Uncle Michael Is Back in Town!

What's been going on in Gburg that past couple of days? Well, let's check the tape.

On Monday night, I drove back to D.C. for a meeting. On Tuesday I drove back up. On Tuesday morning, I got this text:


I sent a text when I left home and this one came in soon after:


Tuesday night


[Note: She was quickly freaked out and unhappy and didn't want to watch more than one.]




On Wednesday, Amy came over with her girls and they all enjoyed some fun in the backyard.


Unfortunately, the focus of their "fun" became "soaking Uncle Michael."



I tried to hide behind a tree but they got me, so I ran away.

Later, after the water was turned off, they all came up to get drinks. When I came out to take pictures - BAM! "Hug him! Hug him!"


Hugging was a way to soak me with their wet clothes.


Atlee and Kaya chatting.



Emmy had missed out on the earlier water fun because he was asleep, so I filled up the water table for him and Trinity played with him.



Meanwhile out in the yard, the rest of the girls had set up a discussion circle.

Actually, it was a story circle. And what were the stories?






Emmy, meanwhile, was having a good ol' time with his water (AND his new toys from Wyoming!).



I took a break from hanging out with Emmy to sneak up on the girls but I was caught.

The next part of the story involves me throwing water on the girls and the girls retaliating with watering cans and buckets and then some smart girl getting the hose and stretching it out to the back of the yard and soaking me good. Once I had emptied my pockets (sorry, cell phone)(it survived), I rejoined the fight but good and stole the hose and soaked back. Unfortunately, they were all wearing bathing suits and had already been wet, whereas I got soaked in my clothes.

Still, we had a lot of good fun.

Near the end of the water fight, a butterfly showed up! Everyone was entranced. Emmy started but Greeley was obsessed with catching it.




Later, Kaya and Atlee attempted to silently stalk it.


Thursday
Thursday it was hot as hell. So you know what we did? Stayed inside and sat around.


Atlee gave Emmy a piggy back ride!

Greeley went with Petey on a ride down to her aunt's. For the trip, they dressed up!


Friday
Today we went to Caledonia!


Emmy was loving it, as you can see.


The water fountain was a lot of fun and was also something that hypnotized Emmy. It worked by footpedal!


Everyone enjoyed the water. Emmy the most. He wanted to jump in the deep end and was unhappy that Mommy wouldn't let him do that.



Greeley's main aim today was to swim with her head underwater.

Since I didn't get it fully, I had her try again so I could film the whole thing.

Oops. That was a little hard on her.

I made sure I doubled up and got some photographic proof, too.

She wanted to continue to prove herself, so she said "Let's go deeper!"



I didn't get much of Atlee but here she is swimming as well.



Now the house is quiet as everyone is asleep. Uncle Michael is sunburned; Atlee has raccoon sunburn around her eyes and everyone is worn out. It was a great day.

A Stitch In Time with Uncle Michael

Day Two of my visit:

Today was Atlee's Field Day. Unfortunately, I got up too late and missed it. Did MOMMY take pictures? I'll bet you two to one she did not. After Atlee got home, she visited the neighbors, who had set up a pool for their little guy. The Riordans did not mind joining in.

For instance, this little fella plunged in like the place was his.

"What's that you say? It's not actually mine? Balderdash!"

This is the "Come closer, Uncle Michael. I'm not going to squirt you. I swear!" face.

Gree was also there to enjoy the festivities.

Em has a vehicle almost exactly like this one but he really likes the neighbor's. So much so, in fact, that he has a habit of shoving the poor kid out of it and taking it away from him.

This is Atlee chasing Greeley with a pitcher full of water. This triggered my "justice gene" which led to the following events.

First Emmy got drenched. The poor guy is just an innocent bystander and guinea pig.

Then I went after my main target, big sister. If you will observe in the following two pictures, her shirt is a much darker shade of orange than it was because I drenched her. (Actual drenching action to be seen on video at end of post.)


Atlee did get Greeley, which is why she changed into this outfit. I'm not sure if she's happy or sad here; I might have thrown water on her in outfit #2 and she was upset about it.

Uncle Travi stopped by again, this time with his brother Adam. They were going to help Rich with the boat and try to take the old one.

What's everybody lookin' at? Well, there's a baby in the car!

Rich yukkin' it up with the boys.

You can't tell from this picture but this was a very menacing sky (ominous, Gree might say) that seemed to be moving toward us rapidly as we ate dinner on the porch. There was a tornado watch in effect for about four hours which is what led to Atlee, Greeley and I going into the crawlspace under the stairs for a while. There are no pictures of this.

When I was having trouble bending over to fit my bulk through the 4x4 hole to the crawlspace, Altee and Greeley started chanting "You can do it! You can do it! You can do it!"

While we were in the crawlspace they both had many questions about what might happen and where everyone else was. (Mommy and Daddy checked the news, saw the alert had been called off and went and laid in bed to watch TV. Thanks for lettin' us know, guys!! Shea played Wii through the entire event.)

At one point Atlee said: "Let's do a drill. Greeley, you curl up by my feet." "I don't know how to curl!" Greeley protested. So Altee had her lay down and then instructed her on how to curl herself around Atlee's feet. (She wanted me to lay down to but I wasn't havin' it. I was already sweating buckets just being in that little hotbox. And I am not particularly flexible and there wasn't a lot of space in there.)

Finally I found out from Rich and Sue the warning had been called off and Atlee, Greeley, Emerson and I went out and walked around and played in the puddles.








Hey, there's a frog on the porch! Oh no wait, that's just Emmy.

Hey! Who's lookin' at mah belly?!?

Greeley grins because she knows it is her.

Uncle Michael Rectification

We shall begin here a set of flashback posts with what pictures I have.

I visited at the end of May for a few days but ended up being there until the beginning of June.

First, there was the pick-up:

Greeley had some blue stuff she was drinking and many interesting things to say, among them that she was a big girl now (because she's bigger than Emerson and he's the baby) and that she didn't like many boys but I was among the few that she did.

Emmy didn't do much except giggle and slobber. He talked to himself a lot while Greeley talked to me.

I took this picture to show the convenient way that Katy(Cady?) set herself up in the back seat so she could rest her head on Atlee's armrest. (Atlee was not there.)

When we got home, the older kids were just getting home from school. I had all my stuff on me and Atlee said "Come here" and then proceeded to hang her bookbag around my neck. (There are two other bags around my back you can't see.)

Emmy wanted to come down and greet the big kids, too!


GASP! Could it be....THE BOAT??!? But still under wraps! Don't worry, all will be revealed.

Uncle Travi and Aunt Lex came by with their new baby! (Whose name I totally don't know. Oo. Sorry.)