Three's Company!: A Week Off

3 Years, 8 Weeks.

My parents had the pleasure of having all three kids stay at their home in Avon Park this week.

Actually, I don't think they had a choice.

For some reason, Braelyn decided she was going to go back with them after their visit up to Orlando this past weekend. And of course, the twins followed suit. So, to avoid any disappointment and the weeping and gnashing of teeth, Lolo and Lala conceded and acquiesced.

It was an unexpected treat for me. Although, I don't think I'd necessarily call it a treat.

What it did give me was an opportunity to catch up around the house. Usually there's an area being trashed while I'm at another area cleaning up, so it was nice to see progress and not have to pick up after the kids for 4 days. I was able to complete all the laundry in the house; the only clothes not washed and put away were the ones we were wearing. I mowed the lawn and even fixed the air conditioning in the Pathfinder, among other things.

It's amazing what you can accomplish when you don't have 3 children pulling you in different directions!

But, I will admit, I did miss them some.

They were excited to help harvest vegetables from the grandparents' garden.

Attending my cousin Lyka's birthday party in Avon Park.

Helping Lala make some homemade banana bread.

Evening walk around Lake Olivia.

Posing with Lolo in front of the lake.

The weekend highlights:

Sabbath we went to church and attended Sabbath school, later joining the Jamersons, Ottatis, and Putts for an Indian lunch at Kohinoor. Afterwards, while the kids took naps, I took to the West Orange Trail for an afternoon bike ride, although it was cut short by some rapidly forming thunderstorms. After about 5 miles, I realized that I wasn't going to make it back before the storms hit if I kept going, so I turned around, pedaling back home as fast as I could, lightning and thunder crashing just behind me. I made it with 5 minutes to spare, before armageddon hit. When the rains finally subsided, we made it over to the Grodacks, to celebrate Brady turning 2. Lolo and Lala had come up then so they joined us as we made our own pizzas and caught up with everyone, before Tangie and I slipped away for a date night, me taking her to see the show Blue Man Group at Universal's CityWalk. It was a great show, very interactive with lots of drums and visual displays. There was this one act where the Blue Men were walking up and down the aisles looking for people to engage and interact with. Tangie tried to avoid eye contact when one of them stopped right next to me and had another audience member throw a piece of white Toblerone chocolate at him, so he could catch it with his mouth. But the chocolate sailed toward me, and the Blue Man ended up grabbing the piece with his hand just inches from my face. I looked at him and we made eye contact, and then he positioned the chocolate in front of my mouth, so I opened up and he fed me the piece of chocolate, much to the crowd's delight. So yeah, I had a part in the show, albeit a small one! It was a very good show, much like a party with glowing beach balls, strobe lights, and lots of toilet paper. I recommend anyone to go if they get a chance.