William visit Day 15 + 16

Sunday

Caleb's sleepover was a really nice time for both. They had a good sleep but were awake at 6 am. Our church service is at 10 am. And not very far. Breakfast didn't take long. What to do? As it was still nice and coolish we had time to look at the garden. Caleb looooves to use the clippers and trim. Dead-heading is not a chore for him. Yeah!

We suddenly saw also that butterfly # 4 (the last one) had hatched. Not much time before we had to leave. We drove the awning out for some shade and carried everything outside. 

 

It wasn't ready to fly off. It had it's wings more closed than open. William took all the photos. So that is why we left it like this. When we came back it was gone. Of course.

We went straight from the church to bring Caleb home. His parents were still gone and his other grandparents needed to leave with him in good time because the next day the camp started which they had arranged for him.

James and I of course stayed with the twins. We built a very nice railroad.

Yes, yes, sometimes bribery is allowed. We went to Sweetfrog after the twins nap. A treat also for William because several days earlier we had wanted to take him to the one close to us and -big dissapointement - it was 'temporarily' closed. 

Too hot to go outside. Some TV and some wrestling while watching.

Monday

Not many photos! We had to get up early because we had a 38 minute drive to his CSI camp and sign-in was at 8:45 am. Luckily he had a good nights sleep and everything went fine. 

Unfortunately Sarah had a problem. The babysitter called in sick. Fortunately we could help. James and I were at her house at noon. We ahd lunch with the twins Sarah had to leave for work at 12:30. We had a good time playing then the twins napped. James went to pick William up from his camp which was not so far now and the twins were awake when they arrived back. 

Wade (and Sarah when she doesn't have to work at that time) take the children for a bikeride on the golf course which is open on Monday evenings. When Wade arrived from work he was kind to take William as well. It's much more fun for William to ride his bike with company. Papa and Omi can't help there.

When we thought they might be coming back we waited outside. I open the back of my car and use to sit on it. Soon we saw several deer including a young buck walk across the street into the back yard not far from us.

Stella's ears pricked up but she did not move. Interesting.

And then they arrived back. I think William is tired from a long day filled with experiences.

VIDEO     (0:43 minutes)

William was very grateful though that Wade had taking him on that ride. He says he needs to exercise. 

William visit Day 14

 Oh oh, I have to catch up with 2 days now. 

Saturday

William could not sleep last night. He just could not make his brain stop working. Early in the morning he came into our bedroom and said he doesn't think he had slept at all. But of course he had since he didn't remember that I had checked on him. And then he fell asleep in our bed. 

So, we let him sleep and I went to the church for the St. Martin's project by myself. James and I volunteered several years ago to help make sandwiches/bags when it is our group's turn. William actually looked forward to it. He had said he likes to help to do something for God. Turns out that he woke up not too long after I had left. But waking up naturally is always a good thing. He and James did some errands.

I had to do one too but can't remember what else we did before lunch. Except one of us suddenly noticed that we had butterfly # 3. It seems that the hatching doesn't take that long because we had checked just shortly before. 

After lunch we decided we had to let it go. We were leaving for a while and thought it wasn't fair just to leave it when it would soon be ready to fly. 

This one was a lively one. I couldn't catch it easily in the house so we carried the whole thing out. William was the photographer with my phone.

Butterfly # 3 out-smarted us, slipped out, fluttered away and landed on top of our neighbors' sun-umbrella.

This weekend was a bit complicated. Sarah and Wade were celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary and had gone away for a long weekend. The cousins 'other grandparents' were staying at their house during this time. They are leaving again on Sunday and taking Caleb with them for the week because he will attend a horse camp there. This means that William and Caleb will not see each other for who knows how long.

So we arranged to pick Caleb up for a sleep-over. Both were so excited. Here just a few things they did to occupy themselves. 

The dominos had to be experimented with since they just had experienced the cereal box domino run.

William 'borrowed' my phone (camera) und did all sorts of slow-mo videos. It was rather cute.

We ended up playing several real games though. Much fun.

Of course there were other games to play too.

Around 5 pm we checked and it was not so very hot outside any longer. We decided to all take a walk in the neighborhood together. 

And what did Caleb discover this time? A broken birds' egg followed by a cicada around the corner!

We did not get very far though. The sky started to get darker and darker. And then ... can you see the first very large drops of rain?

Oh well, back to the house. William wanted Caleb to learn his new game. Caleb liked it as much. He has the same problem holding the many cards towards the last rounds.

The boys were very good going to bed. Yes, another great day. 

William visit Day 13

Friday

Last day of VBS. Of course everybody was looking forward to the "Cereal Box Domino Run". I went a little early to pick him up to see whether I could take a photo. You never know how the event is going to go. As you can see, they left some boxes out to make a gap every so many boxes in case something falls prematurely. 

 

Some of the children's art work to admire. 

Ha, I didn't know it was from William's group. And his painting on slate is in the above photo on the left in the first row. I like it. Not many with a religious theme.

At the end of each day everybody met in the sanctuary. Today too. At the end instructions where to go. It was really a great idea and a lot of fun. And oh yes ...

VIDEO    (0:34 minutes)   

We said good-buy to his cousins for today and made arrangements for Caleb's sleepover tomorrow. In the car William declared that he did enjoy VBS today. 

When we arrived home James informed us right away that butterfly # 2 has also arrived. We decided to let it go soon so it had still some time at daylight to find food etc.

VIDEO   (0:17 minutes)

In the afternoon William and I decided to make the Key Lime Tartlets which he had helped make at Sarah's house. I had bought the ingredients even before that and we didn't want them to get bad. William did the graham cracker crumbs to perfection.

He decided he also needed to take more pictures because I should put them into a blog.

My turn to take a photo. He is very intense when he works. No smile on his face doesn't mean that he is not enjoying himself. He is 'into the job'.

After baking and 2 hours of cooling ... tasting! These are leftovers.

A very good day.