The cats still haven’t figured out if the small children have left or if they are around a corner, just waiting to pounce. One cat has come in, but is hunkered down, hiding behind the curtain in our bedroom, with a look of suspicion. The others are still outside, biding their time. Soon they will realize that there are no shrieks, or thumps, or loud noises coming from the house. Just the cool, quiet sounds of Terry and Delaine. The grandchildren have returned to their own home.
What a week it’s been. Lots of fun and laughter, lots of shrieks, and loud noises all over the house. We vegged the first day, Monday, just reading and watching videos. Tuesday we shopped for fun things while Grampa went to cardio rehab. In the afternoon, the kids played with all their fun purchases and we learned that Mom would be available on Thursday to pick them up. That gave us another day for back-to-school shopping. And more vegging. We went out to dinner as we had run out of kid food in the house. There was still ice cream and root beer, though, left for root beer floats after dinner.
Our daughter, Jen, had planned to start her new job on August 1. She will be an administrator for an inner city K-8 school right in the middle of the Tenderloin in San Francisco. She decided to go in Wednesday, a day early, so she could meet with another administrator who only works Monday-Wednesday. That left Thursday, August 1, available to come pick up the kids. We told her we would meet her half-way so she wouldn’t have such a long trip. Our mid-way point is a fun place, Casa de Fruta, about 20 minutes east of Gilroy.We can have lunch and the kids can play and use up some of their energy before getting back in the car for another two hours.
We are back and attempting to catch up on chores. Lots of laundry, vacuuming, putting things back into place. We don’t accomplish much while the kids are here except to make more messes than usual! Actually, the kids are getting so easy and can do so much for themselves now that they are older. I no longer have to closely supervise bath time or lay out clothes for them. They choose their own entertainment and I even let them go to bed when they want to. Leeya mentioned that she had really enjoyed summer–getting up early and staying up late. “I’m squeezing every minute I can from this summer.” They go back to school August 13.
I have another month or so before I return to Columbia for my storytelling duties. Like Leeya, I’m squeezing every minute out of the last few weeks before routine kicks in and it gets busy around here.