Family Dinner

Tyler got home from his dive trip yesterday afternoon. We picked Danielle up from volleyball camp this afternoon. Tonight was the first night we've had dinner together at home in a month. I made the kids' favorite meal (which Ron and I don't care for) and Tyler's favorite dessert "cold cake". We had dinner out before taking Tyler to camp on Father's Day and lunch out together with Ron's parents the day Tyler left for his dive trip. Otherwise, one or the other kid has been gone or at softball since the first week of June. For a second, everyone is home together...until tomorrow when Ron leaves for Canada.

Even with our busy schedules, we try to have dinner together. It's not easy and more often than not, I wonder why I try. The kids can get along perfectly all day long, but it seems like the minute they sit down together at the table they can't stand to be around each other. Tyler complains about Danielle not eating enough. She complains about how loudly he chews. He picks on her and she gets her feelings hurt. She picks back and he picks even more. It's frustrating. But occasionally we have those dinners where we actually talk about our days, or something else of interest, and laugh together. Those are the best. Where we all kind of linger around the table once the food is gone just for each other's company. It doesn't happen often, but I guess those are the moments that keep me trying. That, and it's easier to keep the kitchen clean if we all eat at the same time. ;)

This is my FIL's picture of  Tyler and some squid they saw on one of their dives.
Tyler said the squid kept changing color and was really neat to see.

We got to watch Danielle play a little volleyball when we picked her up. Her team did really well and scored the most points during the camp.