Carly got him up about 8:30. Cassie was Then making waffle bowls for the kids. I picked August up and set him back in one of the butter chairs after a minute. Colin wanted me to do the same thing with him and I set him in the butter chair. August looked at him and said “I’m staring at you.” Colin thought that was really funny, and August kept making funny faces at him to make him laugh.
When August’s waffle bowl was ready we moved over to the table and they ate. I cut up banana to put in his. With syrup and whip cream on top. As he ate he said “Jiggle my jellyfish.” Said it is from some story that Carly read to him.
As he ate his waffle bowl he said “It’s Wikipedia good.” At least that’s what it sounded like.
Cassie was trying to shoot a fly with the air gun, which was providing some good entertainment, and I got ready to go work. August found his lethality coin and took it in the bedroom to pack. Carly took Colin out to water the plants with her. August started making egg puns again. “I’m going to egg-tact you…time to make my egg-scape.” I said “That’s really egg-ravating.”
I dropped off a package at the UPS place, then two at the post office, of clothes Carly was returning. Then went and worked at Empire Coffee one last time. It was around 10. I got the bacon and egg bowl again this time, but gave in and got a vanilla latte, which covered up the otherwise mediocre coffee. I remembered cash this time, so could actually leave a good tip in the jar, since I hadn’t been able to tip the first couple of times.
I worked for close to 3 hours, then walked up by the library to the barbershop, only to find that it closes from 12 to 3 each day. So I drove west to this Platinum Cutz place that has really good reviews. One of the barbers said hi to me as I walked in. A ‘walk-ins’ welcome sign by the door. There were two kids already in the two chairs, each with a barber. There were two people waiting, at least one waiting for one of the kids. So it looked pretty good.
After 20 minutes one of the guys told me that he had an appointment coming in, so I’d be second in the other chair, after the one other guy that was waiting. Again, didn’t sound too bad. I got my iPad and worked and read. And waited and waited. The guy doing walk-ins took over 30 minutes on the kid. The owner spent a good 25 minutes after finishing the kid he was on making phone calls for his tux rental business. When his appointment came in that was at least interesting as I heard some local gossip. It sounded like the guy that came in owns the Big Chair (that Cherie and I had once taken Vivian and August to) and that it had really been vandalized. They were also doing some sort of event planning—a town carnival or something—together, talking about the dunk tank and what not.
They walk-in guy finally started on the one other guy in line in front of me (the kid’s dad). After about 40 minutes, when he started trimming his beard, I gave up and walked out. I had waited well over 70 minutes and had only been third in line for two barber chairs.
I got back before 3. They had made muffins, with strawberries, from an actual recipe this time and they turned out much better. August told Cassie how he wanted to make lemonade with mint in it. Cassie said we should start a list for next summer. They were playing with a set of gear things. He heard them talking about their step-grandmother, and asked what the step- meant. I took a minute to think about how to explain it, and he had moved on by the time I tried, although I told him again later. A word of the day, sort of.
I took a shower. After I got out, Colin got upset over the gears. August was calm. But a bit later the roles were a bit reversed. Colin whacked/grabbed a part from August and he responded by throwing a piece at Colin, luckily missing. Took him int othe bedroom.
We finished packing up, and Jeff got home. We had intended to take a cab, but Cassie insisted on driving us, which was very, very nice. We left at 3:55. Vivian gave him an extra hug at the door, then he turned back, after looking outside, and told her “I’ll tell you one last thing: I think it’s going to rain again, because I see some really dark clouds.”
In the car he played one move on his watch game. He’s banked over 20 by not playing it over the summer. We then started reading Bodie Troll, which is from a Jim Henson collection of graphic novels I bought just this morning on Humble Bundle. He looked out the window while it rained and had a raindrop game and explained it. And he was looking for airport signs. He did some more singing and played with the middle seatbelt. He sang a “Magic can solve anything” song. We read a second Bodie the Troll chapter, then after a bit read Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. He asked “What’s a code ring?” Which is from the story. I had bought actual bubble gum at the store, and he chewed a piece. While he chewed that I read There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Chick!
Cassie dropped us off at Newark. We got an odd questioning at El Al. We got the line with two people; we think she was training someone, so they practiced on us. But it seemed to get us an extra sticker thing in our passport that then made it easier to get past immigration on the Tel Aviv side.
We were down in the same gate area as last summer, I think, where August and I watched the yacht race. We got a tuna sandwich to share. We sat at a table and ate, then he and Carly played hide and seek. They also went and looked at airplanes and just people watched.
The plane was late to arrive at the gate, so we didn’t get on our 9:15 flight until 9:30. We played with the rather old school wired remote for the displays, with me pretending to talk on the phone, then he would push the button that would pull it away. He took off his shoes and told me to “Smell my foot, please.” I used the word ‘odor’ and he asked what that meant. Another word of the day.
August and I started to watch the Home cartoon together, my headphones plugged into his. It is really funny. We paused when the plane finally took off over an hour late, then kept watching. After the second episode he fell asleep around 11.
Colin I See song:
One more strong rain before we leave:
Testing the rain:
The window droplets race:
Singing:
Hide and seek in the airport:
