Sam and Shane Play Day

I finally got Shane and Sam together again for a play date! They haven't seen each other since the beginning of summer!

Things were stressful at the house, so drove the boys downtown. They started to haggle and bargain over Pokemon cards before the buckles clicked.

There's been a bit of construction since the last time I drove down 5th and Ridge.

I got to the park and...parked. The boys were still haggling.

Best line was from Sam. "I'm not going to give it for free. I'm nice, but I'm not that nice!"

Neither boy has much of a poker face.

We went to the park next. It was hot. There was only one other kid there.

Shane and Sam did their own thing. They tried to spin each other sick and called whatever they were spinning a time machine.

They play continued until they started throwing acorns onto the road below the park. Shane said they wanted a car to drive over and crush an acorn. I gave Shane a warning and when they kept trying to roll things onto the asphalt from uphill I called it.

So we walked to the library.

The boys wanted to look up The Last Kid on Earth series. I could have helped, but I let them do things on their own (Another kid had walked in with his mom mentioning the series. When I said, "Isn't that the series Sam likes?" it set the boys on the path....and I didn't want them to beat the other kid to the punch when the idea came from him!).

Originally, neither boy had wanted to visit the library, because "libraries are boring."

Now that we were there, they were both engrossed in books and comics. I'd brought Smash Up to play cards, but it was left unused.

The library was set to close, so we headed out with some Hank the Cowdog audiobooks (in poor condition, sadly).

I had the boys for close to three hours before we dropped off Sam and said our goodbyes. I'd love for the boys to get together more, but we'll see how often the schedules work out.

Some Random New Kent

Unfortunately, we don't know any kids in New Kent. We've spent a lot of time at the house or on the road (as you may have seen in previous posts). Shane and I did do some exploring to try and find playmates/adventure, so I collected the pictures here.

We went to the library before our road trip to NOVA.

I'd hoped Shane would find books for the trip and bump into kids to contact later. There were no kids, but there were toys! Shane played in the library for a long while before I made him get up and look for a book.

It was a small, but nice library. It was about twice the size of the Scottsville branch!

The librarian let us check out a book and a Hank the Cowdog CD on Grandma's account.

Shane's had a lot more electronic time than he normally would since we don't know any kids in the area. There's a small playground nearby Grandpa will sometimes drive Shane to, but the heat and humidity was stifling. I didn't want to be out in it. Therefore, Shane played puzzle quest, Lego Lord of the Rings, and a few other things.

In between working, Carrie worked some on getting her pathfinder achievement in WoW, so she could fly in Zuldazar!

The cats have enjoyed us being around!

Bucket's even learned to use the cat door with much trial and error (mostly error).

Boo is still not happy the other cats are around. She's social with people, but she's still looking awful. She's emaciated and started to get nippier. She gave Shane a nip on the skull out of nowhere where he was lying on the couch (It didn't break skin or anything, but the nips could be a sign she's in pain/uncomfortable).

Random: We missed trash day the first week in the house and we've been playing catch-up ever since. I've taken that duty upon myself and I've taken it seriously. I was musing about it while running to the window whenever I heard a large engine go by. I wanted to know the pick-up time for future reference.

Carrie took Shane on a Pokemon walk or two, but I wasn't able to organize everyone to go for a family walk until one evening. We didn't get off Grandma's street before Shane fell in love with someone's yard full of fountains. Carrie kept telling him to get out of their lawn, but when she went in to take pictures for ideas....well, monkey see, monkey do!

Of course, someone called with a work or house emergency and it cut the walk short.

Shane and I stayed out on our own and he made volcanoes out of sand to blast the golf ball he found in the woods into the stratosphere!

It's both quiet and busy. I'm glad it's summer. I'll be even happier when all of the moving mess is done and the next adventure starts. It's good to rest and have fun on the way.

Overdues

We got some nasty overdue bills from the library. There are no late fees on children's library cards, so we've been too unconcerned about checking them back in. I never set up Shane's card to have an online login, so I can only renew his checkouts in person.

That's two mistakes that compounded. 

Shane and I went to turn in what we could find before they sent us to collections. We found everything except a pair of items I later pulled out of Mom's car.

I'm pretty sure Nana took us to the library way more often when I was growing up. Where and when did she finnd the time and energy to do it!? There were five of us!

And we were all climbers, so you know where Shane gets it from.

One Last NOVA Excursion (For Summer 2018)

We've been to NOVA multiple times this summer, but I hadn't had a chance to catch up with Matt G until now! He'd been moving into a new condo and in Ireland the first half of the summer.

Shane and I toured his new condo. I was shocked to see a pair of Guinea Pigs.

"That's a story," Matt said. "It went up to 8 at one time, because we were sold two girls and one wasn't a girl!"

Matt and I carried down some food to grill and talk shortly after we arrived.

Matt's daughter's are amazing with Shane, so I didn't think twice about leaving him behind. The girls would command at least $10/hour for babysitting if they lived closer. If I could get them both for a combined $15/hr, Carrie and I would probably have date nights at least twice a month!

Besides, I knew they were going to do Minecraft. Shane remembered them "teaching him how to play" last time and was excited to try it again. He also remembers them playing a tornado game once at our house in Chantilly. We've known them for a long time even if we don't see them often.

We ate and headed to the pool afterward.

Funny note that reminded me of Megan and Kathleen: Sophia and Gabriela told Shane that the fountain was the pool. I think he believed it for a moment! "HEY! That's not funny!" he yelled.

The kids had a blast. I thought Sophia and Gabriela would have been bored after half an hour with Shane.

Instead, we stayed almost two hours. The kids swam around, played tag, Marco Polo, and jumped in the hot tub. Matt and I even cannon-balled in at one point.

Shane and I hung out with Matt G and company for five and a half hours before we headed out!

Matt G lives out west. I'd forgotten about Friday traffic when we left at 6 PM, but thankfully we were headed the opposite way of most people. We beat John to CFA.

There was an older gentleman playing the harmonica in the kid's area. I kept hearing it as John and I talked.

Shane went wild and played for an hour and a half. When I checked in on him, another parent complimented him on how he was playing with all the other kids! That's my boy!

I was a little worried we were running too late for there to be a person at the front desk at Jama's. Thankfully, we weren't.

There was a concert going on. Shane and I arrived at, "You Are My Sunshine."

"I used to sing that to you and to your mom all the time," I said.

We spotted Jama and Ed in attendance, so we waited to greet them.

We went up to Jama's to talk and get ready for bed. Shane was so pumped from the day he must have hummed in bed for twenty minutes before the music finally stopped.

The next morning, we went up to Jama and Ed's. I'd told Shane about a muffin shop I wanted to go by to get muffins on the way to Megan's.

Jama had other plans and cooked us breakfast. Shane was disappointed, but I straightened him out. "It's how she's showing she loves us. I love Jama more than getting a muffin for breakfast, so we're eating here."

Shane complained a little bit about the biscuits, but I straightened him out. "It's about priorities kid. Love comes first over getting your own way."

We hung out and talked for a while before I went down to pack up our stuff. I was so focused on keeping Shane from making a ruckus I forgot our toothbrushes on the first go. We had to go back for them. "Haste makes mistakes," I said. "Doesn't matter how old you are! I forgot stuff from being in a rush!" (Side note: I think it's important for kids to see adults admit when they goof.)

Shane and I ran over to see this little guy, Wolfie (or "Sammy the Woof" as B sometimes calls him!).

We got a chance to meet B's friends next door shortly after arriving.

Shane immediately showed off his climbing skills.

The kids next door were heading out or it would have been a big, play party.

B wrote Shane a valentine before we arrived. B had realized he'd 'forgotten to' early in the year!

Megan clearly helped with the writing. "[B] wanted to put 'You're great at balancing and almost as good as me,' but she shortened it down a little! Ha ha!

The boys ran all over together. We'd hoped they'd run and say hi to the man who had a trampoline in his yard, but they missed the opportunity. Megan said she heard he had daughters, so she wanted to meet the family but hadn't had an opportunity.

The boys ran back forth and all over together. The cousins all get along really well.

B and Shane kept getting 'trapped' and calling to Megan for 'help.' I came downstairs once and they were sitting between a Megazord and a dinosaur.

And yes, they got some electronics time. It makes it far easier to talk.

Wolfie is an extremely laid back baby. He slept on and off most of the time we visited. He occasionally grunted and wanted someone to bounce him. It was easy enough to oblige. I 'watched' him while Megan and Big B did some cooking.

Shane and I left right before nap time. B was getting weepy, so the timing was right.

We drove over to the library to meet John for his lunch break.

John's been going through a lot of stress lately and he's unhappy with his job, so I like to check in whenever possible. Besides, the guy is a brother-from-another-mother for life. Friends like that don't grow on trees.

We ate some overpriced, organic food at a burger join (B7?) and had to scramble back so John could make it to the desk on time. Shane read a book on tornadoes, but then we had to split.

I feel like we've spent half of our summer in a car and away from home. I like the adventure, but wouldn't mind if the car travel had magically been cut down some! Shane's gotten to be a great traveler, so it's not bad. He's more likely to listen to a book than he is to slow down and read one, so we get our literature time in between tunes!