Since I am a mother and my father has been gone for almost 25 years, Father's Day is not a big day at our house. My husband doesn't have any contact with his father. So things are usually quiet around here. The grandsons always spend the day with their Dad, which is the way it should be. However, this Father's Day weekend was a little different than most.
On Saturday my oldest grandson, Brandon, phoned to ask if he could come for a sleepover. If so, could he bring his brother. I asked what Mom and Dad were going to do and he said they were going out for dinner. I agreed.
Once I knew the boys were coming for the night, I went and had a two hour nap. I knew I would need every ounce of energy that I could muster for their visit. They arrived around 5:30 pm and we put some hamburgers on the BBQ. They'd been wanting to come for a cookout for a couple of weeks. No time like the present.
After enjoying our hamburgers, the boys played Mario baseball with Grandpa. Video games are not my forte, so that gave me a few minutes to catch up on a couple of household chores. Then the boys wanted to watch tv. They have shows that they like to watch, so Grandpa played poker on the computer and I read a book, keeping an eye on the tv. I don't have parental control and their Mom keeps quite a few channels blocked because of inappropriate shows.
The boys finally gave up and went to bed around 11 pm, after a quiet evening. Usually, they are more boisterous and want to be doing some activity that requires Grandma to take part. It was kind of nice for them to just veg-out for a change.
When the boys were in bed, they asked me to read to them. They no longer want me to do this at their house, but when they're in bed they still like a good story. The oldest spotted the book, "Canadian Ghost Stories," and asked me to read that. The youngest, who usually is dead set against ghost stories agreed. We read one about the ghost of High Park in Toronto and one about the hauntings of Casa Loma in the same city. By this time the oldest boy was fast asleep. The younger wanted the light out. He can't go to sleep if the light is on.
I turned out the light and told Jordan that I would be going to bed in a few minutes. But when I returned to the room, both boys were in my bed. Well, Grandma got to sleep on the cot while the boys dreamed easily in my big, comfortable bed.
I expected the boys to be up early in the morning, which is usually the case. When I first heard them stir, it was already 7 am. This is very late for them. They are usually up around 5 am. What a blessing.
We made breakfast. Brandon wanted to cook eggs. He is eleven and is learning to cook on his own. He made scrambled eggs with very little help. I supervised so he didn't get burned and the eggs were delicious. They had toast and apple jelly with their eggs. Not a combination that I would want, but they enjoyed them. After breakfast we picked a few strawberries from the garden and the boys had their first fresh strawberries of the year. They were big berries, but a bit tart.
Then we played a few games of Isolation. It is always fun to see who will come out ahead. Brandon is very good at this game and won every time, which annoyed Jordan, who is very competitive.
We then headed out to the woods across the street with Meeko. He needed to check out his territory and the boys needed a bit of exercise. It was hot. About 100 degrees, but the breeze at least made it bearable. We saw several bird species, including a bluejay, cardinal and the Baltimore Oriole that frequents the area. The boys enjoy nature and were thrilled that they had spotted three different colorful species.
When we got back home, the boys had a cold drink and then went to wrestle on the bed. This is a fun thing that can only be done at Grandma's. They are not allowed to wrestle on the beds at home, so that was a real treat for them. They laughed and yelled and had a ball jumping on one another. Brandon is quite a bit bigger, so he can easily flip Jordan over his body and Jordan loves it. I'm always afraid that one of them will get hurt, most likely Jordan because of his size, but they had a lot of fun just being brothers. I didn't hear any blood curdling screams and no blood was drawn.
Around 11 am, I took the boys home, kissed them goodbye and came home. They would spend the rest of the day with their parents, celebrating Father's Day.
I came home and finished up a couple of writing projects and then settled down for a nap. My husband crashed on the couch in front of the tv. Though we had enjoyed the boys, we were both completely worn out.
Around 6 pm, we enjoyed a BBQd steak for dinner, then settled down to watch Treasure Hunters. The show is a little different than other reality tv shows. Once the US Presidents were mentioned, I realized the destination was Mt. Rushmore. I couldn't believe the Young Genius' asked to be taken to Mt. Roosevelt. The show was kind of fun.
The rest of my evening was spent on the computer catching up with some reading here on Gather. Around 11 pm, I signed off for the night. It had been an enjoyable weekend.
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Comments: 15
Pam, At one time I wondered if I was also wrong and that the Young Genius' were right, but Mt. Rushmore was the place to be. I told my husband when he remarked about the guys overlooking the obvious that they were making the entire thing too difficult for themselves. Simple things that are right in front of your face are often the hardest to see.
I did enjoy Treasure Hunter. Watching people try to decipher the codes at Mt. Rushmore was interesting. It's going to get better as the race for the money continues. I think there's another episode, or maybe it's the same one, on tonight.