William Day 3

It's Monday and after a late night before William slept in a bit longer today. We took it easy in the morning. After breakfast had a little walk in the neighborhood we had to do some shopping ... some gardening ... some lunch ... some games. Auntie Sarah had to work but invited us for a spaghetti dinner. Uncle Wade let us know to come after the boys nap time and we arrived about 4:20 pm.

The boys were done with napping and were watching a nice movie ... with popcorn.

Sarah arrived soon and we were all outside. Caleb, Colin and Owen showed William how they used a ramp Caleb had received from Santa. 

The ramp can be used in different ways. There are three parts to it.

And yes, there is a VIDEO     (1:07 minutes)

After dinner (with homemade spaghetti sauce!) they boys wanted to play in the back yard, a child's paradise. 

William tried the zipline. VIDEO     (0:18 minutes)

And then the four decided that some digging needed to be done in the backyard too. They came in several times asking for different tools they were NOT allowed to use. Sorry. 

And then it was time for us to leave. A late bedtime again. But so much fun.

William Day 2

He must have been really tired because he fell asleep very fast and we did not hear a peep last night. But at 6 am he came into our bedroom. The night was over.

All the typical things. We stayed in bed for a little while, got dressed and had breakfast.  William asked very often about the day ... specifically when he might see his cousins. We invited Sarah to drop her kids off and go with her husband for brunch or so but she said they would all come. 

Oh, was William waiting. Finally at 10 am he saw the car pull in. He was on the front porch and raced to the front door. OMG, I have never seen excitement like that before. The cousins were the same. They ran in and gave hugs.

For the next two hours they were in the living room, the back porch, in front of the entry door. They knew where Omi has some of the toys. 

I asked whether the three VA boys could show William how to play the Left-Right-Center game and they all got excited. Owen said: "We can't because we didn't bring it". But Omi had a second one because I told them that they can keep the one I had given them earlier. It really is a good game for any age.We were 8 and it was fun.

What is next? Omi found the colored chalk. Combined with the pull-back cars it might make good intertainment. 

Lunchtime. The 4 adults on the regular table. The kids on a children's table but since the right table with the chairs was still at Sarah's house, cushions had to be ok.

Ice cream for dessert and then they had to leave. The three of us chilled. But Papa decided to hose off the evidence. Boys just like to play with water.

The chilling included doing things in the loft. There hangs Omi's new magnetic dart game which William likes as much as his cousins who always run up to "practice" a little when they are visiting. 

We also found the old bagatelle game. Oh, the memories. Ever since I visited my father-in-law in Windsor, England, there was this game on the table in the room which was called "the nursery". When our girls visited too they always loved playing it. It is now in our guest room. I can't quite remember how the game made it over the ocean. It is quite large as you can see. But it will be played with a lot here. The boys are all old enough now. The board is by now a little fragile.

After dinner we met up with the cousins (and their parents, ha-ha) again. Sarah had arranged to rent a (free) spot for the fireworks at Libbie Mill Midtown. It was incredibly well organized which made it a lot of fun. Each square was for a group of about 10 people. There were two more squares adjacent her friends had "claimed" but didn't need so Sarah had invited friends she had not seen in quite a while. And not all squares were occupied anyway. Since you knew where to go you could arrive anytime. Then Fireworks happened shorty after 9 pm.

You were not supposed to bring food or drinks but of course there was the opportunity to buy some. The three men took the children to get a treat of shaved ice each and something for the ladies too.

Do I have a blue tongue? Do I have a red tongue?

Sarah initiated playing the game of 20 questions. Everybody had fun.

Finally!

Sorry, I don't have a better photo and my video didn't upload, but it probably would not be very interesting to you anyway. 

Leaving the parking lot was as easy as the arrival and all together a pleasant and fun experience/day.

Happy Independance Day!

Whoop Whoop

Yes, the July started of GREAT! 

Unexpectedly I found out I was a winner. Sometimes I participate in Quilt Block Lottery. Every month it is a different quilt block. You can make one or more (I had time ... and felt like it ... to make 2) and you mail it to the organizer. For each block you get a chance. Now 34 blocks will come back to me. That will make at least 2 charity quilts, depending how I assemble them. Fun!

Not so GREAT. What happened to my parsley? I found 5 caterpillars on the empty stalks. I googled: who eats my parsley? The off-spring of the black swallowtail butterfly. I found a container and put them into it, with a few of the parsley left. 

And then what? Didn't want to kill them. I love butterflies. They are so useful to all of us and the environment. But I wanted my parsley too. I found an interesting blog: butterfly-lady.com

There was a slight problem though. The next day we had a lot of driving to do. We were meeting Helen half-way to get our grandson for a 3-week visit. We were going the day before to have a night in a hotel so we didn't have to do all in one day. We are retired! So we decided to take the caterpillars with us. When we had our picnic lunch we also took them out of the car because it might get too hot. You can see them in that basket on the table. 

Do you think I am silly?

I had not had time to fix something from home but this salad (from a Wal-Mart?) was not bad at all.

It was a nice rest area on I-81. The photographer didn't do very well. James is under the shelter on the left right in front of that tree ... blending in.

Checking on our new friends. Still plenty of food. Hope they are don't die. Previously they had stripped what I had put in down to the stalks.

The hotel room was comfortable. Time for one of our card games.

Oops, yes, still alive. Stripped the parsley. 

With the salad I had bought another parsley plant but it had not been enough. I was not about to buy another one. It was getting expensive. But we found this whole bunch of cut parsley for 78 cents at Walmart. The lined ice bucket with water did nicely for that.

The room also had a corner to make tea or coffee. I thought this cup was nice.

And yes, we splurged. While in the car James had made reservations for dinner. The Tavern is supposed to be the oldest building in Abingdon, VA, and has a lot of atmosphere of course. The server was very nice ... and so proud when he pointed out what was homemade. My homemade french onion soup was excellent. So tasty.

Supposedly German food. I should have known better. I am not saying it was bad. The schnitzel was nice and tender. The homemade red cabbage definately had too much clove in it and the raisons made it too sweet. I put diced apple in. Much better. 

James had New Zealand whole rack of lamb ... and cleaned the platter.

Next day - July 3 - we met Helen and William at the Virginia Welcome Center Bristol. Helen took this photo and shared with me. I was totally too busy being excited.

James and I had brought things from a Subway and Helen brought dessert and we had a nice picnic in the shade. Of course we also had to exchange things from one car to the other. Helen gave me "instructions" of which one was that William has taken a liking to the peach milk shake from Chick-fil-a. After which William turned to me, smiled and said "I wonder what you do with this information". That made my day!

After that Helen left to turn back to Nashville and we went on our way to Richmond. William has always been a good traveler. It is a long drive. We were home at 6 pm, unloaded the car, got settled and than looked for something we could fix quickly for dinner. I took William to the freezer because I know he likes those dumplings from Trader Joe's and asked him whether he might be interested. OMG, his face was pure joy with a spontanious hug. Obviously a good appetizer. 

And then it was almost time to go to bed for him. William-visit day 1 over.