Camden and Ryder Through the Ages :)

"It takes a long time to grow an old friend." -John Leonard

"The language of friends is not words, but meanings." - Henry David Thoreau

"Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried; Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel," -William Shakespeare

Protecting Your Pocket Squirrel (from your BFF :)

This story comes from Jonie. I wasn't there. There is much sadness in not being there. I would have loved to see this exchange between our boys, but I missed it. I am reasonably sure that writing it will be nowhere near as funny as Jonie telling the story even, (Jonie is REALLY very funny) but I will write it anyway.

Jonie was sweet enough to keep Ryder for us while we (by we, I really mean Cody :) put down hardwood. She had the boys at the pool, and Ryder (who does really like to "swim" now, by the way) starts to go up the stairs to the porch.

Jonie: "Ryder, where are you going?"

Ryder: "To get Mannienewt."

Jonie: "No, you don't need to go to the porch. Just tell Mannienewt to come down here."

Mannienewt was a very good pocket squirrel, and he obeyed.

Ryder: "Camden, do you want to see Mannienewt?" and Ryder holds out his hand to show Cam Mannie.

Camden: "What is it?" (Imagine his expression. I think Mannie was hiding behind all the air in Ryder's hand).

Ryder (incredulous at having to explain): "He's my squirrel."

Camden (shrugs his shoulders): "Oh."

Then Camden grabs Mannienewt and power throws him as hard as he can. (OOOhhhh, can I say how much I would have love to have seen this.)

Ryder starts running to get Mannienewt, and Camden says, "You can't get him. I threw him over the fence."

Jonie intervenes, not wanting to go over the fence to get Mannie, and tells Ryder to tell him to come back to him.

Mannie comes back to Ryder and Ryder puts him safely back in his pocket.

Ryder asks Camden: "Do you want a cow?"

Camden: "Sure." (Goes to put cow in his pocket, but realizes he doesn't have a pocket, so he puts the cow down his shorts.)

So now, Mannienewt, pocket squirrel, has company in Ryder's pocket. His friend, Cowsang, pocket cow, usually is with him. I think Ryder keeps Cowsang around in case he is expected to share one of his pocket animals with a friend :)

Disclaimer: Details of this story may be a bit off as I wasn't actually present at the time. (But I'm sure that all the parenthetical asides make up for the inaccuracies.) Jonie can help if you are confused. She is really talented with boys and pocket squirrels and imitating the throwing of Mannie over the fence. (And no worries, Mannienewt wasn't hurt :)