Two Weeks Back East

In Virginia, we started our week out by getting new shoes.  The kids had been complaining their shoes were too small for the past month, so I kept encouraging them to wait for Virginia, wait for the outlets.  They each went up at least one size and they found shoes in the colors they wanted.  The boys wore theirs immediately.  Josiah opted for Spiderman colors while Henry went solid blue.  Caroline wanted hers to stay nice and clean.  The boys didn't care about dirt (or sand).  

At Grandad and Nana's house, the bikes were taken for a spin whenever the weather permitted.    Baseball was played quite often as well.  We started the week playing baseball the regular way.  When all three kids played, we would rotate batter to pitcher to outfielder.  Towards the end of the week, Henry and I came up with a fun duo game. We each had a bat and we would hit the ball to each other.  It was way more fun than him hitting and me fielding.  Whenever we were hot and sweaty from the baseball, we would cool off at the pool table.  Josiah and I played pool the official way a few times, but then he taught me carpet ball.  It is a game they played at camp that is similar to pool but the real game has a much narrower table.  Instead of cue sticks, you use your hand.  So he would set up the solid colors on his side, I would set up the stripes on my side, he used the 8 ball as his hitter and I used the white ball as mine.  We would see who could get each other's balls in the pockets first.  I think Josiah beat me nearly every time.     

The kids had a list of places they were hoping to eat with Grandad and Nana and we hit them all.  The first stop was Golden Corral.  During one round, Henry said he was going to get a plate of things that Todd has made him try in the past.  He came back to the table with a stack of beets on his plate (along with other things).  Upon eating them, he said he thought it was the cranberry sauce we get at Thanksgiving.  He still ate the whole stack.  

The kids were also treated to Burger King.  They have been singing the BK jingle for weeks upon weeks, so this was a high priority dining experience for them.  They loved it.  Unfortunately we don't have a Burger King close to our house in Texas, so it'll have to be a Virginia thing for us...  

The Chinese buffet was also very high on the list.  We do love us some Chinese food.  During one of Henry's many rounds at the buffet, he came back with a plate of mussels and clams.  They were spicy, but he liked them.  And when he was done, he could make his mussel shells talk.  Caroline was very excited that they had sushi.  She stacked them on her plate first thing.  She also really enjoyed the sticky rice.  She loves sticky rice.  Josiah went straight for the Chinese Mac & Cheese and Chinese French fries.  

One evening we all played Bingo.  We switched up the caller each round that first night.  When it got to Henry's turn, he misunderstood the job and thought he was at an auction house.  He kept us on our toes keeping up with the numbers.  Caroline called after him and kept it very official.  B15.  B. 15.

Another night we did the gamblin' Bingo.  Nana and Grandad had set out 9 cups.  3 had money underneath.  6 were empty.  Grandad was the caller for all the rounds this time.  The kids were forewarned not to brag if they won and not to sulk if they lost.  Josiah used just one board the entire time.  He won zero games.  The rest of us played two boards each round.  Caroline won four games total, but picked empty cups each time.  She was a very good sport.  Henry won four games as well, and he found all the money.  His first money round, he won $1.00.  He then folded the dollar bill so George's head was facing forward and he used George to play his game boards for him.  Bragging?  Then the next time he won money,  it was a five dollar bill.  He brought it to his area and said, "Welcome to the family, Abe.  Meet George."  Josiah was a good sport, but later said that he probably should have used two boards each round.  

We did not get to do all the things we had planned because it did rain a lot during our Virginia week.  We were really hoping to take family pictures, but they had to be put off til next year.  

We did meet up with some friends at a trampoline park one afternoon.  The kids jumped for two hours and had a good time.  This place has an American Ninja Warrior course as part of it, so they enjoyed those obstacles.  Towards the end of our time, Caroline wanted to try this cylindrical column walk.  She got all harnessed up and started climbing.  There was a little fear and hesitation her first round, but she made it to the top.  The hardest part at that point was jumping off.  It was made to let her down slowly, but she had to trust that would happen from two flights up.  Once she did it the first time, she got right back in line.  Caroline went up much faster her second round.  Josiah and Henry tried it as well.  

Caroline:

Josiah:

Henry:

We got pictures with Grandad and Nana before we headed to the beach.  

The kids are always torn - they want to stay with Grandad and Nana, but they also want to go see their other grandparents and cousins.  

The afternoon we arrived at the beach, we took a walk with Aunt Claire.  We made it to the end of the boardwalk and then walked back to the house on the street.  Josiah spotted a well-painted crosswalk and made note of it.  Later in the week we revisited it.

The kids woke up early our first morning, so we got down to the beach at 8:30 a.m.  It was empty.  We set up camp near the giant sand-replenishing pipes and the kids dipped their toes in the water.  The clouds this morning were crazy, so we got some neat pictures.  

Caroline buried herself standing up.  

Josiah buried himself, and once buried, Henry decided to give him a body.  It was all going fine until the giggling started and Henry tried to make him anatomically correct.  I had to make sure he was in Ken doll form.  

Cousin Charlie was awesome and took Henry and Caroline out in the water nearly every day.  To keep it interesting, they had a few run-ins with the lifeguards.  The beach was being replenished with sand, so every day we got down to it, different areas were closed off.  One day, we set up our chairs with the construction area just to our left.  The kids went in the water towards the right, but it was a strong current that kept pulling them left.  There was a lifeguard stationed at the entrance to the construction zone to warn the swimmers to stay out of it.  Our kids knew this, of course, but the current was strong and despite clearly trying to not cross that line, they did, and the lifeguard walked out to them.  I got a shot for fun of it.  -->

A different day, the surf was still rough.  Charlie and Caroline were out in the water and doing just fine.  We were casually watching them and then all of a sudden, they just went backwards.  Charlie knew immediately they were in a rip current and even though he knew how to get out, he couldn't right away.  Before I could look from the camera to the ocean, a lifeguard was already in the water swimming out to them.  By the time the lifeguard reached them, they were out of the rip and all three swam back to shore on their own.  Caroline had not even realized anything was wrong.  Charlie was very good at protecting her.  

Josiah got on the boogie board a bit, too.

                                                

Our kids were very happy to spend time with their older cousins.  They played baseball, putt-putt, and hide-and-seek.  They were able to see the new Spiderman movie together, too.  My kids just wanted to be with them - always walking over to Grandma & Grandpa's house to hang out. 

One evening, they set off fire poppers and threw pop-its.

Another night they lit sparklers and threw more pop-its.

Another highlight was when the younger cousins arrived.  Our kids were so incredibly excited to play with the little ones.  Just watching them have fun and explore the beach was the best entertainment.  

                                   

The kids had a list of places to eat at the beach as well and we checked them off.  There was Grotto pizza and Five Guys burgers.  Boardwalk fries and ice cream every night.  Of course, Josiah had to try the chicken fingers from the boardwalk.  He rated them in his top four.  

We made sure to get family pictures in, too.  Grandma & Grandpa with all the grandchildren.

I made our kids dress up one night for some sunset pictures.  I always tell them, if you smile, this will only take 5 minutes.  It works very well for us.  

                        

Caroline was ready to spend a second week at the beach, but alas our time was up.  We headed back to Grandad and Nana's for dinner and a short sleep before it was time to head to the airport.  We arrived at the airport around 4:15a.m., returned the rental car without issue, checked our one bag easily, then headed to security.  The luggage, the backpacks, the shoes and purses all made it through.  All except one item that got sent down the second conveyor belt to the TSA agent.  

Whose bag is this?  

I pointed at Caroline and said it was hers.  

Is there anything in here that will harm me?  

Uh, no.  

And then they unzipped the top and found her kinetic sand.  They separated the kinetic sand from the bag and ran it through the x-ray again.  

Ma'am, I'm going to have to test this.  

Okay.  So they got the drug testing TSA agent who carefully unwrapped her kinetic sand.  We were glued to the process as they pulled out their test strips and everything.  In my head, I was thinking, What if some drug dealer put crack in this particular container thinking another drug dealer would pick it up and they picked up the wrong one and ours has crack in it?  I was intensely watching the testing.

Ours came back crack-free.  They handed the sand to Caroline.  

At 5:00 a.m., I gave Caroline a different type of motion sickness medicine to see if that would work better than the thrown-up Dramamine from our previous trip.  She had it with a bit of toast.   45 minutes later we boarded the plane and before the plane even moved, she had thrown it up.  Shortly into the flight, she gave her throw-up bag a matching twin.  Meanwhile, Henry was blowing his nose constantly.  He went through his entire roll of toilet paper (redneck Kleenex) in the first hour and all I could think was, you have two more hours flight time and nothing to blow your nose with!?!! I was popping some throat lozenges myself, so we were quite the row.  The flight itself was really good and the kids were happy it had screens - most of our flights don't.  Todd picked us up and as soon as we got home, it became a day of naps.  I took two.  Henry and Caroline got good long ones in as well.   

Benson was happy to see us.  While we were gone, Todd sent us a video of Benson playing in the sprinkler.  We had to see it for ourselves, so we turned it on and watched him frolic until he exhausted himself.  

VBS with Motion Sickness Girl

The boys started their week off by sleeping through Monday.  They had gone to a sleepover the night before.  Again, 'sleepover' is an oxymoron.  Josiah napped all morning.  Henry napped all afternoon. They had to be home early Monday morning because Caroline had VBS to get to.  

VBS was called Keepers of the Kingdom this year and it had a Medieval theme.  Caroline's group was called the Knights.  She was very happy to find her favorite Awana friend on her team.  At pick-up, Caroline relayed that her group had the best leader.  Her team won at game time as well.  It was a good first day.

Day 2 she came home not quite as happy.  They had a piece of paper with Scriptures to memorize throughout the week.  At pick-up on Day 1, I saw the Scripture papers on a table and asked her if she needed it.  She replied in the negative.  But on Day 2, they had adults that would listen to the memorized verse from the day before.  Caroline hadn't memorized any, so she struggled through her time with the listener.  We put that frustration into memorizing the verses that evening!  On Day 3, she said three verses and was happy at pick-up again.  For each verse they said, they got to pick out a bracelet.  By the end of the week she had a wrist-ful of bracelets.

Mid-week, the boys had their Bible study while Caroline was at VBS.  Henry had a friend come over afterwards to spend the day with us.  They played Minecraft and the Game of Life before we hit the pool.  It didn't take the kids long to spot our neighbor friend there along with another friend, so we ended up with quite a group.  Four boys between the ages of 12-15 and Caroline.  (Josiah had been under the weather so he stayed home.)  Marco Polo was played, tennis balls were tossed, and there were many trips down the slide.  Caroline was the only girl in the mix so I kept a close eye on her.  

Earlier in the week, the kids pulled out Monopoly.  I took a picture at the beginning because Monopoly tends to sour quickly.  They did not get far in their game and by the end of the week they packed it up. I appreciated not having to deal with that fallout.

Todd almost got a real Father's Day this year.  We are usually always out of town, but this year we were able to celebrate it a day early.  Josiah drew him as Indiana Jones and the boys put together a James Bond Lego car.  That and a few snacks to keep him going while we're out of town.  

It was a good time to head out of town, too.  The heat in Houston has been really intense.  The month of May was quite nice and fairly mild.  This past week the temperatures jumped.  The feels like temperature hit sauna level.  Next week, the actual temperatures are supposed to hit 105°.  The feels like will be the surface of the sun.  Fortunately, we hopped a plane Saturday evening and landed in the relatively cooler climate of Virginia.  

Still on the tarmac...

Plane trips are always eventful with Motion Sickness Girl.  The first hour of the flight, golden.  The second hour turned bad quickly.  The throw-up bag was deployed as a precautionary.  Then it was filled.  One flight attendant noted the situation and brought her a latex glove filled with ice that she put on the back of her neck.  She also brought one of those rubbing alcohol wet cloth packets.  Caroline sniffed that and for a while she seemed to be doing okay.  The flight attendant subtly handed me a few extra throw-up bags for which we were very grateful.  It only took 30 minutes for us to make use of the extras.   After we deboarded and were walking to the luggage carousel, Caroline observed, "I don't think I should be a pilot or a flight attendant when I get older."   Huh.  I'm going to agree with you on this one.  Probably not the best career choice for your current situation.  But the kindness of the flight attendant will stick with us for a long time.  

We got in late, but were happy to wake up Father's Day morning at Grandad and Nana's house.  It was good to visit family again.  The kids wanted their now-traditional picture.  

Caroline clearly was better and took pictures of herself leaping through the air.  

Henry got his baseball on.  

And Josiah did a thing.  The Lone Beatle.

It will be a good week.

Kamp

Monday morning, the boys were all ready to head off for camp.  The night before, Henry mentioned that his deodorant was broken.  It wouldn't rotate up.  He showed it to me and explained how he could squeeze the plastic together pushing the deodorant up, allowing him to use it.  I looked at him and explained how the leaders explicitly stated that deodorant was the most important item to take to camp.  Despite continuous efforts at convincing me that he could make it work, I went out early Monday morning for a fresh stick for the week.  It was a bustling crowd when we dropped them off at church.  There were 400 kids going - junior high and high school (and 100 leaders/counselors).  9 busloads full - the big fancy buses, too.  Josiah found his group and waved goodbye from a distance.  Henry waited for his friend to get checked in and then they boarded the bus.  They really wanted to find a seat together.  

When we got the information about camp, we were told the kids would be divided up into 12 groups. Each group had a color associated with it.  They got a Kamp shirt in that color, but they could also bring more things in the same color when they played rec games.  On the list, Henry was in the purple group, so we bought a purple hat and purple bandanas.  We got to church and he had been moved to the red group.  It was all good, except that he had to go to camp with a purple hat.  We have so many red things at home that he could have brought, too.  Josiah's color was hunter green.  

Caroline's goal was to secretly board the buses with the boys.  She is going to miss her camp because we'll be out of town the week it happens.  She really, really, really wanted to go to camp.  Despite her disappointment, we went home, had lunch, and then I showed her my new retractable feather duster.  She was impressed with its long pole and dusted a few spots.  Then we set to work on her room.  She wanted to rearrange a few things especially her closet, so we spent a few hours on that and she was happy with the results.  

We both had the cleaning bug with the house so quiet, so we got to work on our own projects.  One afternoon, she asked for help cleaning up Henry's room.  It wasn't messy per se, but a little cluttered.  We weren't sure how he would react, so we chanced it.  She was very thorough, too.  She took everything off certain shelves and dusted them before putting his things back, grouping them by color.  (His reaction was not as enthusiastic as Caroline had hoped.)

We watched A League of Their Own.  Her little introduction to chick flicks.   

We got burgers for dinner one night.  

Because we would not make our Friday morning pool time with the boys, Caroline and I went one afternoon earlier in the week.  There was a boy there a few years younger than Caroline that kept asking her to play.  She didn't really want to play and told him she didn't want to play, but he still checked with her every few minutes to make sure.  So she practiced her freestyle a lot.  She also practiced how many Mississippi's she could hold her breath.  24.  

On Friday morning, Caroline cleaned the playroom.  That afternoon, after the boys had been picked up, Josiah set up his stop-motion animation station again and cluttered up the floor with his Legos.  Caroline was less than enthused to see her work destroyed so quickly.  I understand... 

Before picking the boys up at noon, Todd and Caroline hit a new burrito place for lunch.  They had five different tortillas to choose from and after you picked the one you wanted, they took a ball of dough and cooked it fresh.  Caroline chose a steak burrito.  It got her seal of approval.   

The boys had a smile of their face when Todd picked them up.  (I was at a Practicum all day.)  At home, however, they told quite a story of their time.  Josiah's cabin of 8th grade boys had a few kids that were on the rebellious side.  The floor of their cabin got messy every day with water spit from mouths, sour cream, and other food products.  There was urine in trash cans, clogged showers and toilets.  There were dead wasps hidden in beds.  There was also a lot of, Mickey came in and gave us a lecture, Curtis came in and talked to us about respect...  There was a lot of cleaning up of their cabin, too.  Despite the craziness, Josiah said he had a good time and wants to go back next year.  He assured me he was not a part of destruction.  He had a goal of getting all the leaders signatures and he succeeded in his endeavor.  

Henry, meanwhile, had a bit of a rough go.  On the plus side, he got to bunk with his friend as well as all the 6th grade boys.  In stark contrast to the 8th graders, Henry's cabin won Cleanest Cabin two days in a row.  The reward was free snacks.  Unfortunately, his rec team did not win a single game - they lost 7 and tied once.  That was hard for a very competitive boy to stomach.  There were issues in the chow line with ordering, and one day, instead of getting the meat burrito he ordered, he was handed a tray with two bowls of beans.  While he likes beans, he didn't get silverware at the beginning of the line because he didn't think he'd need it for the burrito.  While Josiah seemed to like the food, Henry wasn't a fan.  Henry did try out the ropes course with his friend, so at least he did something.  We're glad he experienced it and he'll learn from both the good and the bad.  However, he does not want to go back next year.  

Each day they were at camp, there was a photographer walking around and they would upload a bunch of pictures for the folks at home to look at and confirm their child was alive and thriving.  Each day we checked the website often, but never saw the boys.  When they got home, they checked the pictures to see if they could find themselves.  Josiah found himself.  Sort of.  Here is his team playing volleyball.  Josiah is just to the right - out of the frame.

Here is Josiah's team playing floor hockey.  He is the goalie which is just to the right - out of the frame.  

Here he is again. For real this time. 

We were really hoping to see some pictures of the Disco party, but none were uploaded.  

Caroline's turn is this coming week.  She has VBS at her Awana church.  She is really looking forward to connecting with her Awana friends again.  

Introducing, The Bleatles!

We had breakfast-for-dinner earlier in the week.  French toast.  The kids asked if they could use confectioner's sugar instead of syrup.  I clearly said, "Only if it is a dusting and not a blizzard."  They were in the dining room.  I was in the kitchen.  Apparently, we have lived in Texas too long and they do not know the definitions of snow accumulation.  

It is already hot enough for all the summer activities.  We headed back to the neighborhood pool this week.  Obligatory photo taken. 

The kids did all the things - flips and headstands, carrying each other in the water, cannonballs and 3-to-an-innertube.  Then they tried a double piggy back.  We left just as the lifeguard trainees were getting ready to do their swim tests.  

Henry finally got his Dairy Queen for earning Memory Master.  In years past, we would stop at Dairy Queen after he finished his tutor proof - the longest proof, but not the final proof.  This year we ended up driving friends back and forth from CC that day and never made it to DQ.  Henry never let me forget that he hadn't received his proofing reward.  The other two kids were happy to partake in the celebration.  

We got the DQ after the boys finished up their first summer Bible study.  It was led by their favorite student pastor and they both had a very good time at their first meeting.  Apparently this meeting was more of a get-to-know-you.  They got into a discussion as to whether pineapple should be on pizza or not.  There were some strong opinions on the topic.  Josiah was a firm, no.  Henry was non-committal.  He said that since he has never had pineapple on pizza, he could not definitively say whether it was good or not, and that everyone is allowed to have their own opinion on this topic, so his opinion should not influence another.  He was very diplomatic about the whole thing.  Josiah commented, That's not how you are at home.  Truth.  Their leader said he'd have to get both pineapple and non-pineapple pizzas next time to settle the debate.  

Josiah spent a lot of time this week working on a new creation - The Bleatles.  They're like the Beatles, but they're sheep.  He started with one album cover.  

Then he tried to do all the album covers.

Caroline tapped her creative juices as well and completed her collage kit that she got for her birthday.  She had created many collages on her floor since her birthday, but we hadn't gotten around to getting them on the wall.  Instead of taping them directly to the wall, we taped them to a super thick posterboard.  She was very happy to get it hung up.  She's been into rearranging her room as well.  She has big plans for a new space this summer.    

Henry earned himself another stripe this week.  It is fun to see the kids inch up on their professor.

This weekend, the boys have been packing for camp.  They'll be away all next week.  Both boys are excited, but with a good bit of nervousness thrown in.  They've never been away this long before. Henry and Caroline went to this same camp last year, so Henry has some familiarity with it.  They should have a good time.  One evening, they are having a disco party and Josiah is very eager to sport his 70s duds.  Benson sniffed all that they were packing and then hopped up on the bed to supervise the rest.    

We got Fat Boys pizza again.  Instead of the regular sized pizzas, we opted for the 30" pizza.  It was huge.  For a crust fan, that was a lot of pizza to get through to enjoy the crust.  

The kids finished out their weekend swimming at their friend's pool.  He got a case for his phone so he can take pictures underwater.  

Caroline and I are looking forward to a nice quiet lady's week ahead.  She may just lay around with Benson all week.