William George Turns Four!

Back on the 11th, we officially celebrated William George's fourth birthday in the very special company of cousins Reagan and Harper. Uncle Bill had supplied doughnuts as a special birthday breakfast treat, and soon everyone was running around with sugar coursing through their veins. Only little Harper had the good sense to decline a doughnut.

After breakfast, Skip, Lori and David took four of the five monkeys to the splash pad, while I ran birthday errands. Harper stayed home to nap with Bill and Kathy. Those naps really agree with her because she always has the happiest disposition and the most beatific smiles.

The bounce house arrived while the monkeys were still at the splash pad. Between splashing and bouncing around, William George took a nap in order to have a "second wind" and be ready for his party.

While the children were recharging, these two crazies took control of revamping and re-engineering the grill to obtain MAXIMUM heat. Eventually, they had the thermometer reaching 1000 degrees, which just barely ample for Bill's specially concocted wings. If a little heat is good, MAXIMUM HEAT is better.

Poppa and Gran

Reagan and Lori

Riley

Harper and Riley

In addition to grilling, Bill was also the undisputed leader on bounce house activities. How the bounce house festivities escaped being photographed is beyond me, but I don't have a single photo of the shenanigans. Naturally, a birthday party at the Lindsey house would not be completed without the bounce house tipping over so when one of the support pillars folded, causing the house to topple, we were not at all surprised to hear the children's shrieks and screams. Now, NO ONE WAS HURT, of course, but there was complete hysteria and pandemonium for a few minutes.

After gnoshing on wings and burgers, it was time for singing and cake. William George continues to love the birthday song, and he dove into his cake like a champ.

"Happy birthday to you..."

As Lauren's red face indicates, she was a bounce house leader as well, and she hopped right back into the action after cake and presents.

Lauren and Riley

Reagan and Harper

The loot was too much, and many thanks to everyone for their generosity.

True to their word, the bounce house was picked up at 7:30pm, and the monkeys were very sad to see it go. Luckily, the playset provided a little more entertainment.

On Sunday, the 12th, we had some extra play time with Reagan and Harper. George and Reagan explored the neighborhood via bike carrier, and took a spin in the Jeeps.

William George and Reagan

After lunch, it was time for a very sad departure. Gracie normally cries at the end of visits, but she and Lauren both were tearfully hugging their cousins at the end of this really special visit. We REALLY missed them for the rest of the afternoon, and the trio were disgusted by how quiet our house seemed without the extra voices.

Harper, Reagan and David

William George got to pick what we had for dinner that night, and we celebrated by having a piece of cake.

As much as he loves any version of the birthday song, Gracie burst into tears after we sang, saying she liked it much better "last night" when ALL of the voices were singing. We told her that's what makes family so special... those loud voices that celebrate with you through the years.

William George made a wish...

...and blew out his candle.

William George, happy 4th birthday. We, like you, had a blast celebrating, and we thank you for bringing so much joy to our family on your birthday and every day.

PS: George's birth story; his first birthday; his second birthday; and his third birthday.

July 9th & 10th

Uncle Bill at the kids' table

For a very special summer treat, Uncle Bill and Aunt Kathy came to visit, along with Lori and David. At long last we got to meet Reagan and Baby Harper, and the best part is that Lori, David and those two lovely girls of theirs stayed at our house, meaning lots of play time!

Baby Harper

Lori and David arrived at approximately 10:00am on Thursday, having left the NOVA area at midnight (and after having attended a Kid Rock concert. Those crazy kids!). We loved spending all day with Reagan and Harper and then heading over to Gran and Poppa's for a family feast of barbecue.

Friday morning, we decided to take all five of our monkeys to the zoo. We were not at all deterred by the heat. We saw the elephants, monkeys, and rhinos before grabbing a quick lunch. Then we fed the giraffes, saw the lions and then made our way back home when we started melting from the heat.

Lauren

William George

Reagan

Grace, feeding the giraffes

Lauren, feeding the giraffe

George and Reagan, feeding baby Griffin

After recovering from the zoo, we went back to Gran and Poppa's for a birthday dinner and celebration for Riley, who turned 14 on July 13th.  In addition to a fantastic dinner of steak and salmon, Gran served a delicious homemade red velvet cake.

Bill and Harper

Brother and Sister

Cousins

Kathy and Harper started a band

Bill and George wrestling

Harper

The birthday girl and her daddy

Skip and George

Reagan

Grace and Reagan

The fellas

After visiting and feasting like kings, we called it a night and came home. Many thanks to Ralph and Sally, and the best and happiest birthday wishes to Riley!

July 6, 7 & 8

For birthdays this year, we decided to consolidate with a larger, joint gift for all three monkeys. Our playground had served its time well, but was beginning to show its age. The duo had outgrown the swing set completely, and the upgrade was definitely necessary. There were a couple of features that were simply worn out. We started researching the project weeks ago and settled on a playset through Costco. We ordered it and coordinated delivery a month later, on July 8th.

Understandably, the installation requirements are carefully instructed in order to minimize the incident of injury, and we intended to follow those recommendations completely. (Don't ever Google incident frequencies.) Therefore, we broke down and removed the old playground, an old playhouse, chairs, etc., and we hired an excavator to level the area for the playset.  Also, we had two trees cut down and cleared.  This work occurred over the course of ten days, and crunch time really occurred on July 6th and 7th, when it looked like our delivery date of the 8th was in jeopardy.

Everything worked out in the end, and we ended up with the playset in place in time for William George's birthday.

By comparison, here (and here) is the old playground. When the girls were little, we had gotten mixed reviews on playground equipment. A full fifty percent of our friends, acquaintances and strangers we chatted up were opposed, indicating that their children never used them. In addition to that empirical evidence, we have the luxury of living a mere two miles from the park. Still, we felt that every child should have a swing set so we invested in a modest, metal swing set, figuring if they didn't use it, we had not made a major investment. Poppa put the thing together for us, and he and Gran mulched in the area. Our total investment was less than $300, and the girls loved that swing set dearly. Loved it, I tell you. We were considering an upgrade when William George was born, but held off because some of the platform-type sets can be a little challenging for toddlers. When it came time to dismantle the old playground, the trio gathered around and were very sad to see her go.

Watching the trees go down and calling out "Timber" helped the process a little.

By the way, the trees were diseased and leaning dangerously, and we did not want them falling on the house, deck or new play ground. Otherwise, we would have kept them.  After the trees, the backhoe arrived on the scene and began digging/leveling to within a 3 degree grade.  For anyone who has seen our sloping yard, you will understand what a challenge that can be.

But then the rains came, and the backhoe sat for a few days on end. We were really missing the old playground about that time. Finally, on July 7th, the area was flattened, turf was moved to build up other areas.  Importantly, we were ready for installation when the set was delivered on July 8th. We watched this poor guy work all day in the heat on the 8th and half a day on the 9th put the thing together.  Skip did not miss an opportunity to procure more mulch, and we spread mulch after the installer left on the 8th. When he wrapped up on the 9th, we tested the swing set with some inaugural swings.

The (quasi) finished product:

We still need to edge the area, install a border and put some finishing touches in place, but this is the only part the trio care about. So far, it's a big hit and definitely worth the wait. We are firmly "pro" playground and any/all outdoor play opportunities.