On Wednesday, a friend of Becky's came out to visit, with her 3 kids. The kids all swam until they were cold, then we made lunch. Mostly, the kids just all played together.
Once the friends had to go home, we went over and visited Nola for a bit. The kids all free- ranged, in the most literal sense.
They played in the tree fort/ clubhouse that Becky's kids had built themselves. Roamed the property. Kitties and puppies, ducklings and small hooved critters.
Ben and Paula stayed to supper, with a great bonus of Paula's fresh grown squash.
Althea decided to stay the night, as she was afraid we would be having too much fun without her!
A movie was rented, and the crew settled in to watch "How To Train Your Dragon 3".
Afterwards, the littles slept on the couches, while the biggers retired upstairs to continue listening to Bill Wallace's "Journey Into Terror" before it was lights out.
Thursday, the kids all pitched in with a huge "Community Service" project. We all worked together to clean out Becky's big walk in refrigerator. The kids worked together in hauling out and scraping out dishes that had sat forgotten for too long. They carried out bags of trash, and scrubbed doors and shelves, and swept the floor. Becky scrubbed dishes and jars.
Afterwards, we all rode to Eden, where two cartons of ice cream were obtained, and we went to the park. The kids had cups of ice cream and played until they were played out. Then, we took a scenic route home. There was swimming, and supper. The littles were read to downstairs, and the bigger kids got a few more chapters of their book. This was the day we almost lost a kid. The problem with taking more than one vehicle is the head count.
As we were leaving the ranch, Becky stopped to count. Nickole was missing! She'd been sent upstairs to put on a shirt without bare shoulders... and picked up a book. Got lost in reading instead of loading up! (She is VERY fair complexioned, and was already slightly pink, we were trying to prevent a bad burn.)
Friday, we swam early, did crafts, then met Uncle Daniel at a park by the river in San Angelo. We took a picnic lunch, and scooter, bikes, and roller skates. Ben and Paula arrived, and we spent several hours as the kids played. Then it was back to Becky's for roasted hot dogs and jalapeno poppers. The kids that wanted to help, got to help make the poppers. Becky was saying she was concerned that 48 wasn't enough. I thought it was overkill. Wanna guess who was right?
(Hint: It wasn't me)
Kids played outside later than we had been allowing, then all came in. Daniel finished off the last few chapters of our book upstairs, then we came down to visit. It was nearing midnight when we turned in. Grace woke with a stuffed nose/ breathing problems, so we were up and down with her the remainder of the night.
Saturday saw us on the road by 7:30, returning all the borrowed grands to their destinations.
It was a fun, exhausting week.
Link to lots of pics
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