Roomies with Sweetboys

My ex-college roommate was in the state.  That's amazing because they've been living in Qatar for the last year, and we got lucky we were able to squeeze in a brief visit this week.  It's been difficult for either of us to schedule things, they had illness, and I'm still not up to snuff to schedule things too far out.  I'm getting better with that.  But her sweetboys are just a smidge older than my sweetboys, and they all get along swimmingly.

So we met for supper at Cracker Barrel.  

The kids were desperate to play, so after dinner, we let them play checkers on the porch. 

Note the differences from when a couple of 7 and a 1/2 year olds play vs.  when a 4 and 5 year old play.  

One is well organized, and the other..isn't.   

The kids had a lot of bottled up energy, and when we were trying to get them to pose sweetly for us outside before we hit the road, well, they weren't inclined.  Eric suggested that they hold hands.  They barely stopped moving.  

Then we suggested they Jump.  That worked a little better.  

Then they played Ring around the Rosie in the parking lot.  

It was a great dinner.   But Jake cried all the way home.  Shrieked actually.   We kept going, thinking if we made it through that would be better than the stopping.  But everyone got mad headaches from a half an hour of screaming baby, so the other boys lost their minds when we got home too.  After putting to bed, I am happy to say that Jake slept all night.  Not sure fully yet if it's worth the screaming to get a full night's sleep, or not.