Fire Lit Fun

Isolation is so much more enjoyable when we have to share it with my daughter and her family. They’ll be with us until Wednesday and the house feels more like a real home with the constant meanderings of a certain five-year-old. She has taken after the female line of our family in being a real dynamo. I also enjoyed finally having someone to watch the Red Zone with yesterday as Wingman and I watched his fantasy football championship hopes go down the drain. The FBR decided to spend the afternoon with us down in the Man Cave.

Fireside Last Night

Daughter, Wingman and the FBR

Marshmallows on Roast

After an hour or so of playing with some of her Christmas gifts she decided she had much better things for her grandfather to do than stay ensconced on the couch watching football. She invented a new game where she would launch herself onto me and then wrestle with me in an attempt to cover up my view of the game. I was left with a definite impression of how strong she was, not to mention the expected relentlessness. I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a Red Zone session more.

FBR Running Up Stairs to Find more Wood

One of the things I promised the FBR during her visit here was a backyard fire to roast marshmallows. I’ve discovered that this young lady forgets nothing. I delved into my wood stash which consists of the cannibalized remains of an old futon frame and my son’s first ever bed.  The wood from both was over thirty years old and I figured it would burn even after spending the better part of a year under a tarp back in our wood line.

Mingling with Decorations

Wife and I

After dinner last night we assembled outside as the fire flared and enjoyed some hot chocolate while trying to keep the FBR from self-immolating. I made the mistake of letting her know I had a flashlight and she wanted to spend most of the time back in the trees trying to find more wood to throw on the fire. She seems to have inherited the family pyro-genes. My Favorite Panamanian assumed the marshmallow toasting while the FBR contented herself in the consumption role. My wife and I stayed outside to tend the fire after my daughter’s family went inside and were treated to the FBR frantically waving from the upstairs bathroom window where her mother was trying to coax her into the bathtub.

My daughter and Wingman have brought with them their usual technological advances for our entertainment systems. They have something called a Roku stick which allows us to watch Apple TV for the first time. We binge watched a very, very funny comedy series called Ted Lasso which I highly recommend. It’s a very funny look at interactions between Americans and British, still separated by a common language. I am looking into ways of stopping time because it is too much fun having this bunch in residence. My wife shard these photos from Christmas day that I didn’t have for yesterday’s post:

Wife and FBR Christmas Day

Photogenic!

And Then Some

We'll Have to Overcome her Camera Shyness

So. Much. Fun.

Christmas Zoom Call with Wife's Family

The Artiste at Work

Pee Wee Snoozing

Me, as well, After Christmas Breakfast
Another Holiday Tradition

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RECURRING CHARACTERS                                           

BR3 – granddaughter #3, BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter, ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete = my daughter in law; Wingman – my son in law; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Pittsburgh College Roommate – high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd musquetera (musketeer); Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; PanaGals – female relatives /friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member, Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn