Well, we knew this day would come. We would be required to return the hostages to their parents. It has been a fun couple of days though.We started out with breakfast. We fixed cinnamon rolls. Cael and Sophia had cereal besides. Then with the dishes done, the troops headed out to the river for one last fishing trip. This time, Cael and Sophia opted to stay at the house with me. That was fine. I had work to do. They can occupy themselves.
I turned on the TV, made sure the flyswatters were at hand, and listened for any screaming and crying. I could hear them talking and playing. Pretty soon, I heard the sound of flies dying out in the living room. There was lots of giggles from the next room.
Pretty soon, Sophia came to the door of the office to tell me that Cael wouldn’t let her sit on the couch. I have a large couch that makes out into a queen bed and a loveseat. There are plenty of couches for two small children. Cael is only 3 and not all that tall. When I walked into the living room, Cael was stretched out on the large couch. There was a good foot and a half at the end of the couch where he just couldn’t cover. With that an entire smaller couch left exposed, I just couldn’t figure out what the problem was. I gave Sophia instructions to use the other couch. A little while later, I stuck my head out and they were sitting side by side again on the larger couch.
Not long afterward, Rich, Rick, and Bel returned from their fishing expedition. The final report was that Bel had caught a total of 9 fish, including one pretty good sized catfish. Rick had caught a couple. Rich had caught a grand total of three carp. Not bad for the three days of fishing. Bel was trying to convince Rich that he had plenty of fishing rods and could afford to let her take one home. She really wanted that pink fishing rod set.
I was still working and need to keep going. Rich and Rick decided to take the kids to McDonald’s for lunch. We managed to find socks for everyone. The troops then left the house again. I went back to work. After lunch, everyone returned to the house. Rich got them in gear to pack up their stuff and start loading the car. I completed my task and turned over the files.
We loaded up the human cargo, buckled up, and headed out to meet up with Vanessa. We were on our way to return the hostages to their rightful owners. I had planned on the ride taking us an hour and a half. It took a little over an hour. All of the kids were asleep as soon as we pulled away from the house. That meant that their nap was for a good long time.
We found the hotel and got into the parking lot. Rich called Vanessa to let her know we had arrived. She came out and we swapped keys to vehicles. Vanessa then shepherded her children and our former hostages to her room. Chris wouldn’t be getting off work until 5:00.
Since I wasn’t feeling well, we decided to leave and not hang around for dinner. We gave the kids hugs and kisses. Vanessa got a big hug. We talked about the possibility of plans for next summer. We can plan for what this will be like next year. It was fun. Our house will definitely be a lot quieter after this.
On Friday, I caught Sascha going into the guest room a couple of times. I figured she was looking for the kids.
