Last Hurrah

I sort of considered Friday to be our last official day of summer. Sure, we had the weekend, too, but everyone gets those. Plus, we had an anniversary date planned for Sat/Sun, so Friday was the last day the whole fam would be together under one roof. We decided to go out with a bang.

First, I made our favorite breakfast - oaties (we substitute a few glubs of milk for the bananas.)

The morning was pretty relaxed. Ryan and I puttered while the boys chased each other half-dressed with punch balls rubber-banded to their heads, got a chin injury from running into a dresser, and made a tent under Mom's desk. You know, typical stuff. 

Totally staged, if you couldn't tell - and not by me!

After supper,  I needed Ryan to get the boys out of the house so I could set up our surprise. It was surprise I had promised to do since the beginning of the summer, when I found several fun ideas on Pinterest. A surprise they had asked me about no less than 67 times since I mentioned it. (Hinting at a surprise that wont occur within the next 15 seconds? Amateur mommy move #457)

Ryan had planned to take the boys fishing, but it rained all day. So, he took the boys for a drive. When he told them to load up, he said what all dad’s have to say to their kids at 6:30 at night (right?), “Calvin, put some pants on.” And Calvin replied, “Why?” because wearing pants is certainly bucking the fashion trend around here. Ryan said he would prefer if Calvin had pants on for the drive. Then, Reed inquired if he had to wear a shirt. And Max asked if it would be ok for him to “wear pants and a shirt and socks and shoes,” because that’s REALLY breaking the dress code. Calvin put on pants that didn’t match the pirate jammy shirt he was still wearing. Then, when I told him he clashed (why do I even bother!?), he just chucked the shirt off. Finally, they were all ushered to the car with a bare minimum of pants and shoes on. Ryan drove away slowly, and I started rushing to set up the super-secret Ninja course I’d been planning all summer.

When they pulled in about 20 minutes later, I ran out to greet them, frantically asking for help because somebody had kidnapped Ruff Ruff and Giraffey and Sunny and Chocolatey (favorite stuffed animals). Reed almost started to cry. Calvin was ticked. And Max was completely clueless, but mirrored my upset face. They ran up to the porch, where they were met by Ninjas (balloons with washable-markered-on eyes and mouth), who could be defeated by “spraying their faces off.” The boys decided to kill them, too. 

Inside, there were more Ninjas, but swords were close at hand. They enjoyed the rotating Ninjas hanging from the ceiling fan the best. These enemies just got some good solid whacks until they were on the ground. 

The last obstacle was the laser-trapped hallway. Reed took the warning, that lasers would zap you if you touched them, very seriously. Calvin tried his best, but was in more of a fun mode than a danger one. Halfway through, he said, “Thisth isth awesthome!”  Max tried to follow the photographer down the other hallway, and when he was ushered back to the laser hallway, he just barreled through. 

When they emerged safely from the laser tunnel, they met the final bad guy. He was pretty vicious. Max was trailing behind, pretty ticked off about the laser zappage, but once he got untangled, he was the one to deliver the fatal blow to the big bad guy. He whacked him pretty hard with his sword, like only a two-year-old with no inhibitions can. Bad Guy went running, and Max chased down for the kill, while the two bigs untied the poor kidnapped animals.

Bedtime involved loud and excited conversations about the Ninja course and what we could do to make it even better “the next time.” It also involved a lot of trips through the hallway and a good bit of unauthorized laser repair. 

After the heroes were finally clean and jammied, we ate a “midnight” snack of ice cream. Calvin snuck off and grabbed a stool to help him hang a new Ninja from the ceiling for "tomorrow when we do it." 

Saturday night, Ryan and I had a hot anniversary date, while my sister and her husband kept the boys overnight. It was blissfully quiet. Today, we went to our old church and ate out with an old friend. It was ridiculously noisy. Max had to have a time out in the bathroom hall of the restaurant. He yelled at me for the first two minutes. Then we visited a nursing home. Don’t need to tell you how that went down. 

But if I’m honest, I’m gonna miss the chaos a little.