We saw Kayla and Thatcher first, then August was up t 7:45. He called “Dada” but was very calm about it, which was a bit surprising. I went up and picked him up. He saw Thatcher and asked of his big floppy pajamas “Is that their towel or their pajamas?” Interesting how he used ‘their’ although he knew it was Thatcher. I took him downstairs and I was again surprised when he kept holding on to me and didn’t want to instantly go to Carly. He had me hold him for about 5 minutes, then took several more minutes to wake up next to Carly on the couch.
Derek made crepes for breakfast. We ate those, then Thatcher was playing with a couple of little drones he has. August tried one, and when he flew it a second time it hit his head and wrapped in his hair. I thought he would get really upset, but he handled it really well and let me get it out; luckily, I didn’t have to use scissors. He then had the idea of going out on the porch and controlling it through the screen door, and that was how they piloted them for the rest of the day.
The kids headed upstairs on their own. At one point he yelled “Dada!” When I went up and asked what he needed he said “I was just making sure you were here.” They were then trying to convince Derek and Andrea to let them take apart the keyboard that isn’t working. I took a shower. A bit later Carly told him she was going to leave soon to go see Becky. He ran into the play room and said “I have good news and bad news: The bad news is that my Mama is leaving in thirty minutes but the good news is we’ll see her at the beach.”
They were all in the play area. I went in to take over for Carly so she could get ready to go. Thatcher had some kit where they could build a robot and August wanted to build “The grandpa bot!” They decided it was too complicated for now. They ended up back downstairs and played more with the drone, until the battery ran out. August wanted to watch Craig of the Creek. We made sure it was okay and he watched on the couch, with Kayla and Thatcher on either side of him. After two he turned it off and said “Done. I watched 22 minutes of Craig of the Creek.”
They went Back up to the play area. They made a big fort and Andrea was a monster. August got the ukulele and said “This is my weapon to battle the monsters.” Andrea had been a kissing monster and got August once. He handled it well, but then a couple minutes later went up to her and calmly asked “Aunt Andrea? Could you not kiss me?” A bit later he said he was the guard of the fort, but when Andrea came up he instantly switched sides, telling her “they’re over there!” And telling her “Thatcher and Kayla taste better. I have really dirty underwear.”
And when I had first come up Andrea had been at the other end of the room. I started doing Arabic on Duolingo at the other end. August asked what I was doing, then he said that I was doing Arabic and Andrea was doing French. We were also both using Duolingo.
Downstairs Andrea made pasta and made a veggie and fruit tray for lunch. They ate, all sitting at the tall table by the windows.
We then got going to the beach as there was a low tide at 1:30. I packed up all our sweatshirts, etc. but didn’t need them as it was quite nice. Andrea drove down; August used the vest. We lucked out on a parking spot and headed down to the beach. August was a little unsure about walking on the seaweed and rocks at first, but got into it and was eventually wading through the tidal pools and turning over rocks. We saw a couple trains go by, which I was more impressed by than August. We saw plenty of crabs and anemones and the end of a clam or something that disappeared when we touched it. We worked our way north to a big bunch of rocks. There, August discovered a big purple sea star.
Carly showed up. She had had a nice visit with Becky by the building next to Meridian Playfield (where the nuns used to be). Becky got a brain injury in a snowmobile accident and had an appointment there.
We continued looking around for another 20 minutes or so. Then Kayla needed to go to the bathroom and Andrea started to take her. August decided he was ready to go, so we all started walking back. Across the bridge we saw Derek wiping sand off his feet with a sock. He offered to let us share; I said that was sockward. Derek and I had started the Dad jokes earlier.
Back at the house I did some work and August and Thatcher went upstairs. Carly went upstairs after a while. Kayla and Andrea did errands. Carly got ready to go see Stephanie and so I went up. Thatcher and August were being kittens. I was the wolf and chasing them occasionally. It was clear they were getting tired of that, so Derek called for clean up. It was a big job. During it, August asked if Derek had ever said “yuck” when the milk was dry. He was referring to a nursing story that Cherie had told us.
Downstairs, they played with the drones again. They were also closing the glass door, and one time when Thatcher went to open it August was leaning against it and his finger got pinched between it and the screen door. He handled it well at first, although he was crying, and had me take him upstairs to the bedroom. But then he was melting down a bit and kicking at me. Eventually calmed down and wasn’t really bad, but it was still a lot for something that didn’t leave a mark.
Andrea and Kayla got back. Kayla was asleep and slept on the couch for a long time. Andrea bought the board game Mousetrap and Thatcher and August started setting it up.
Dinner was ready and Kayla had woken up and we all ate. Yakisoba noodles with carrots and broccoli. For music Andrea suggested I put something on. We listened to some of the new Ocean Blue and then Andrew Bird, as “Nonanimal” had been stuck in my head since the beach (it mentions anemones). Derek than put on Oliver Riot.
We then played Mousetrap. Technically, I was the one playing, but August did all the rolling for me. They just played a simplified version at first. Derek baked chocolate chip cookies from frozen dough and when those were ready we each had one.
Then up to bath time. Carly gave August his bath. He had a few inches of bubble bath, I think. He hadn’t wanted to join the other two in their bath. Derek read the kids three stories. August wasn’t sure he wanted to join at first, but did. We got August in bed and I left them at 8:35. Carly was reading Captain Underpants. He was scared by the flashing light of the smoke detector. Carly explained what it was, but he had to have the lamp on before he fell asleep.
Drone 1:
Drone 2:
Drone 3:
Inedible kids:
Carkeek beach 1:
Carkeek beach 2:
Carkeek beach 3:
Carkeek beach 4:
Mousetrap 1:
Mousetrap 2:
