Boys to men??

We headed down to the Chicago 'burbs to visit with M's family for the day. His brother and family were here visiting from NJ, so everyone got together. We took the foster pup with us. She got carsick and yakked all over the back seat shortly before we arrived. I felt so bad for her! Other than that, she traveled really well. She hung with Luciana of course, once we got there. She had lots of fun running around and trying to play with the kids (L. and Mark's brother's four children). The kids loved her. She made it home without vomitting--thank goodness. We were prepared for it and had protected the seat and had lots of paper towels with us, but I'm glad we didn't need any of it. I will be talking to our vet tomorrow about what we can do to prevent or minimize her car sickness.

It was entertaining to see M with his two brothers. M is the middle child (and that explains a lot right there, doesn't it?) of a set of "Irish triplets". When the three boys get together, especially if there is any type of sports equipment around, they revert quickly back to early adolescence. It's entertaining for me to watch, but I couldn't help but to feel a little bad for their poor mother. I don't know how she, the lone woman in the house, survived those three boys with her sanity intact. The dynamics of the three boys is so very different than it is with my girls or even growing up with my one brother. It all became so clear, watching those three go at each other yesterday--I'm a substitute for his brothers! Poor, poor Carolyn! ;D

The three 'boys' played croquet with four of the five kids (McKenna isn't quite two yet). The D-boys quickly lost focus of actually progressing in the game, as it was more important to knock their brother's ball as far as possible. A game of catch became dangerous, as I was sitting by Dan, who was not playing but was the target of M's throws. I caught a little collateral damage from that game. Somehow, watching all of the toys become weapons with which to strike one another or out-do the other brothers, I really got a flashback into my husband's childhood. (Not that his present behavior is much different.) Oh, and I also see where his bodily-functions-as-weapons behavior came from. Nobody was injured and nothing was broken. It was a miracle!