H-O-S-E Limbo Time, Father's Day, and Good Bye Li'l Sis

My littlest sister, KR, just left to go back home to Kentucky this morning :-( . She was in town visiting for a month, so my sister, Chica, and I kidnapped her for the weekend to get some quality sister time. She spent Friday night with Chica, so we went over on Saturday and hung out, grilled, and dealt with the heat. How? Just take a peek over at the pictures.

It was HOT. We stayed in the air conditioning as long as we could, but SmallBoy was starting to get some major cabin fever. He had gone outside to run around and play in the yard a few times, but it was just too hot. SmallBoy had asked us quite a few times to go out and play the game he had invented - hose limbo. We were ready, but didn't quite comprehend exactly what his plans were for the game. We pictured one person on one end of the hose, and another holding another section, while a third person did the limbo under the hose. SmallBoy's was quite a bit different.

His game set up only required one person holding the hose. That person had the incredibly fun task of squeezing the trigger on the hose and holding the stream, at a heavy spray, while the rest of us traveled under the water. My mom, GR, was the first "holder, and SmallBoy the first participant. He was easily declared the champion of H-O-S-E Limbo (yes, we made up a song by spelling out the word "H-O-S-E Limbo time,")...of course, we sort of adjusted the rules because none of us are really flexible enough to properly limbo. Look at how much fun we had!!!!! GR limbo-ed, too, but she'd probably ground me if I put her limbo pictures up, although, she did get great joy out of squirting me in the face on my turn. Girl was at a softball tourney, so she didn't get a chance to play, but there's always next time. After LargeBoy's turn, he did what most teenage boys would do on a hot day with a hose....he soaked us all. He and SmallBoy had the largest water battle - with SmallBoy as the target, but he managed to chase all of us, culminating in a battle royale with SmallBoy and GR. It was great fun.

That night, KR came home with us and got to experience our little world. We had some friends over to make music and generally have fun. We all sat out on the porch, talked, laughed, played music, and sang. I was worried at first that she would tire of this, but my worry was certainly not validated. She had a blast (hopefully, she doesn't think her old sis is too goofy, now). The next morning, we hung out, after sending Girl off to the last day of her tournament - back in the far away John Hughes movie suburb (this time to play another team from OUR town). We were heading over to Dad's for Father's Day, so we didn't want to eat too much - a holiday, or any gathering, with an Italian family means FOOD, and, "you're too skinny - eat more!" To prepare for this, we ate a very modest breakfast - tortilla chips...you know the really salty ones in the green bag, not one of the "ito's" brands, but a good Mexican brand.

We took our own sweet time getting ready and then headed off to feast. Sadly, heading to Dad's meant returning KR. She won't be in again until Christmas, so we made sure to spend as much time together as we could. Tons of food at Dad's, and then....the box of old pictures. Thank GOD that they're not digital and that I'm too technologically challenged to make my scanner do what everyone else knows how to do. It was a memorable day.

Ultimately, we had to leave. We still hadn't been over to see PC's dad yet, and the day was running away from us. We said our goodbyes and hugged and pouted. We plotted and planned and schemed. Hopefully we can find a way to get her back to Chicago some time soon. Planes, trains, automobiles...we'll make this work. It was SO nice to have had more than a few hours to spend together. It was wonderful to have my sister at my house, to see how weird her big sis is, to have the kids get to spend time with her, and for her to see how much fun we are. I hope we can do this again while it's still nice enough to go outside and have more, "H-O-S-E Limbo time!!!!" If not, we'll just have to have, "S-N-O-ball Flinging time!!!!!" I think between all of our homes, cars, and peoples, we can definitely find a way to do this again, even if it's just for a long weekend. Please, oh Please, oh Please, oh PLEEEEEEEEEEEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!