Quiet has Broken

George the Younger and Henry returned triumphant from camp last night. We picked them up at the airport with lots of smiles, dirty hair, dirty clothes and a two entire duffel bags full of crusty (yet oddly damp) clothes and Winaukee sand. I can't imagine there's any sand left on the lakefront there. It's now all in my laundry room.

The first thing Henry said to me was, "Mom? Did you get shorter?" Yup. That's it, I shrunk. Last year they both grew an inch while they were away. Will need to measure them to see, but George the Younger is now looking me straight in the eye. Weird.

I cannot be entirely certain, but George the Younger seems to have turned in to a teenager while he was away. I suspect that this is also because he turns 13 in two weeks. His monosyllabic responses are now in a slightly deeper tone and he has mastered the teen eye-roll in the last five weeks. Lucky us.

Henry is still Henry. Talking up a mile a minute, digging in his backpack to show us his awards (yes, he goes to a sports camp. yes, he got the gold medal in...arts and crafts!). He talked all about what he did, the terrifying trip down the zip line, the winning of the doubles match in Color War. In fact, he practically talked until he got home and they both spied their PSPs, the TV, and George the Younger's CELL PHONE!!

Like lions at an antelope fest - they both stood mesmerized! I could actually see the scene through their eyes. A holy halo of light surrounding all of the electronics. Angelic music playing softly in the background. Nirvana. We gave them 30 minutes to imbibe and then put them to bed. Both were up at 6:30. I think it was a combination of still being on East coast time AND the electronic pulses that they could feel wafting in to their subconscious from the computers. Irresistible.

Even though it is a lovely day here in SF (oddly), it is likely that we will let them wallow in the splendor of discovery channel and ESPN. George the Younger has already started texting and has entered all the new contact info of his camp buddies. As for George the Elder and I, we will start getting used to the sounds of the boys in the house - and even with the TV, the cell phone beeping and the low level bickering that comes with having a real-honest-to-goodness teenager and a pestering little brother - well, we could be happier to have them home.