A Long Friendship

This summer has been a bit of a challenge for the Harper house.  Well, now that I think about it, the past year has had it's share of ups and downs.  I will be glad to put this summer behind us.  With school starting tomorrow, I'm hoping that that will be the beginning of better things for us.  I don't believe that Ryan will agree with me - he is not looking forward to school at all.

We had been hearing the rumors for a few months, but didn't know when or if they would actually come true.  And then one evening in June, we got the phone call.   Ryan's oldest and closest friend was moving away - out of state.  He would be leaving in two days.  After making some last minute changes to activities, we were able to have him come to our house for one last sleepover and spending the next day at our house.  It was very bittersweet.

The two boys have been friends since kindergarten.  Adrian moved away about two weeks into second grade into a different school.  They stayed in touch and got together as much as they could.  When Adrian would come over to our house, the two boys would just play and play and play.  I have only seen them fight once, and rarely did you hear "we're bored" from them.  They constantly used their imaginations.  Lots of great memories and great fun was had.

Here are some highlights of the two boys together over the years.

One of the first times that Adrian came over.   I think maybe this was first or second grade.

Whatever they played, they went all out.  They would setup elaborate games and then their imaginations took over.  It was really fun to watch - and to listen to!

A fort they built out of every single blanket in the house.  They had so much fun with this - trying to get the dogs to go in there with them.  I just heard lots of laughing in there.

Bowling.  Ryan has done a bowling league for several years with some other friends.  This day, the rest of the team was not there, so Adrian filled in.

Playing with the Star Wars figures.  They would setup battles and stuff.  It took them as long to set everything up as it did to play with them.  Either way, they had fun doing it.

Setting up another Star Wars battle waiting for dinner at one of my favorite places to eat.

3D movie

Adrian went to so many of Ryan's activites.  He came along to friend day at karate, attended every piano recital and went to a couple of his flag football games, just to mention a few.

We went to the drive-ins several times.  We would get there early to get a good spot.  The boys would bring along different acitivities to do in the car while waiting for movie time.  On this particular day, they were playing Yugi-Oh.

Legos was another favorite activity.  This day, they decided to build a long "rope" of Legos.  They measured it to be 25 feet if I remember right.

Another time bowling with some of my family members.

Their last day together swimming.

Adrian & Ryan