Weekend Review!

We spent the past weekend making a six-hour drive to Mimi and Papa's on Friday, visiting with the family on Saturday, and making a six-hour dive home on Sunday - just a quick trip! But it was enjoyed by grandparents and the grandchildren - and that's what matters! Mimi needed a pick-me-up, Tater needed a Papa-fix, Papa needed a "Tater Squeeze," and Bruiser needed to take a trip "up Papa's...hill!" Of course, Mommy and Daddy enjoyed some family time, some yummy food that can only be gotten at Papa and Mimi's, and some bargain shopping (at least Mommy did!).

Since this was our last visit before Halloween, we decided to celebrate a bit early and went knocking on Mimi and Papa's door and even stopped by Auntie M's and Uncle J's. We got a few looks, but the kids had fun!

Attack of the "roar"!

The only shot I could get of the bunch that is always moving!

I woke up Sunday morning (at 5:00am!) to Papa telling me Tater had a tummy ache. I assumed she had a bad dream (They watched "Shrek" before bed!) and told Papa to turn on some kid shows and she should settle down. Two hours later, I found out I was wrong! Tater - who's only 4! - got herself to the bathroom before she got sick. What an amazingly big girl!

So then we began the debate about what to do. Do we take a sick child in the car for six hours? Do we stay another day and both miss work on Monday? And what if some else gets sick until Monday morning? Nothing is ever easy in our life!

In a couple hours, after several mad dashes to the bathroom, Tater was claiming she was "starving" and successfully kept her snack down. So we bit the bullet, loaded the car, and headed off to home! She was a trooper! Not a sick moment on the trip. And we only made one stop, halfway through. She took a good two hour nap (see below) and I think that help her more than anything! She did stay home from school Monday but only because she was up four times Sunday night to go to the bathroom - really, what four-year-old does this? She is so big!

In a future post, I'll share our new toy (hint: we finally hot a Wii!!!!!!) and how we broke Papa's heart by buying it!

And, here's the other news...Shadow stayed with Mimi for a vacation and to give her a bit of company. He's determined to sleep on Papa's pillow...we'll see who wins that battle! But, we are missing him...especially when Miss Wiggles has spaghetti for dinner!

Slug Fest 2009! (Warning! Not for those with a weak stomach!)

Oh, yes, you read that correctly!

You see, whenever we visit my in-laws something unusual usually happens. There have been messages written on crackers using "cheese in a can." Unusual African wooden heads have been found hiding in our bedroom. There has been talk of a bent car antenna providing "incredible reception from Germany." Yes...very unusual things!

But thus past visit may top them all. While Daddy and Bruiser were spending their sick time at Pop-Pop and Memaw's, they supposedly ventured outside to hunt and slaughter slugs...with salt! So when I talked to Daddy the following day, he quickly had to go because Bruiser was pouring salt all over the kitchen floor. Wonder where he got that idea?

Several days later, the girls ventured down, under the false assumption that the illnesses had passed. That evening the Martins - Uncle Nailbag, Aunt C, A, and M - stopped by for an evening of fun that turned into - - - Slug Fest 2009!

Oh, yes, the slug hunting continued! For some unknown reason, my in-laws house attracts massive amounts of slugs. And for some even more unknown reason, my husband felt it was his duty to capture said slugs and destroy them. The entire family traipsed around in the dark with one flashlight, hunting slugs. Of course there was much picture taking...we are bloggers!

It was even funnier to hear the screeches and the odd quotes that flew through the air.

After finding one particularly large slug, I heard some one (a man, of course) say, "That one might be pregnant...let's kill it anyway!"

When my father-in-law call for us to come to the side of the house, I heard my sister-in-law scream, "We've hit the motherload!"

And when Daddy was attempting to add more slugs to his already overflowing tub, he was heard to say, "Quick! They're attacking!"

And, as odd as it may seem, it was a fun way to spend a summer evening...if for nothing more than finding material for an unusual blog entry!

For video footage of the great event, check out this link!

Approaching the slugs

Two innocent victims

Daddy - the mastermind!

The slugs

This is the piece of mulch my father-in-law threw at me and told me was a slug.

I was not amused!

The Motherload

Adding the salt

Disgusting!

The Hunting Crew!

The Blitz Boogie!

Even though a lot of this weekend was spent with the children and being together as a family - I mean, the kids even helped to build the deck! - there was adult time! Every evening we enjoyed many rousing rounds of a family favorite - Dutch Blitz. This is local card game from back home. The customized deck of cards is composed of four decks. Each deck has four colors of the numbers 1 to 10. The game is played kind of like Skip-O, meaning that you create piles of the numbers in increasing order by like color. Oh, and it's a speed game! So picture this - four very competitive adults, the frustrations of dealing with five children all day, and sheer exhaustion. What a recipe for comedy! There was much laughing, much flinging of insults, and much flailing! We had such a blast that we even "invented" our own challenging version - some might say that we had gotten so good at the game that we need to increase the level of difficulty!

Daddy was the biggest cheater - using two hands and flailing to distract!

??????
We have no idea what Aunt Kiki was doing...but then again, do we ever?

Game Mode!