A Very Productive Visit to Jill's House!

On Monday, August 15th Dad and I headed up to Virginia Beach to help unpack boxes. We all arrived at exactly the same time in the driveway. Jill had been at the beachhouse at Duck with Dave's folks and Andrew and Sarah and the boys. Had some lunch and then decided it was time to check things out and get busy. There were certainly a ton of boxes everywhere so we dug in and worked hard at emptying them and deciding where things went for three hours or so and then decided it was time for a break. To the backyard and a check and quick cleaning of the pool.

Nice to have right out the back door!

Played for awhile and then it was time for dinner. It was a fast prep one so we had time for a walk/ride around the neighborhood.
Looked a little threatening as we left, but only got a few sprinkles. But did have this waiting when we got home...

Definitely not a Hawaii rainbow, but still a nice full one!

The next morning I took the boys down to the neighborhood park for some time on the swings etc, but there was a distraction there.

Some of the neighborhood kids had cousins visiting and their Mom had bought rocket kits for them and we arrived just as they were about to launch them. Of course our guys were fascinated. They were invited to the launch. We chatted with them for a while and then headed home to boxes.

Colin putting his Home Depot Sat. morning classes to
good use helping Grandpa assemble the shelf.
Colin and Ryan entertaining themselves will
Jill and Grandma tackled more boxes!

Grandpa had been working really hard in the yard and it was a killer day! But, the grass was cut, the Roundup applied and it was time for a little quiet time someplace cool.

Ah, this is the life.....

As soon as the boys saw him out there they flew to their rooms and got their suits on and were out there in a flash! So much for peace and quiet...

After they played for awhile we had a nice picnic lunch on the deck and Grandpa got back in his work duds to finish up with the weedwacker. On the other side of the fence there were some reeds growing in the water and the grass between the reeds and the fence had not been cut for ages so he headed there and got over to where the paddlewheel boat was leaning up against the fence. We turned it over and decided it should be tried out to see how it worked.

Works just fine!
But it definitely needed a bath.

We all scrubbed that baby clean and moved it back down by the pond ready for the next adventure.

But before everyone changes and goes back to work....

Grandma headed back to Ryan's room and the book boxes and Jill headed to the garage and Grandpa finished up in the yard. The boys did great.

Colin dug out the good blocks and tried out
some of the techniques he'd learned after
camp at the Museum.

Meanwhile, Ryan was ready for adventure
armed with his binocs, flashlight and
sword! You never know what you'll find!

This is real progress! See all those flat boxes on the left and all that paper stuff. All that was in boxes on Monday! And now there's room for bikes! :-)

One more boat ride before we put it up.

A little TV time with friends before dinner. (Note the desk in the background.)

All's quiet on the home front!

Beautiful reflections on the pond this Thursday morning.

With most of the work done there was some time to discover new things...a new firehouse puzzle...

New architectural techniques from Colin!!

and new space in the garage!!!

Jill had put out a notice on Craig's list re the boxes and got rid of some last night and the rest were going to be claimed this morning! There are only 2 or 3 unopened boxes and those are pictures that may or may not be hung during this short stay and some shop tools. Wanted to leave Dave a little of the fun. He's in cooking in Yuma AZ this week and flying!

This little downtime before the boys head to the beach

to meet old friends looks like a"ticklebug alert" time

to me! Giggling did follow.

We grabbed a sandwich right after Jill and the boys left and then headed out. It was nice to leave the house we came to on Monday as almost a home today. Enjoy it you guys!! We'll be back soon!

Day 6 - Have a Safe Trip Home!

What a great time we have had! We got one quick picture before everybody left. Unfortunately, didn't get one of the whole group. When will we learn!

After long drives in hot weather, everyone arrived safely at their own homes. Now all those young cousins have faces and personalities to go with those family names.

Thanks everybody for coming and making this such a fun time. Let's do it again, soon.

Day 5

Good morning Miss Lily! It's a cereal day for everybody.

And a quiet day around the neighborhood. Everybody is a little worn out from the heat and all the activity.
First activity of the day...fix the freezer. One day last week the door hadn't closed tight and with all the humidity, the freezer had frosted up nicely. Made you want to go visit that frosty fairyland every time you opened it! So, it was defrost time! Everything out and the fan in to melt all the ice and solved the problem. Seems there was ice on the track on one side and it wasn't letting the door close. Everything back in and problem solved. Thanks Grandpa!

While it was still cool outside, the kids, big and little, took off for a hike along the nature trail in the neighborhood. More books while waiting for everyone to get ready...

then out the door to discovery...

After they visited the horses they wandered to the playground by the clubhouse...

something for everybody!

a snake!...no just a cool hiking stick!

They all returned in a couple of hours and finished the book. They almost got through the whole series...an old Disney travel series they really seemed to enjoy. Visited Scotland, France, US, Ireland, Canada etc.
After lunch they got out the games. We had two Candyland games...the traditional one and a Pooh one. See, it pays to keep all that old stuff of the girls :-).

About 4 it was time to venture back outside to the pool! Grandma stayed home and got stuff ready for our pizza night and cut up some mangoes for a cool treat when everyone got home. The pool folks had a blast!
When they got home and changed clothes it was time for a cold treat. The ice cream had indeed gotten hard...not rock solid, but hard so we decided to make mango milkshakes! Yummy! Fresh mango, milk, ice cream and a touch of honey...delicious. Caleb did a great job on the buttons of the blender...just the right consistency. Everybody enjoyed those.

Jill took off for Chapel Hill. Her friend Elizabeth who she rowed with in college, had invited her to a practice with her Master Rower's group. Jill hadn't rowed since college and she had a blast! So glad she got to go!

Her Facebook Comment was:

"Got to row on University Lake tonight for the first time in a VERY long time! It was awesome,

nostalgic, just plain rocked! Thanks Elizabeth!!"

Meanwhile, back in Bahama it was pizza time. We had veggies, pepperoni, cheese and pocket-less pitas and everybody made their own pizza. They did a very good job! Then finished off the banana pudding and everybody headed for bed! A much quieter day.

Day 4 - Museum of Life and Science, Ice Cream, Pool Time.

The boys started out in the bonus room last night...but not all finished up there. Ryan disappeared during the night downstairs to the bunk bed. We had some pretty late sleepers.

More books while we wait for folks to wake up.

and a little cellular education for Lily.

Ann and Jon showed up unexpectedly at 7:30.
Guess the kitchen was calling to Jon.
He did wonders with those fresh eggs!

Yum!

Meanwhile, the ladies prepped the ice cream
mixture so it would be plenty cold.

That looks like an interesting breakfast!

Cool hat Riley!

After breakfast we headed out to the Museum of Life and Science. Our cool weather had disappeared and it looked like it was going to be a killer day. The outside stuff first!

Ah, to the Dinosaur Trail! This is the only
one the kids can crawl on.
There are some pretty fierce ones along here..
watch out!
Jon, the geologist, was in his element
in the fossil pit. He found some great
shark teeth!
WOW, that's a big one (sharks tooth)!
Our engineer, Gretchen, doing some water studies.
Sailing, sailing..very fickle wind today!

Sending the seeds up to see how they are distributed.

Colin waiting for his seed to come down.

Ah, much cooler in the tropical butterfly
house...that tells you what it was like outside!

An owl butterfly for Noah.

and Ryan...

and Colin too..must like those Willard genes!

I flit like a butterfly...Love you Uncle Jon.

are we medium or well done? Hot, Hot, Hot!!

Too hot, time to go home. John, Colin and Ryan head inside so Colin could show Ryan where he was last week...but everyone else is cooked and ready to go someplace cool. Home we go! We bid farewell to Ann and Jon, they had a mid-afternoon flight so headed to the airport. Gretchen and Mason headed out not to long after we got back. Thanks for coming!!!
Aunt Jean/Grandma had picked up a Bug Vacuum at Tuesday Mornings several months ago. It was driving Noah to distraction in the package so we broke into it and John took them out to the garden to see what they could find. Surprisingly, not much out there.

They did find this nice butterfly.

Even the bugs are smart enough not to be out in this hot weather! They did find a few bugs, but nothing very interesting. Back in the house and the cool and it was time to start on the ice cream! We had dug out the old crank machine so needed help with the turning.

Colin and the kids first...little easier.

Jill jumped in when it got a little harder.

We turned and turned and it seemed to get thicker so called it good. Turned it into a freezer container and put it in the freezer. The kids got into their swim suits and waiting for the rest to finish the ice cream project. More books!

Then off to the pool.

The pool people were too busy having fun to get any more pictures, but they did have a great time! They returned and we had dinner and went in for the ice cream. It wasn't yet hard. Seems Aunt Jean didn't totally read the recipe and found that it called for a can of evaporated milk and she put in a can of evaporated milk - 12 oz. But, the recipe called for a 5 oz can. Whoops! Well, maybe it will freeze by tomorrow. An exhausting day and the big kids followed the little ones in pretty close! Too Hot!