Miles & David

This past weekend we had double the regular number of boys in our house. In case you don't know (or can't do the math) that means we had a total of 4. I guess you can say we had 5 if you include Daddy.

One of Tracy's friends (Gretchen Reid) just happens to have a little boy (Miles) a couple of weeks younger than Tyler and another little boy (David) a couple of weeks younger than Connor. Tracy and Gretchen have the same sort of work schedules (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday with Monday and Friday off) so our boys and their boys get together quite a bit. Unfortunately, they live a pretty good distance away, so it is not every day, but it a fair amount.

Anyway, back in August, Gretchen and her husband took care of our boys over a weekend while Tracy and I stayed in a cabin in Evergreen. And this past weekend was payback.... I mean we happily returned the favor.

The boys had a great time together. The two bigger ones were a little loud at times, but nothing too out of hand. The two little ones spend hours together in Connor's room playing quietly with toys, and for long periods of time I had to go up to check on them to make sure they were still here. I always knew where Tyler and Miles were.

Saturday, we went to Clement Park to play on the play ground and have a picnic. After the picnic, Tracy deserted me for awhile to take care of some work, so I had to keep an eye on the four. Again, the two little ones were extremely easy. Miles, and Tyler however did not understand the order "stay where I can see you" or "stay in the playground area". Eventually, I brought Tyler and Miles back and had them do wind sprints for the rest of the time Tracy was gone. First they raced against each other but after a couple of races, they took turns and raced against the stop watch. One interesting thing was that Miles always won the head-to-head races, but when they were doing individual races against the stop watch, Tyler for the most part got all the fastest times. I am sure that says something about the two kids. I'm not sure what. Anyway, the time trials not only let me keep my eyes on all four boys, but also got rid of a bunch of energy. The were at it for probably about half an hour.

After the park, we came home. Connor and David "napped" while Tyler and Miles quietly looked at books. I also let the big boys watch a Discovery channel show on my computer (using the 50 inch monitor). It was one of those "Walking with Dinosaurs" shows where Nigel was looking for a dinosaur with huge claws. These "Walking with Dinosaurs" are very good I think. Most of the scenery and the narrator of the show (Nigel) are filmed like a regular documentary and they do a pretty good job of adding in the computer generated dinosaurs as if they were in the same spot. Very entertaining and educational.

After the little ones got up from their "nap", the boys went outside and did various things in the back yard. Tracy got out the bubbles which was a hit as always. My weird older son and his sidekick decided to try eating bubbles. I am not sure who decided to try that. I would like to say it was the weird Reid boy, but it could have been either of them.

Then, we had dinner and played the rest of the night.

I read to the big boys. Tracy to the little ones. Then Tracy and I watched a movie. Tyler and Miles were still up after the movie was over. We forced them into bed and they were asleep soon after.

The next day was more of the same. Tracy had crafts for them to work on. I got to watch part of the Bears game. I left Tracy with the kids while I went to one of my auctions.

Before we knew it the weekend was over.

Here is a little "Slide Show" Video I put together on Sunday to keep the kids somewhat entertained:



What a great time. It makes me wish we had four boys of our own.

Well, maybe not.