Ryan's Time has Come Again

Judy and I love to have all three Kirby grandkids

over any time it can be arranged. But we have also

loved our special event individual sleep-overs.

It was Ryan's turn this week, and oh, what fun we had.

Besides me and Judy, Kitty was thrilled to have company.

Ryan's light touch and gentle manner made Kitty

feel relaxed and safe.

Judy and I feel safer now that Ryan is around with his Nerf Megablaster.

Bad guys, beware.  He'll take you out!

Our Ry Guy does more than defend. He's Judy's go-to guy for
spaghetti.  Or muhsgetti.

A pinch of this, a dab of that. The great chefs never measure.

Voila! (I don't know the Italian word for "voila.")

We certainly did a lot more than cooking and target shooting.
Our living room became a monumental Jurassic Park fight
for survival.  The dinosaurs on the left are the spectators for
this battle royal.

Ryan has other ninja skills when he doesn't have his trusty Nerf blaster.
I'm glad he's on our side.

Oops!  Granny and Ryan are caught with a hand in Granddaddy's
jelly beans.  Note: Ryan is not the perp!

That night we enjoyed one of our highlights, though I

don't have pictures to document the occasion.  Judy, Ryan,

and I laid out under the stars on a sleeping bag and had

the time of our lives. I see us doing more of this with all

of the children in the years ahead, just as we did with 

Jennifer and Amanda years ago.

What would a sleepover be without breakfast at Granny's Doughnuts?
Ryan selects the smiley face.

Now the smile is on RYAN'S face!

Ryan shows a real knack for the harmonica. His rhythm is

also great.  In this version, he overdid the "high C", a little,

but I love his enthusiasm.  I forgot to tell him that MY dad,

his GREAT Grandpa Loyd, also played a mean harmonica.

In our last few hours, Ryan showed great skill in building
this sliding board from Fiddlesticks (oversize Tinker Toys).

Line up for your turn!

Then came his ultimate challenge.  This set of Castle Blocks
belonged to Jennifer, his mom. Like Claire and Evan before him,
Ryan meticulously studies the picture on the box to construct
an exact replica.

Perfection!

No, I take that back.  THIS is perfection!

Our special time with Ryan was full of memories.

We won't forget a thing, and we don't think Ryan will, either,

as we store up treasures for the years ahead.

It's Brianna's Turn

Brianna got her turn for a week at Grandma and Grandpa's

last week and I've got quite an album of adventure to share.

Hang on!

Picking the last of this season's tomatoes.

This hybrid vegetable grew from a transplant from our compost
pile. Probably in the squash family.

Bri also got to pick cucumbers every day she was here. They're
now done for the season.

Veggie lovers!

Here's the unknown veggie.  Judy prepared it in a delicada squash
recipe and it worked out just fine.

Bri celebrates victory in "Call It," one of our favorite games, yet
one nobody else has heard of.  It's cool!

At Bri's suggestion, Judy and I tried the Longhorn for the first time.
Can you tell we're a little behind on the  local scene?

The weather was more cooperative than the week Hunter was
here, so Bri checked out the neighborhood mountain (AKA dirt pile).

She conquered it, facing every challenge it presented.

She raced ahead of me to check out the nearby greenway.

Back to the dirt pile, scaling the "Grand Canyon."

Later, we played Blockhead X Five.  Chaos!

While there was shade, we zigged and zagged in the Green Machines.
I'm delighted that even though I'm supposedly over the weight limit,
I can ride them with no damage (to me OR the machine).

The immovable object meets the irresistible force.

Judy took Bri and Claire to one of their favorite thrift locales,
the Sandhills Coalition Bargain Barn.

Then a girls lunch at Pizza Cafe'.

Wishes DO come true!

These three have a lot of fun whatever they do together.

Bri examines the latest Kirby tree house.

And the way to get down.

Renee stopped by with Ellie Mae/May. We loved meeting our
newest relative.

Kitty appeared later and didn't seem to detect any dog cooties on us.

Are you surprised to see us back at the mountain?
I think we went there every day.

Bri got her first chance to play Cowboy RISK and loved it.

We keep adding props, as well as more cowboy icons.

Don't let her fool you -- she didn't win the game.
But I know better than to argue with someone with bull horns.

We took off early one morning to visit the old property.
Bri spent a good while doing gymnastics moves on the trapeze.

It's actually a double trapeze. She was amazing.

Bri climbs the ladder to a giant magnolia.

At a place we simply call "The Ditch," Bri spent a long time
swinging back and forth.  Here, she leaps for the handlebars.
Those came from an old exercise machine.

Just hanging around.

The tree house is still neat, but doesn't seem as high as three years ago.

Now to the stream.  Since Bri was last here, I had cleared a trail
further upstream.  She and Grandma went as far as possible.

Bri has great memories of the stream starting from around age 3,
I guess.

Bri and I found the deepest pool in the stream, just below the
biggest waterfall.

Back at home, she conquered G'ma and G'pa.
Which means she rules the world! Look familiar?

Granny and Granddaddy give her a much beloved doll for
her "family." Then we all watched "The Beverly Hillbillies"
after supper.

This dogwood is still a favorite climbing tree.

Something is WAY up in the air.
Your guess is as good as mine!

Bri and I played Upwords cooperatively.
So nobody had to lose.

Very interesting rules, different from Scrabble and others.

We BOTH won!

Here's that Call It game up close.  We can play it in about 10
minutes, so it's a great go-to activity when we have just a little time.

It's a wonderful thing when Georgia and North Carolina friends
have a rare chance to get back together.

The girls fill two trays with wild spinning tops.
Which ones will survive? (The tops, I mean.)

All of our vehicles got a major workout that day.

To top it off, Amanda and Hunter arrived from Georgia before
the afternoon visit was over.  Hunter proudly displays his newest
weapon -- a Nerf multi-shooter.

A little later, the girls walked down to the train tracks to see the
afternoon freight. Here is a picture of friendship.

That evening, Kitty was getting used to having company around,
even at feeding time.

At first opportunity, both Bri and Hunter were ready to head back
to their mountain for further exploits. Look at that huge rock!

Hunter's is so big I was afraid he would hold it over his head!

Champion mountain scalers! Note the gloves-- sign of professionals.

This mud pit was scarred with days of bombardment from above.

When Bri went to Claire's birthday sleepover,
Hunter got a little more special time with me and Grandma.
His marble raceway really worked well.

Here's his second creation.  He was really good at arranging
them so the marble would ring a bell.

The week was over too soon, but the memories will

go on and on. There's a two-way road to Georgia, and

one way or another we'll be seeing them plenty.

We love you Bri and Hunter!

(You, too, Amanda and Stephen).😉