shane didn't want to admit he was wrong and got some looks when he was corrected.
Noah's look was probably from noticing I had my camera out, though. It fit well with the narrative, though!
The soup was a hit.
Everyone enjoyed the salad, too. Carrie wanted me to get a picture of Shane eating his ("Proof!"), but he was constantly talking to Sophia and I had my own soup to eat (Carrie stole most of the salad!).
The kids all loved it when the chef came out. He started to flip eggs into his hat and juggle utensils.
When he offered to throw rice I volunteered to be the first. Carrie went second and the chef worked around the table.
Carrie caught it, but Shane and I had no luck! I blame the throws!
The chef went around the table: Sophia, Noah, Chris, and Nate all tried. I caught a part of it on video.
There were lots of good smiles going on.
I focused my pictures on the kids on my side of the table. I noticed Rachel had her camera out, so she may have got some good shots from other angles.
The chef offered Shane some special sauce. He was afraid it would be spicy and turned it down! I insisted he'd like it and soon there were more laughs!
The fire was a lot of fun!
Nate got birthday pineapple that he shared around the table. It was a fun family moment. The cousins will be heading up to their new home next Saturday. Chris already started work and was in for a weekend visit before heading back.
Carrie spent the end of the meal talking to Chris and Rachel about Triple R camp. We almost sent Shane last year, but the move affected everything.
It would be fun if Shane and Sophia both got to spend their first overnight camp experience together some. I want Shane to go to a camp for fun and to build independence. Going away for a week was a little scary at the start from what I remember, but I have good memories of being at Camp Highroad with Bill. I eventually worked at a summer camp when I was in high school (more great memories!).
Nate and Shane got squirrelly by the end of the meal. Shane was trying to breakdance/spin-drill while Nate jumped over his legs whenever they came around!
I let it go on for a little bit, but when Shane didn't pay attention to servers trying to walk by it was time to cut it out. It was a good cue for everyone to pop up and make our way to the door (and mints!).
We traded some stuff and said our goodbyes in the parking lot. I may have thrown a pokeball at Sophia.
"I'm going to miss them," Shane said.
He and I both wish that more of our friends lived closer together, but at least people are in driving distance. The Cassano-cousins were all the way in Signapore and Italy, so this is way closer for them!
We hit up Lowe's on the way home and came back to find our power was out. The wreck that Nick had been called away must have hit a power pole. We didn't get power back until 7 PM!
We played some cards by flashlight until then. Shane was upset, because he said he didn't want to play and then when we started without him he changed his mind. Then when he stayed underfoot, chased the dog, and sang in our ears we got annoyed and he couldn't understand why! He did play some with us, but he was ready for some electronics when the power came back on and I had to go out for horse chores.
And so ended our winter break! I was looking forward to Shane going back to school and a little reticent about going back myself. I had enough of a plan that I wasn't going to be swamped from the start, at least.
Why carry seven seventy-one pound gates when you can put them on the back of a gator?
It would have been good exercise, but Team Mike and Carrie's way was faster and easier! Carrie drove the gator straight into the barn and down the aisleway, too!
The day started out mostly normal, but it wasn't any normal day. It was Christmas Eve! Nana and Pop met us at Wegmans for brunch on their journey back home from visiting Jama.
Carrie, Shane, and I went out on errands after brunch. There was a new comic book store near the game store Shane and I checked out while Carrie was in the horse store.
Things got a little more festive when we got home. We didn't put up lights this year, but the tack got lit up.
The elves were at work in the barn!
Carrie and Heidi both got geared up in holiday raiment. Misha took a picture, but I haven't gotten my hands on it to post!
Loki was not exempt, either.
Shane helped hold him still while Carrie worked.
Grandma was worried Loki's nails would hurt her hardwood floor when he visited on Christmas, so Carrie bought him shoes!
They actually helped him gain traction on our floor, too! He had a lot of fun running around and playing fetch!
We played around with the slo-mo on our cameras and tried to get some action shots. I wanted to make a gif of it, but it didn't turn out as planned.
We left Loki at home when we went to Christmas Eve service in Scottsville.
Carrie and Shane were decked out in red and green. I didn't have the wardrobe to continue the pattern, so I put on purple for advent.
We plopped down in a back corner. Carrie gets anxious about drawing too much attention.
Which is the POLAR OPPOSITE of Shane!
During a choir song, Shane commented the tenor had a "manly voice," which made me snort, the man in front of us chuckle, and Carrie choke.
I got a covert shove when I dropped an octave in the next song and asked Shane how manly my voice was.
I whispered, by the way. I like a good joke, but not unnecessary attention or to distract from worship.
Shane started to reply loudly. He's all about that attention and I had to quickly shush him before he got too much of it!
Two kids went up for the children's message. Can you guess which one was having a discussion with the Pastor?
It was almost a conversational message! Pastor Tom said it was his 66th Christmas and Shane estimated it was the 30th Christmas for the mother next to him! (Thankfully, an underestimate!) Carrie's nails dug into my arm and she shrunk a little behind me!
Pastor Tom told Shane about an incident near his 8th or 9th Christmas where Pastor Tom and his sister somehow got involved in a mustard fight. A chair was collateral damage.
"I'd never seen my mom that mad," Pastor Tom said.
"THAT must have hurt!" Shane interjected.
Carrie turned red.
"It did. Literally!" Pastor Tom replied.
Carrie turned even redder!
Everyone else was laughing! Me included.
Shane started drawing once he got back to our seats.
He'd been inspired!
We gave Pastor Tom the picture on the way out. He was a fan!
I would have liked to watch some Christmas shows to end the night, but Carrie and Shane watched Gargoyles on Disney+ instead. Shane got to stay up a little late to encourage him to sleep in a little for Christmas morning!
