Wednesday Outing Stories

I picked Venice up at Parker, and as is usual, at least in the couple of times now I've picked her up, she and Elijah play this game of tag as they're released by their teacher - Elijah is slightly taller than Venice, and lanky and athletic looking - but, in their chasing of one another, Venice is the more accomplished runner - She can catch him in their game of tag, but outruns him when he's "it" - he doesn't seem to mind, but it is clear who is the better athlete and runner....This takes about 10 mins, and then I tell her it's time to go - AWWWWW...!

On the way over to Crest to pick Casey up, Venice is in the back seat chattering away about stuff - she mentions that it is now October, and I'd said we could go to Chuck-e-Cheese in October, so we should do that today - then she laments the fact that we've been going out with all 4 of the kids, and she wishes we'd go back to a 2-kid outing like before - well, she corrects herself and says not like before when Xander and Teiya didn't get to go out, too, but at least to outings with just 2 of them, Venice and Casey - she didn't want Xander and Teiya to miss out on any Jiichan outings....Then, she remembered that it wasn't Chuck-e-Cheese that I'd said we couldn't go to til Oct, but the pottery place...! - Oh, yeah, we should go to the pottery place today....I told her that we were going to a park today because the weather was still nice, and the indoor outings were for when the weather got too cold or rainy - but, she said, "You said we could go in Oct, so why not...?" Next week it will be Nov...! - I said that what I meant was that Oct was the earliest we could go to the pottery place (because of the costs) - oh...

I explained to Venice before we got to Crest that Granny and I had changed some of the particulars about our Weds outings - that we would no longer go to ColdStone or Ben&Jerry's because neither really clean their ice cream scoops between servings, and with so many of the offerings containing peanuts and others, it was just too dangerous and so we weren't going to go to them from now on....When we got to Crest, Venice alerted Casey to this change - Initially, Casey didn't say anything...

On our way to Amazon Park the two are talking, and Casey gets out his lunchbox and begins finishing his lunch - Venice asks him if he'd share some of his lunch - Casey agrees, and gives her what apparently is a graham cracker - she asks, Is this a graham cracker, and Casey says, yes, and she takes a bite, and says, yes it is....Some more talk about stuff, and Venice asks if Casey would share some more of his lunch, but this time he says, no....Casey asks, why don't you get your lunch and finish it...? - Venice says that she doesn't ever have a good lunch, so no, she thinks not....I asked her what her favorite thing in a lunch is, and she says that she never eats anything for lunch - I tell her that maybe when it comes to a treat for today, maybe she could eat that same thing, nothing - without blinking an eye, she says that she may have exaggerated a little bit there...

At Amazon Park Venice and Casey tore off and pretty much did their own thing, while Granny and I got our old-people's chairs and sat on the lawn watching Xander and Teiya - they, too, pretty much did their own thing, and only occasionally came to us for something, like to leave a jacket because it was getting warm, or getting a drink of water....For the most part, Venice and Casey played together, and Xander and Teiya played together - Often on our outings Teiya would tag along with V & C, and the 3 would play whatever, and Xander would sort of do his own thing and wile away the time on his own - not so much, today, as they stayed separated in their pairings for most of the time - then, toward the end, Teiya hooked onto the older kids, and Xander for a short time did his own thing, and then came by us to tell us he was ready to go home, now - by this time, it had gotten cold to the bone-chilling degree that we were fine with leaving, and gave the kids a 10 min warning...

In the car on the way home, Casey asked if adults could sue...! - Curious, that - I said they could, and what was he thinking - he said that we adults should sue Ben&Jerry's to force them to wash their ice cream scoops more thoroughly, so we could go back to them for our treats...! - Venice wanted to know what suing was, and Casey tried to explain it to her - he said it means you can take someone to court to make them do something....I said that there were all kinds of suits - that as Casey said, the courts, if you won, could make someone do something you wanted - the courts could fine someone for having done something wrong....Venice thought it was a good idea to sue Ben&Jerry's AND Cold Stone...

More as I remember stuff...

Jiichan...