"I never knew how much I loved your Daddy until I saw how much he loved you."
When I realized that Earl's vacation coincided with the first week of school I was a bit disappointed. In my head it was kind of a waste. He had a week at home and they were headed back to school. I had a final to study for. I wished for a week that we could all spend together, making some memories. As it turns out, there was plenty of time for making memories and it was wonderful having him home during this busy week. So much so that I may ask him to take this same week off next year, too!
We arrived home Sunday evening fresh off of our Baltimore Orioles baseball experience. One would think that would have been enough baseball for awhile. Apparently not when you're male and between the ages of 9 and 39. Earl and Cooper (and Derek) packed up and headed to Williamsport for the Little League World Series on Monday morning. But not before Earl treated McKenna to her latest craze - Starbucks, and a little one on one time together.
After being sufficiently caffeinated, Earl picked the boys up and they were on their way. They had a beautiful day for their first LLWS experience.
And because no LLWS experience would be complete without a trip down the hill on a cardboard box.....
In case you were wondering, this is what you look like after a few dozens trips down the hill on said box. The boys had a blast and returned home just in time for Kinley's 5th birthday party where they played even more baseball, basketball and football.
Earl and I managed to get everyone off to the first day of school on Wednesday, except for Kinley. The stomach bug got her late Tuesday night and caused her to miss preschool on Wednesday. She hung out with Earl and I and they ended up hatching a plan to visit Knoebels that Friday - just the two of them.
I made Earl promise to take lots of pictures and he didn't disappoint!
They even ran into our friends, the Lehman's!
Five hours later I got a call that they were headed home. I can't imagine how tired they both were or how much fun they had together. I do know that cotton candy was involved and that they are still talking about their fun time together. And for me, that's even better than having been there myself. I hope Earl and the kids will always have their special times together.
