The plan was for Jay to fly in Thursday and fly out Monday, and that is what happened; except that Jay's Thursday direct flight from Tampa to Atlanta was canceled due to the government shut down, and his air travels, after re-booking his ticket to Atlanta - went through Baltimore. (This meaning he had to get up at 2AM to catch the 5:15AM flight to Baltimore.) The good news is that everything went smoothly and Jay was soon at the home of Robert and Natalie. That meant he was there in time to help put up outside Christmas decorations and inside holiday décor.

Then, after a dinner of ribs and barbecue, there was time to play Bang! - a card game of western characters, e.g., Sheriff, Outlaw, Renegade . . . where one throws dice for outcomes that hopefully let him or him and his team win.

 

Friday was a school day, and when the kids were off to their studies, Robert did some Chick-fil-A work and Jay did some more work with inside Christmas decorations. Later, Jay and Robert visited Hillside Montessori at its new location and in a new building. Jay got a tour of the facility from its Principal, Bethany, and got to meet many of the teachers and staff members and also some students. This was Pizza Friday and there were students selling pizza for the school lunchtime and there were also some students in the Music Room who gave an impromptu jazz session, accompanied by Matt, the Music Teacher.

       

Robert and Jay also looked over the school's soccer field with its two new goals, courtesy of Robert and Natalie. One of the goals had on piece of its framework bent so Robert went home, found a fix, and returned to the school for some quick but effective repairs.

This day was Braden-Family-Friday-at-the-Movies so at dinner time the family gathered around the TV to watch the Steve Martin and John Candy comedy Planes, Trains, and Automobiles while eating wings and pizza. Afterwards, and with Alice and Thatcher in bed. We played Six Card Golf, an easy-to-learn, quick-to-play card game the even Robert could play. Also Luke, Charlie, Everett, and Benjamin.

     

Saturday morning required an early start in order to make the cross-country races at Carrollton. At Carrollton the Wild Beast Track Club runners and parents gathered at the WBTC canopy; a meeting place between events.

Luke ran first and his finishing place could be good enough for the USATF November 25 with qualifiers from four states, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

 

   

Charlie was next and we cheered him around the course.

 

   

Everett was in the 13-14 boys 4 kilometer cross country, along with 52 other competitors. He did his warm ups and was ready for the Starter Gun. Everett ran a strong start and was leading the other runners just 200 meters into the race, a lead that he expanded into around 150 meters at the Finish. His time was 13:28; the second place runner's time was 13:58 - 30 seconds behind! We celebrated at the local Five Guys before heading back to LaGrange. A great day!

     

 

     

Later we traveled into LaGrange where one of the Wild Beast families hosted an end-of-season party. Good food and good fellowship.

   

The evening ended with another game of Bang! that everyone enjoyed.

Monday was travel-home day and Robert drove me up to the Atlanta Airport. Everything went smoothly for the check-in, the flight, and the trip back home.

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