New Year's Eve Visitors

We had some visitors to make New Year's Eve special! Kim and Ryan drove over from Richmond to see the new house (and dog!).

We met up at the barn before we headed out to the tavern for lunch. They chose to drive the back roads to get here. Kim was happy to report they didn't get trapped behind any tractors or slow-driving country folk on the way over. 

Shane wanted to show off his room (and Pokemon stickers) to Ryan before we headed out. Like me, Ryan said, "That's Mewtwo," only to have Shane correct him, "NO! That's a Mewtwo Y!"

I tried to catch a wild Shane on the way back from lunch. Shane rode with Ryan and Kim. Kim's window was down, but I missed!

I had to hop out of the car, pick it up from a puddle's edge, and slam dunk it in.

"Daaaad!!!!" Shane yelled.

No, we weren't driving. We were parked at the hardware store for an errand. The roads don't have passing lanes, so it's not like I could drive up beside them. Plus, Carrie would have been in the passenger seat and killed me. 

Kim commented that she didn't need a radio while we sat around. Ryan and Shane kept up a steady stream of beat-boxing to keep her 'entertained.'

We gave the official tour of the property when we got back. Heidi pulled up and Carrie peeled off from the group to saddle up herself.

Kim, Ryan, Shane, and I went back to the house and opened presents! I don't know how they find time to shop for as many people as they do, but they manage and they're good at it. Shane got some Harry Potter LEGOs, a HP coding game, and a LEGO Technic car.

He pulled out the wand right away and started to treat it like a weapon. "Say it! Don't spray it, kid!"

There excitement was broken when Max stirred up some excitement of her own. She was stalking some shelves, so I shifted them to see what she was on to.

A mouse shot out. Max caught it.

"Good girl, Max!" I said.

"Let me see! Let me see!" Shane shouted. Kim had the opposite reaction.

I had to stop Shane from racing over to Max. She trotted out of the kitchen and down the hallway with her prize. I started to laugh as she moved to Shane's room. (She was bringing him a present!).

"What!?" Shane yelled. "Noooo!" He ran after and Max dropped the mouse! The mouse skittered into the laundry room and I had to move shoes to help Max zero in on her target again.

I'd hoped she'd kill the mouse, but she was treating it like a prized toy. Stress can kill a mouse and I didn't want it tortured, but I wouldn't cry if it keeled over.

After Max dropped and caught the poor thing multiple times, I pulled out the camera to take a video.

You can tell I got highly distracted at the end. We never had the chance to see if Bucket had hunting instincts. By the time Ryan and I had retrieved her from behind the TV, Max had dropped the mouse and it had run under the fridge.

When the excitement died down, I let Shane show Slime Rancher to Ryan. Shane interjects Slime Rancher into any random conversation, so I figured it would be best to get it out of his system.

With Shane plugged in, that gave Kim, Ryan, and I time to sit down, talk, and play a board game! We learned to play Azul!

That's the temptation with video games and kids. The games can buy you a moment's peace, but if you overuse them...

I pulled the plug shortly after our game. Shane showed Kim his room and ended up wrestling with Ryan and Loki!

Carrie came in from riding and showed Kim Happy-cat while the boys played. (I didn't get this picture pre-approved, so I put it in small until the censors could look at it!)

"We should get a picture before you go," I said. 

Everyone agreed, but not everyone had the same type of picture in mind.

This led to a few tries.

Ryan applied tickling to try and get a smile.

And I guess that's the best we could get out of Shane posing. He stood still, at least.

Amazingly, Kim barely moved even with some wrestling adjacent to her! She knows how to avoid getting blurred out!

I'm glad they visited, because it made New Year's Eve a special memory. We weren't planning on staying up or anything of the like. I would have been happy if they chose to stay the night, but it was not to be!

Shane started working on his new Harry Potter LEGOs right after they left.

I'm going to need to get him working on a thank you note....in 2020!

Williamsburg to Richmond

Our health insurance ran out today, so Carrie bit the bullet and agreed to go to a doctor. She's had a sore throat and lost her voice all week. The nearest Urgent Care was in Williamsburg. Carrie made the appointment Saturday night, but when the alarm went off Sunday morning she was groggy and didn't seem safe to drive.

Naturally, Shane and I escorted her. We made the 8 AM appointment and dropped her off. Shane and I picked up bagels while we waited for Carrie to get done. Then we all had breakfast while we waited for the pharmacy to open (The doctor thought it was viral, but gave us a prescription "just in case" in morphed into something more). 

We had planned to go to the church in Providence Forge we've made our "New Kent Church," but we were now leagues away. Ironically, we stopped at a church between services that was a Pokemon gym.

Shane noticed it at breakfast and it was on the way to the pharmacy.

We took Carrie home to rest, but then Shane and I hit the road again! This time we drove west to Richmond!

Kim and Ryan had just gotten back from a vacation. They'd celebrated their anniversary on the west coast. We had lunch at Wendy's and Ryan showed Shane his Pokemon Go collection and taught him how to play the Harry Potter follow-up.

We went to Wal-Mart on the way home (That's a lot of W's.....West....Wendy's...Wal-Mart...). Ryan and Shane led the charge, while Kim and I talked and spotted some oddities.

I started to send pictures back to Carrie.

A certain movie always comes to mind...

We discovered a robot while picking around.

The name triggered an Ouran reference I knew Carrie would enjoy.

It seemed to be built for scanning the shelves.

Shane followed it around for an aisle or two before we made him move along.

When we got back to Ryan and Kim's house, Ryan was eager to mow. Shane was eager to help....drive.

But before that there was a moment. Ryan was outside. Kim and I were talking and Shane ran into the bathroom. There was a thud, but I didn't think much of it.

Shane ran out of the bathroom and said, "DAD! I had a pee accident! I was peeing and I slipped and fell and couldn't stop!"

I couldn't keep a straight face. I couldn't breathe I was laughing so hard. The image of Shane slipping on his back and peeing straight up into the air! You can't make this stuff up.

I know it embarrassed him, but once I was done laughing we took off his shirt, put it on the front porch to dry, and got some paper towels to clean up. I'm sure Shane learned a lesson! He shrugged it off and he'll laugh about this at some point (I'm still laughing as I write this!).

I got to pitch in for a moment before Ryan and Shane started to mow. Ryan's got a bad back, so I climbed into the crawlspace to turn on the water for the sprinkler system.

Which Shane ran straight into after I told him not to. Thankfully, it's hot enough to quickly dry off t-shirts and little boys.

Shane took a break from running around to show Ryan and Kim's neighbor the wart on his foot.

Ryan and Shane had fun mowing. That tone may change when it's Shane's job to mow our farm, but it's a delight right now!

Kim had work Monday and they still needed to unpack, so Shane and I left around dinner time.

Today was a perfect example of how I don't feel like there needs to be a special activity to visit people. It's fun just to be around and live life with them. We ate, talked, shopped for groceries, and did yardwork....and it was fun! 

One Last Trip to See Family.....

We drove by to see Kim and Ryan! It was our last planned stop to see family for the break. 

Kim and Ryan outdid themselves again with getting Shane Christmas presents. I never expect anything when we arrive and the next thing I know Shane is two Lego sets richer (plus a coding set, a Lego Technic set...). 

Gifts and wrapping seem to be a talent on Carrie's side of the tree. They got themselves some presents, as well. I haven't seen Deadpool, but the marketing for the character is hilarious.

I was just trading Office Space quotes the other week!

I know what Ryan's going to be doing if he gets any more snow days. Kim? She'll be working (the joys and pains of working from home).

Kim had to work the day we visited, so it was our job to keep Ryan entertained. He showed Shane his holiday train set in his 'office.'

Kim would pop by and chat whenever she was waiting for something to compile or in between calls.

It's funny how kids develop certain routines and expectations for different homes/people. Shane insisted we play Here, Kitty, Kitty!. I brought Stuffed Fables and some other games of ours to show, but Shane wanted none of it. We went out with Ryan for lunch, walked around a few stores, and then Shane came back to hunt the cats.

There was a Lego break at some point which let the adults talk.

When Shane had too much energy, Ryan asked Shane to run back the recycling. The yard was soup from all the rain, but a few laps up and down the driveway seemed to help.

It was good catching up. We might have ended up living closer to them if we hadn't closed on land around here! Kim's a team lead programmer/consultant and looking at switching companies. Ryan will be going into his fifth year as a band director which should forgive some of his student loans. Overall, things seem to be going well for them (minus the leak in the ceiling they had to fix! Home ownership, right?).

Ryan had an evening doctor's appointment and Shane had wrestling, so we said our goodbyes around dinner.

Belated Friday Event

Last Friday, Shane and I went to the playoff football game for Amelia! Ryan's the band director. The rains had destroyed their field, so the game was moved to Monticello HS right down the road from us. It was an easy drive!

But cold. Very cold. I never realized metal bleachers were heat vampires. The seat leeched all my body warmth out my butt.

We managed to stay happy, though.

Ryan stayed busy with the band. He let them have a small break, so he wouldn't be deemed an evil taskmaster and posed for a quick photo.

We stayed through half time and then called it a night. I looked up the score later. Amelia lost. They don't get to advance, but all their fans get to avoid cold metal bleachers. I'm glad wrestling is an indoor sport. I'll bring a towel or a blanket to sit on the next time I deal with winter bleachers!

Labor Day Weekend

We drove to Grandma and Grandpa's for Labor Day weekend. We left Saturday evening and hit two bands of heavy rain. Carrie regretted heading out, but Shane and I cried, "Onward!" 

We missed the worst of it. We drove through maybe 10 minutes of heavy downpour with flashers on. By the time we got to Richmond, the radar map from Charlottesville all the way to our tail was filled with red and orange! 

We weren't the only ones around on Sunday! Carrie's Uncle Mike and his crew minus Brian all showed up for lunch! I would have packed games if I'd known they were all coming!

Kim's sister Katelyn is a quiet type.

Which is exactly the type I like to sick my not-so-quiet son on! I tried to give Shane a mission to go run up and talk to her, but he proved suspicious. Rats! Kids on a mission can be a good way to include someone!

Ryan was having plenty of fun messing with Shane. He wasn't able to convince Shane to run laps around the house with him. Shane did one lap before Ryan got outside and then stayed inside to watch and taunt (Maybe he's getting smarter...).

Carrie crashed. She fell asleep for a nap maybe 15 minutes before company arrived. Then she managed to sleep through A LOT of noise.

No one was trying to keep quiet. Shane and Ryan roughhoused. The TV was on. Stories were told and laughter erupted in the different groups.

Katelyn started on the couch where the boys started to wrestle. Then she wised up. Kim knew from the get-go not to get too close to ground zero.

Kim helped some with the cleanup.

Shane really wanted someone to play Monopoly with him, but A) no on wanted to and B) it's hard to play when you roll across the board.

Carrie woke up before everyone left and joined in after a couple of hours. She was that tired! Shane was concerned about Mommy's 'stomach problems,' but it was one of those grin and bear it type things.

The group left to attend a Richmond Flying Squirrels Minor League Baseball game. It was Star Wars night (whatever that means). 

Shane had his fishing wish granted over the weekend. He went fishing with Grandpa morning and evening on Sunday and Monday morning before we left. He caught another bass!

Grandpa said they caught 16 fish overall (15 spots and the bass). A man had been trying to hunt for the bass while they were there and gave Shane some advice. The advice plus bread on a hook landed Shane a big catch before the man could hook one himself. One of these days, I hope to eat something Shane catches, but it's all catch and release for now.