The Hangout House

Ledger hangs out with his friends all the time, almost every single day after school. The thing is though, its only online. He hardly ever sees any of them in person, even on the weekends, which I guess is pretty normal for his generation.

Well, I am not a big fan of that! I have many fond memories of seeing my friends all the time after school, riding my bike over to their houses or playing behind the school across from my house. In middle school I would probably hang out in person with friends three to four nights a week, and that wasn't even including Saturdays when we would spend basically the whole day at each other's houses or out getting in to trouble! Growing up I would always go over to other friends' houses. Partly this was due to having an annoying older brother and sister, but also because my mom would get annoyed if we made a mess. I didn't want that same thing for Ledge, so we decided to do something about it: we decided that our house is going to be the hangout house! Unfortunately, none of Ledger's friends live just down the street, so that means if he wants to have them over I have to coordinate with their parents and pick them up or drop them off afterwards. No problem, I say. With the school year just starting, we figured Ledge should invite a few friends over on Friday, so I texted with their parents and got it all worked out. The four of them walked to our house after school and spend the rest of the day hanging out and having a blast! Mostly it consisted of them playing games together on their phones and tablets, but to hear them chatting and bursting out in laughter makes it all worth while!

Diana and I usually end up hiding in the guest room and watch tv, listening from time to time to make sure no one lost a limb. For dinner I went and picked up a few pizzas and the boys chowed down! Finally, around 9pm, the boys and I piled into the car and we brought them each home. On the way back to our house Ledger kept talking about all the funny stuff they did and how much fun it was. This will definitely be something we do regularly this year!

The County Fair

One of the things my town is known for is the county fair. Well, we can't miss that then, right? Ledger was really interested in the fair when he was little, going on all the kid's rides and games. But he lost interest for a few years there, but now he's back and really wants to go! We invited a couple friends for him to check out the county fair with.

They walked home with Ledger after school on Friday and I brought them over to the fair soon after. We got them a bracelet for unlimited rides and I gave each of them a bit of cash to waste however they chose.

These boys are at the age where the last thing they want is a parent watching over them, so I gave them a meeting time a few hours away and let them go out on their own to have a blast. I went back to the car and cranked the air conditioning, played a few games on my phone and listened to podcasts. Finally, around 9pm, we met up. I had double checked with the other boy's parents to see if it was ok, and it was, I told them they had another hour to mess around and have fun- they were shocked and thrilled to have some more time on their own! We met up again and they had spent all the money I had given them buying dumb stuff and having an amazing time. Finally, at 10pm we gathered back in the car and we brought the other boys home. This is what memories are made of, right?

Chicken Jockey

As we were bringing Ledger's friends home last weekend from his birthday party, I suggested we do it again the coming weekend and this time go see the Minecraft Movie with everyone. They were all pumped at the idea, so we made it happen!

All the friends that came to the party were invited back Friday to go see the movie together. Four of the boys were free and able to come over again. They walked home together from school and funneled right into Ledger's room to continue their gaming fun. At around 6 we piled into the car and stopped for a pre-movie meal at Wendy's. Finally, it was time for the big show: Minecraft at the local movie theater!

It was opening night and all five of them were beyond excited, they had been talking about it and quoting the commercials nonstop for the last month straight, hardly taking time to breath and now it was finally here! 

Fortunately, the movie was pretty good and very funny. The crowd was all in on this opening night, even erupting in cheers when the endlessly memed lines were spoken. In fact, when Jack Black uttered the phrase 'chicken jockey' I even saw a few high fives. It was so strange, I don't think I've seen a more raucous movie crowd in my life! And it honestly warmed my heart to see this young generation loving the movies!

Afterward all the boys recounted their favorite parts and quoted the parts they loved. It was a boisterous drive as we brought each of them back home. 

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Turning the Big One Three

It finally happened: our little boy became a teenager! All right, in all honesty, he hasn't been a little boy for quite some time now- he's five foot nine! Anyway, we knew we wanted to do something special for his birthday, so we had him invite over a bunch of friends and have a party. In the past we've had birthdays with different events and activities, but this year he just wanted to hang out with his buddies. No problem, kid. We settled on 6 friends, certainly enough for a party.

The party was on a Friday, so the boys walked home with him after school. I was ready and waiting with a bunch of snacks and drinks for them to devour! After a quick feeding, they all piled into Ledger's room with their devices and played a bunch of online games together, pausing only briefly to ask what the Wi-Fi password was. Loud laughing and talking poured out of his room for the next hour or two while Diana and I tried our best to stay out of sight, letting the boys have their fun.

Eventually the pizza arrived and they all came flooding out of Ledge's room to chow down! After they almost filled up on pizza, it was time for some singing and a birthday cake. The boys were loud and rambunctious, as 13-year-old boys are want, and we just got out of their way. Now with all the food eaten, I shepherded the boys to the living room for gift time. Most of them had brought gifts for Ledge, a very nice and thoughtful thing to do, so he went through and opened each one and joyfully thanked each person he got a gift from. I figured they might get a kick out of the gift we had gotten for him, and I wasn't wrong. As Ledger opened up his last gift from us, the boys realized what it was and the room exploded with excitement! I'm not even exaggerating- when he unwrapped it all the boys screamed, punched their fists in the air, and stood up with excitement! They laughed hysterically about it for a good 5 minutes before anyone was able to collect themselves enough to make a complete sentence! (check the pics to see what the gift was)

They had about an hour or so before it was time to bring everyone home, so they filed back into Ledger's room and kept playing their different games. Finally, a couple parents arrived to pick up their boys and the rest filed into our car and we brought them home one by one. Phew! An absolute success on a fun birthday for our newly minted teen!
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Having the Boys Over

Every once in a while Ledger asks to have friends over. He hasn't very often this summer, so when he asked, we said sure! Emerson and Desmond were both dropped off around noon, that way they could get as much play time as possible! Granted, play time these days is a little different than it was a few years ago. Not as much running around and playing with toys, now they shoot Nerf guns at each other and play video games against each other on their devices. Still, they clearly had a blast, laughing and joking the day away!

Growing up I rarely had friends over, we weren't exactly the 'everyone is welcome' type of household. I would always have to go over to my friend's house. Granted, it was probably for the best, I don't think any of us would want to cross paths with my big brother... With that history, it's quite nice to now have created a house where he gets to have his friends over whenever he wants. Not only do we welcome his friends, but we usually spoil them with food and movies! We went out and got some delicious BK for dinner, and then the four of us took in a show! We went to the Regent and watched Despicable Me 4. The boys had a blast! It's always fun to see Ledge play around with friends.

After the movie we drove all over creation bringing the boys home- I'm shocked at how far away they live considering they all go to the same school! 

Swifties

 Diana is a bit of a Taylor Swift fan. An obsessed fan, really. When she found out the Eras Tour was coming to movie theaters, she wanted to immediately get tickets! She made plans with her friend Miranda and we actually got them tickets to see it on the biggest screen possible: IMAX! We bought them almost immediately after it was announced and we still had a hard time getting good seats!

Finally, the day of the show, Miranda came over and the two of them got to show each other the outfits they picked out. Apparently fans have been dressing up as one of the different album styles to go see the movie. The two of them were giddy with excitement! They had a bunch of friendship bracelets as well. I am told that also has something to do with seeing the movie? I don't know, but I love that they are excited to see a movie in the theater, so I'm totally supportive!

They headed out to the theater with huge grins on their faces, surpassed only by the grins on their faces when they returned. They absolutely loved it and had a blast! We have had nothing but Taylor Swift music blaring at the house ever since...

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Super Ledger Bros!

We didn't have a big party for Ledger's birthday this year, but we still made plans for something special. The Mario Bros. Movie came the Wednesday after his birthday, so we had him pick a few friends to invite to go see it with him! He picked three friends and we talked to their parents and we were all set.

Saturday afternoon we all met up at the theater (we picked up Karson on the way), we were thinking ahead and bought the tickets in advance- and its a good thing we did because the line was huge and the show sold out! We loaded them up with popcorn, drinks, and candy- now we are ready for the show!

We got to see it in 3D, Ledger's first theatrical movie he's ever seen in 3D. Diana wasn't all that interested in going to see this one until she found out it would be in 3D, then she was all about it! Through out the movie I kept looking over at the boys and they were grinning ear to ear and having a blast. Ledger absolutely loved the birthday movie and getting to joke around and laugh with his friends, and the whole event was a big hit with all four of them!

After the movie we stopped at a park in Otsego so the boys to spend a little more time together and get some of that sugared up energy out!

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First Sleepover

This is a big one: Ledger had his first sleepover! Ledger had one of his friends over this weekend to hang out for the day- and the night! He's been asking for a while if he could have a friend stay over for the night and finally we had a weekend that would work. So Diana contacted his friend's parents and asked if he would like to come over for the night. They were good with it and said he was super excited! We've had him over to the house a bunch, coming over after school and the boys playing together, but the possibility of spending the night was very exciting to both of them.

Diana and I discussed how we should have them sleep. We've got an extra guest room with a bed that he could sleep in, but that totally destroys the fun of a sleep over if we separated them! So instead we pulled up the sleeping bag from the basement and the two of them camped out in the living room on the couch. They thought this was perfect, that way they could spend all night together and stay up late watching TV! We made them snacks and played some games, but as it got late, Diana and I shut ourselves in our room so the two boys could have some time chatting and being silly together. They ended up staying up late, but not as late as I would have expected.

In the morning they got up and had a bunch more fun. Finally his parents picked him up in the afternoon, both of them exhausted from all the fun they had!

Robo Crafts

 As the summer winds down and school's start is eminent, Ledger was getting a little bored. In order to stave off those dog days of summer, we invited Zeke over for the day! He stays with his grandma during the day, and she just lives down the street. He came over and the boys had a blast running around and drawing. We went downstairs to thumb through our pile of craft activities and found a pretty fun one: painting robots that look like stained glass. The boys were all for it, so we brought it up to the table and they both got busy painting. There were six of them so they each took three and started coloring. When they were done we hung them on the back slider and got to see the sunlight shine through them- they look great!

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Back to the Theater

 We waited this thing out long enough that movie theaters are opening again! With all this pandemic craziness, the thing that has been the hardest for me personally has been the theaters closing!

In fact, that's how I knew at the beginning that the whole pandemic thing was happening. I would always have Mondays off of work, so I would usually plan on going to see a movie (lets be honest, I usually planned on going to see a couple movies...). That particular March morning was no different. I went to the theater and got tickets for two movies, along with snacks and drink. Walked into my first movie and had a lovely time (the movie was good, it was The Way Back). Came out to use the bathroom and hang out for a few minutes until the second one started, and the employees told me I had to leave. What? They said they were shutting down and weren't going to be showing any more movies for the rest of the day. (Little did they know they wouldn't be showing any more movies for the rest of the year!)

I was pretty confused and asked 'But I have a ticket for the next show?' They refunded me the money and shoed me out the door! What? I definitely knew something weird was up then! I got home and within a day or two my work cancelled the rest of the week as well!

About 14 months later the local theater started showing movies again- and I was first in line! This year they reinstated the free kids summer movies and I figured it was safe for Ledge to go back to the theater too (with a mask, of course). We made a special day of it and invited his friend Skyler to come with us to see Sonic the Hedgehog. It felt like perfect symmetry- Sonic the Hedgehog was the last movie Ledger saw in the theater, and now it's also his first one back! We had a great time watching it again, it was the first time for Skyler, and the boys played around for the rest of the day together. A wonderful day all around!

A Friend Visits

 It's been too long since Ledger had any social interaction with someone his age. We are 8 months into the pandemic at this point and Ledger has been homeschooled that whole time, so he hasn't had much casual social interactions with fellow kids. It's mostly just been Diana, myself, and him. There have been family visits and that sort of thing, but hardly anything with his peers. We finally had an opportunity to change that- we invited Zeke over to play! Almost every day he and his sisters stay had his grandparent's house until his parents get home from work. Zeke's grandparents live just down the way, so we finally were comfortable and able to set up a play date for the boys. Zeke came over and Ledge got to have some much needed time with friends! The two of them had a blast running from his room to the basement, playing with all the different toys and fun stuff Ledger has. Their favorite was a little remote controlled robot that brought them so many laughs and silliness! What a relief- it was so nice to see him relating and playing with someone his own age again. I don't know what impact this pandemic will have on Ledger's social development, but It was great to see him have the change to be a normal kid again for the afternoon!

christmas lights tour

For decades they have been doing a special Christmas light display at the minor league baseball field in Grand Rapids.  I've always kind of wanted go but have never gotten around to it.  Last year I brought it up to Diana and she thought that would be fun, but we still didn't make the time to do it.  This year I wasn't going to make the same mistake!  We made plans with Savannah's parents and invited her and Matheson to come with us to enjoy the lights.  We were not disappointed!  The ride up was fun because Ledger and Savannah were being so silly together in the back seat.  Matheson, who's five year older, would just roll his eyes, but laughed along too.
The lights themselves were pretty cool!  There was a long and winding path created in the stadium's parking lot.  It was filled with scenes and displays of winter events and characters lit up, blinking, and glowing to fill the night!  There were 'ooh's and 'aah's the whole way through- the kids loved it!  After the light display we took the kids to pizza hut and chowed down together.  The kids were even more boisterous and silly than before, having so much fun just being together!  At the end of the night we reluctantly returned the kids home and concluded our late night adventure together.  Someone is going to be exhausted in school tomorrow...
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trick or treating proper

Finally it was time for the main event!  Ledger was really unsure about our plans.  We had made plans with Savannah's family to meet up with them to trick or treat.  The problem that was really bothering Ledger was the fact that we drove over to Plainwell to do it.  He did not like that we weren't going to go to the same houses we go to every year.  His trepidation melted away once we pulled up and saw Savannah and all her family.  Now he was pumped!  We started our trek through the neighborhood trick or treating.  It was a little rough going because of the terrible weather- it was rain/snowing and very cold.  All the kids were troopers though and pushed through the unfortunate weather.  There was even one house that had a spooky maze set up in their front yard.  Savannah was up for it but Ledge was hesitant.  I said I'd go through it with them, then he was feeling a lot better about it.  They were kind enough to take it really easy on us and Ledger felt really proud of himself when we finished- he was so brave!  He actually wanted to go though again- now that he had faced death and come through the other side, he wanted another taste of that rush!  After making our way through the neighborhood Savannah's family was ready to call it quits.  We thanked them for a really memorable time and headed home.  Or did we?
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field trip to the fair

Ledger's class was taking a field trip to the Allegan Country Fair, so of course I'm going to be going along as a helper!  I was assigned 3 kids, along with my son, to wander along with them through the fair, checking out all the different educational areas.  There wasn't really any sort of schedule or plan in place other than wandering around together until lunch time, so we checked out everything we could.  The fair had a bunch of olden times buildings for the kids to see, an old school, post office, church, etc. that were full of different items from the early 1800s, when Allegan was first established.  The kids were interested for a while, but they wanted to see the animals!  We made our way over to the 4H barns and checked out all different livestock.  The kids were entranced by the cows and pigs, chickens and horses!  We eventually met up with everyone for lunch, but were then released back on our own.  I got each of the kids some lemonade from one of the stands and asked them what they wanted to do before we left.  Of course they said they wanted to go on the rides, but as I told them a dozen times, they aren't running until 3pm and we will be gone by then!  So they settled for going back to the animal barns.  We made our way back to the bus at the end of the day and headed home.  The kids really loved it!
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savannah's birthday

It was Savannah's birthday, so we invited her over for the afternoon to celebrate!  Ledger was excited to have a guest come and visit during the long summer days, and we had gotten her a cute American girl type doll, so he was pumped to give it to her!  she was thrilled with the gift and excited to play with it and introduce her new doll to her other one.
now, with the gift giving and everything out of the way, we all gathered into the car and went out to sandy pines!  savannah had never been there so she was really thrilled with all the cool stuff they have there.  both the kids loved going on a cart ride, going to the water park,  and getting ice cream!  we will definitely need to take her back here again!

walk in the woods

Around the apartments where we live are a series of trails.  There is a woods surrounding us on three sides and there are a bunch of biking and hiking paths through them.  Ledger asked if a friend from school could come over; she lives in the apartment complex too, so she came over and the two of them played for a while.  It didn't take long for Ledge to get bored with his own toys, so I suggested the two of them go wander around the trails.  We hadn't been on them yet this year, so it would be the first time out this season.  Ledge was all for it, but his friend was a bit more hesitant.  It became obvious that she had never walked through the woods before, because she was so terrified of the bugs flying around and any branches or leaves that touched her as we walked.  I always thought Ledge was pretty nature averse, but this was a whole other level!  Her fear gave Ledger a chance to feel brave, shooing away whatever spooked her.  By the time we made the whole circuit, the two of them were quite exhausted and thankful to make it back to the apartment.

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children's museum

a On half days from school we like to try and do something special with Ledger.  This time we thought we'd take him to the children's museum in Grand Rapids!  We invited his best friend Savannah to join us and she was all in.  

I picked them up from school and headed directly downtown to check it all out.  Ledge had been there before in preschool, but Savannah hadn't ever see the museum, so Ledge showed her around and they checked out all the cool exhibits and fun activities.  It was all I could do to keep up!  Their favorites were the bubble makers and the medical facilities for kids.

After checking out all the nooks and crannies of the museum, we headed home.  First though, we stopped at a McDonalds for dinner- one that had a kid's playland, of course!  I was surprised they still had any energy left, but they were busy at it, almost forgetting to take time to eat their meals!

We dropped Savannah off at home and finally got back to our place around dark.  This little boy is going to sleep well tonight!

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birthday red robin

after the fun of crazy bounce, we went to eat at one of ledger's favorite restaurants: red robin.  the six of us scooted into a booth and had a fun time talking and being silly.  savannah gave ledger a birthday gift- an adorable stuffed animal kit that he loved!  the two of these kids are so fun and funny, they kept us entertained and in stitches the entire evening!  savannah loves to chat, she wasn't intimidated at all being with 4 adults at dinner.  she was telling so many stories that she hardly even had time to eat her meal!  ledger was chatty too, but he didn't have any problem at all downing all his macaroni and cheese...  when the ice cream came he was too busy trying to steal savannah's left over macaroni to even notice!

after dinner barbara and dad headed back home.  ledge was so happy to have them join his special day!  now, with all their energy gone and their bellies full, we headed home.

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birthday bounce

we did the family birthday thing, but now it was time for a birthday party with a friend!  we invited savannah to join us in celebrating ledger's birthday.  her mom dropped her off and we headed out to holland to go to crazy bounce!  barbara and diana's dad wanted to celebrate as well, so they drove up from south bend and joined us at crazy bounce.  ledger was so pleased to have them join us, and even more pleased to be able to bounce around!  the two of them were balls of energy and ran around the place for over an hour going from one blow-up to the next.  ledger really loved the slides and bungie run, but savannah was obsessed with the obstacle course.  barbara joined them for a while, but otherwise they were just interested in getting our attention to watch as they did different silly tricks on the blow-ups!  finally, after they were both good and exhausted, we wrapped up our visit- drained of engery, but quite content.

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savannah's birthday

savannah, ledger's best friend from school, was having a birthday party out at the lake.  it was a small celebration, but she really wanted ledge there for the festivities.  her mom, jill, really hit it off with diana this past year, so diana was thrilled to get the invite!  it was a saturday afternoon, so i wasn't able to go, but the two of them had a great time celebrating with savannah at the beach!