Card shark

Gage asked me to play "War" with him. He told me he wouldn't cheat. According to his dad, Gage will cheat on occasion, pulling a card from the bottom if he knows there's an ace coming up next in his hand to win a battle. But, if he says he won't cheat, apparently he doesn't. After we had played for a little while, Zane wanted to join in. Without missing a beat, Gage gave him over half of his own cards and helped him play. If Zane ran out of cards, Gage just gave him more. He was a good teacher and explained what was happening as the game went on, praising him when he was having good luck. I was really proud of him for being such a good big brother.

When Pop arrived, he and Gage played War and then they started playing Crazy 8's. I think they both enjoyed it. I always accused Wayne of making up rules as he went along when we played Crazy 8's years ago. I don't think I ever won many games.

Later, Gage was teaching Zane how to play Crazy 8's. I heard him say, "Zane, you played an 8 and you can call it diamonds, or clubs, or spades, or hearts. What do you want to call it?" Zane responded with, "I want to call it teddy bears!" Then they both cracked up. It was cute.

We spent Memorial Day weekend at the bay...big surprise. Actually, it wasn't our weekend, but Tracy had let us know that none of their families would be using it, so we were happy to head to Port Alto for the weekend.

Wendy, Kelly, Gage and Zane arrived after school on Friday. They set up the slip & slide right away and got the boys all sunscreened up and out they went. It was breezy and quite a nice temperature if you were just sitting there, but the boys both had blue lips after half an hour or so of sliding.



Zane doesn't quite have the technique down. He rarely ends up sliding on his tummy; usually, he lands on his knees and hands, which we try to discourage. We tell him to put his arms out like Superman, but he just can't bring himself to do it.

Lightsaber app

I might have mentioned previously that I have an iphone, which I really, really like. I have downloaded lots of games, some of which the kids can play...such as, Scribble, a drawing game; Whack 'em all, a version of Whack a Mole; bowling; and a few other kid friendly games. These are all free downloads; offered free to get one to try it and then buy the bigger version. Many of the paid apps are only 99 cents, although some are higher.

The negative part of handing them the phone and letting them play with it is that they will press anything that appears on the screen, including pop-ups that are links to purchase the paid application. Fortunately, you have to enter a password for the transaction to take place and the download to start, so they haven't actually managed to cost me money yet.

One of the downloads is called "Lightsaber." It plays some Star Wars action music and features a lightsaber that appears on the screen. When you press the button, it "shoots out," (not out of the phone, you ninny) making the proper sounds...humming, etc. Okay, I'm dorky enought to show you in this video clip. Not a great clip as I was holding the camera in my left hand while operating the lightsaber in my right...all one-handed and in the dark! But, you might get the idea.

So, a couple of days ago I went to Wendy & Kelly's. When I got there, Gage came running in and put his arms around me. I thought I was getting a really loving hug until I realized he was patting me down for my phone.

I was about to leave, but wanted to secretly show Wendy and Kelly the lightsaber. I told them I had downloaded it because I thought the boys would really like it, but then decided I couldn't show it to them because they would want to do it and the chances were high that they would lose their grip and the phone would fly across the room. We were in the kitchen and the boys were in the living room sitting in a chair watching television. I turned the volume down and opened the app...music and lightsaber. All of a sudden we could see two little heads slowly appear over the back of the chair. They heard the music and sounds and wanted to know what it was. We told them it was nothing and they should go back to watching television, which they did.

Before I could leave, Wendy insisted that I do it again, but loud. Reluctantly, I complied, and within seconds the boys appeared, looking like zombies being pulled forward. We let Gage play with it for a little while, then Zane, and then I wanted to take the phone and go. Well, Gage came undone at that, crying and complaining that he hadn't had enough time, etc. Wendy actually said that it was worth the fussing just to see their first reaction.

Gage got a couple more minutes to play with it and the phone did hit the floor once. Now I need to decide whether to delete the app from the phone. I would be very sad if my phone got broken.

A few words about antiques

Wendy and her friend/former supervisor, Jan, spent many long hours purchasing a number of lovely antiques for Wendy & Kelly's home. Much time was spent examining each piece, making sure it was exactly right...the wood grain, the joints, drawers that worked, doors that opened and shut properly.

One piece, in particular, worked out very well. Let the photo in this post remind you that when two small boys live in the home, it's very important to make sure that the piece of furniture offers many diverse storage options.

Click on the photo to get a better view of the lovely piece in Wendy & Kelly's dining room.

Bears vs. Vipers

I saw the first 2 or 3 of Gage's ballgames, then missed the next 2 or 3. Finally got back there this evening and have included some video clips featuring No. 1, Gage Garner.

I'm never sure where the clips will be located in the post once they are uploaded, so let me just tell you what you are looking at in each clip. In one of them, Gage gets a hit and runs to first base. In another one, he runs from first to second and then on to third. Halfway between second & third he loses a shoe and almost goes back for it before better sense kicks in. A third clip shows him running from third to home. A fourth clip shows Zane, basically doing nothing...but, hey...he needed to be shown.