Shane's Back Home!

I picked Shane up Saturday! Nana and Pop brought him to NC for the hand-off. He didn't look too happy to see me!

Nana and Pop stuffed us with CFA and sent him home with the sign they designed for him.

Shane would have loved to have spent another week in funland, but the cousins were all starting school.

Carrie welcomed him home with an apple pie!

I made a mistake, though. I was helping with evening barn chores when Patrick texted to ask if I was hopping on for D&D. 

It turned out Patrick was fine with cancelling. Three Saturday nights in a row the clouds had decided to flood his town....and basement.

Thankfully, it was a rental. The first weekend it happened, Patrick would say, "AFK running to clear a drain!" By round three he was pretty tired of flooding!

I'm going to do a "Camp Nana-Pop" report later. Right after I said "I'm up to date on the blog," I got nice and behind! I'm digging my way back out one post at a time.

D&D

I tried and failed to start up a rpg group earlier on in the pandemic.

However, Patrick was successful.

Patrick watched some of the same Brandon Sanderson writing videos I did and wanted to try his hand at DMing again. I told him that I was game and to let me know when!

Turns out it was July 24th.

Patty wanted to do 5 sessions once a week on Saturdays from 7- 10 PM. I said I was in.

There were some challenges (always). Carrie highly values Saturday night horse chores, because we have boarders come out early Sunday morning to help and ride. Then I usually used the hotspot off my phone, because Carrie and Shane would use the 'good' internet to stream on the TV.

And then, there was parenting. I'm normally the one who puts Shane to bed, but there's a specific moment in mind here.

One night, Landie came over while we played. She and Shane started running wild. She stuck a doll in Shane's face and he escalated by grabbing his giant Maleficent and scared the crap out of Loki.

Under my table.

I thought Loki had farted.

I was of two minds while I played. One half listened to Patrick and the other watched the kids. I noticed Loki occasionally dropping his butt to scoot and put the game on pause. He had a dingleberry stuck in his butt fuzz. I helped him out, but the smell clung to where I sat.

Carrie came in and I asked her to come over and confirm I wasn't crazy for smelling shit. That's when I found the pile tucked away near a table leg.

Challenges were conquered in game and out, but no bonus XP was awarded from Pat.

We finished our last session just before I wrote this (8/15). We got done in 4 rather than 5. It was fun! I was happy to be social.

Patrick's Pathfinder Game

Sunday night was round 2 of Patrick's Pathfinder game. 

I relinquished the GM reigns before wrestling season began and hoped someone else would pick them up. I didn't know who, but Patrick made the leap! 

We play once a month for several hours on a Sunday. I like having an excuse to get together with everyone. Since Patrick is the GM, he brought in some of his friends (the Andrews!) so it's neat to hear from different people I normally wouldn't. 

Ironically, it makes me want to run a game again myself. I feel rusty/awkward as a player. 

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.