The Boy had his Cub Scout troop over. It was a thanks to the cub scout leader for hosting each meeting at his house for the last 2 years, when the original plan was to rotate houses. The parents chipped in for gift cards to two restaurants. This gathering was Sunday, a few hours after the girls' slumber party was over.
Wifey asked if I REALLY wanted to have a fully booked Saturday and Sunday with young kids. You know me, if it's going to be bad, you might as well double-down and then pull off the band-aid as fast as possible.
The Girl's party was easy, for me. I kept my mouth shut and let the Girl and Wifey obsess for hours and days over who was to be invited, what the theme of the party was, how to invite them, and so forth. And then they went over and over it again. Are you sure you wanted to really invite Kai? Are you sure you want to invite Chloe since she and Kai don't get along. 10 year old angst and drama, which you have to chuckle about to yourself.
My job was to take the Boy out of the house and keep him occupied so he wouldn't be the annoying younger brother running around in his underwear causing girls to shriek. We went to a college volleyball game, a pub for fish and chips, and then to a softball game. Then, a little night grocery shopping. By the time we came home, they had eaten their pizza, opened presents and were serving cupcakes in lieu of cake.
The Boy watched some TV with me, and then he went to bed upstairs to sleep in the guest bedroom. I had taken an allergy pill earlier in the day and it makes me very drowsy. So around 11:00, with the girls in sleeping bags downstairs in the living room, Wifey and I turned in. They had just finished watching a movie and were just giggling and talking. Wifey didn't give them a firm time to sleep, but just told them to start winding it down.
And the chattering went on and got louder. I was in a haze of sleep and half-sleep (I could hear the chatter). Wifey got up at 11:15 and asked them to tone it down. Then she got up at 12:30 and asked them to tone it down and get to sleep. And then around 1:15, she called the Girl up the stairs so she could talk privately. The Girl kept asking, "Am I in trouble? Am I in trouble?" Wifey then told her it was time for talking to stop and sleep to be begin. Right, gotcha! And about 10 minutes later Wifey had to tell the girls to go to sleep. And after that I passed out.
Then the girls left, most of them by 10:30 Sunday morning.
The cub scout troop started arriving around 1:15. Of course, the first things boys do is find the Boy's Nerf guns and rifles and start chasing each other around the house, front yard and back yard. The girl was off to another girl's birthday party from 12:30 to 2:00 so it was perfect. However, I installed keyed knobs on her door (that we had installed in our house during our house remodel) so no nasty boys would get into her room (like they did last time).
Besides boys chasing each other with guns, I was thinking about how to keep them busy. Aha, everyone likes to hunt for treasure. So got some baggies and I filled up each of the 8 baggies with three items:
a) a small bag of peanut M&M'sAnd then I made the boy stay in his room while a went to the backyard hiding the bags in various places. I know the yard SO well thanks to a rather naughty, yet ingenious dog of ours.
b) 3 Pokemon cards (the Boy recently declared he didn't like Pokemon anymore and wanted to give them all away)
c) some small toy/trinket sitting in the bottom of the Boy's various tubs of "stuff". You know, little plastic figurines from McDonald's happy meals. The Boy didn't care, to him it was just "stuff".
The only problem would be if I hid it too well and we had undiscovered bags of booty in the backyard that my dogs would eventually get to - I didn't want the dogs consuming chocolate from the M&Ms. Fingers crossed.
And then, I announced there was a treasure hunt.
Aha, those boys tore through the backyard (with guns and Stormtrooper helmets) looking for treasure. And then......then the whining started.
- Ummmm, [the Boy's] Dad? Can you give us a hint? [Johnny] - "No."
- Puuuleeezeeeee!!!! [Johnny] - "No."
- Ummm, no offense, I don't really like silly banz (the treat one boy found). [Johnny] - "So what? I don't care."
- Please, please, please give us a hint!. [Johnny] - "No."
- (10 more requests for hints) [Johnny] - "Okay, along the trail that has the garden hose, there are some nearby.
- Ummm, [the Boy's] Dad? I don't really like M&Ms. [Johnny] - "Okay."
- Guys, Help ME find the last bag!
So the son, let's say his name is Tim, is whining that the other boys (who have found their treasure) aren't helping him find his treasure. When I ask him, "Hey Tim, I thought you already found your treasure?" He answers in a whiny voice, "But I didn't like the prize! I want something else!"
Oh....so then he whines to his Daddy who is trying to get the attention of the other boys, "Boys, Tim is your packmate. And when your packmate needs help, we all need to get together and help him find the treasure."
The other kids stop for about 3-4 seconds, think about it and then run off with guns chasing each other around the front yard.
I kinda say in a low voice to uber-liberal Dad, "Yuh know....Tim already got his treasure. He just didn't like what he found. So......" He asked me, "Then whose are we looking for?" I said, "Lee's treasure. And Lee doesn't really care and decided he wasn't going to go look."
Meanwhile Tim is pulling at his dad, "C'mon, we gotta go find that treasure. C'mon." And the uber-liberal dad was muttering to his son, "Well son, I tried to get your den mates to help you out....but I didn't set this up....so I guess we need to go look for it ourselves."
10 minutes later, they found it. And, I don't think he liked that treasure either.
Ha!





