We had a great time at our cookout last night! On the menu: grilled steak and chicken, sweet corn, lamona salad, baked beans, grilled onions, applesauce, ice tea and brownies. Savannah was still out of town, but we had five kids anyway because Emilee's friend Brianna came along. After dinner, all five of the kids went upstairs to Harrison's "apartment" to play, and the grownups cleaned the kitchen, then played a game of Chronology followed by Scene It.
At the end of the night, Deedee and Mark took the two girls home, and left Alex & Dylan with us for an overnight with Harrison. There must have been three growth spurts since the last overnight! We usually put the boys on a queen size bed, sideways. This time they were all three a little too long - so they had a rough night, kicking each other and jockeying for position. Good thing we have the futon waiting in the wings!
Anyway, they did manage to sleep through a major thunderstorm. I know, because Julio and I were up late watching a movie, and I was in bed reading as the storm started to build. So, I got up to check the weather reports, and channel 9 added "seek shelter immediately; go to an inside room on a lower level away from windows". Now, that there's tornado talk. Naturally, the warning was in effect until 3:15 am, and the watch until 5. I had 3 little boys in the upper level of our home, sleeping under a window in an exterior room. Darned if I was going to sleep until I was good and sure we were only having a storm and not a tornado! Things did settle down about 3:30, so I finally got to go to sleep.
Needless to say, Julio and the boys got up a little earlier than I did this morning! But Julio was tired himself. It was about 9:30 when he decided to get the boys breakfast at McDonald's. He wasn't sure how late they served breakfast, so he rushed to get over there ASAP. This particular drive thru is notoriously slow on Saturday mornings, so he parked and ran inside. As he got in the doors, he was met by two small children, around 3 or 4 years old. They gaped at him, then pointed and shouted, "SPONGE BOB!!!" Julio was puzzled for a moment, then realized he had left the house wearing the Spongebob Squarepants pajama top Harrison gave him for his birthday.
We took the boys to the Amanas for a late lunch and afternoon adventure. We told them they could each have five dollars for a souvenir, but they didn't find anything they cared to have, so they didn't make any purchases. I was pleased that they didn't just buy any old thing so they could spend their money.
On the way back into town, we passed through an area that had been underwater during the recent flooding. It is absolutely heartbreaking to see collapsed porches, homes with 7-8 foot piles of debris in front, homes with the red page posted on the front window, indicating it is not even safe to enter. There is a long road ahead for many members of our community.
There is a house near Harrison's school which has a daily garage sale all summer long every summer (their "moving sale" has lasted over 3 years that we know of, and we stop by there every once in awhile and reduce their stock, yet they never seem to run out of inventory. At this rate, they'll never be able to move!) We stopped by there to give the boys a second chance at spending their money. They had better luck this time. Harrison found a little toy slot machine/bank, Dylan found a plastic light saber, and Alex found an "easy" button that was labeled and "spoke" in Spanish (a "facil" button, actually).
We kept the kids until bedtime, then took them home and got a tour of the mega renovations Mark and Deedee have undertaken - some by choice (kitchen remodel), some by necessity (basement flooding repairs). We're finally home working toward getting to bed, so we can be fresh at church and not need to nap through the afternoon tomorrow.
Wow. Another mundane post...it's really very nice when life is even keel for awhile.
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