Cat and Spence spent most of the morning helping their mama clean out the car from their trip earlier in the week to the zoo. Apparently Spence was able to smuggle sand from the zoo on their way back home. Ava didn't know but what he did but every square inch of her back seat on his side was filled with sand. Amy commented that the kids bathtub might be a little gritty because she hadn't been able to get all the grains to flow down the drain but Ava guessed she hadn't noticed she was transporting part of the Arabian Desert back home. As much money as it took to keep putting quarts in the vacuum at the carwash stand it would have been cheaper to buy one. When they had spent more than two hours at the business and they still hadn't started on the outside of the car Ava had an epiphany "Trade the car and just start over it will be less trouble" or sell it to a certain young lady that started this mess in the first place. Deciding that was the best course of action she put the two monsters to work wetting each other and sometimes the car.
For lunch Ava swore the twins to secrecy that should be guarded even upon pains of death, she allowed them to feed themselves while watching tv in the living room. Ashlee did not allow the children to take food beyond the confines of the dinning room table. Ever. Eating in the living room was unheard of even for Ava as far as her wife knew but what Ashlee didn't know kept Ava regularly fed and sexed. Spence and Cat begged for pizza but Ava knew two three year olds would not be able to keep tell tale stains off the rugs and furniture. They had to settle for chicken fingers without breading and definitely without dip. Spence was a bit perturbed by the lack of ketchup but soldiered on however Cat was visibly and vocally irate. There were certain things that pissed off the normally mellow girl. Disturbing her sleep was one and ruining her meal and lack of ketchup was a huge faux pas. She was appeased by the selection of The Princess and the Frog as the entertainment selection. By two Ava had the bags packed, the kids ready, and the house secured and was on her way to pick up Stino early from school. Stino was weird in that he loved school and only tried to avoid it if he was at death's door. He had been very upset that his mama was getting him early until they told him it was for the trip back to the farm. Not wanting to waste anytime Ava got the kids packed in the car and told them it was time to pick up Stino and they looked at each other in shock and howled and pulled on their safety straps. What the blue fuck?
"What's wrong with you two?"
"Walk mama."
"We wanna walk to get Stino"
Jimmy on a cracker! So she had unfasten the monsters and then firmly secured the straps on their backs. The first time she saw the twins walking around with Amy in matching monkey backpack she thought it was so cute she told them to start posing so she could take picture. Once she saw the dog leashes attached to their backs behind the monkey pack she was enraged. Who the hell did this bitch think she was to have her children leased like wild animals and had fired the girl on the spot. Ashlee came home and Ava related the story sure that her wife would be as upset as she had been but she didn't act as if she was angry at all and was confused why Ava was so angry. What had lit her flame was when Ava told her with asperity that she'd let Amy go. Oh that chapped her ass.
"Are you completely out of your mind. This girl came with five verifiable and creditable references. She is a hundred dollars cheaper a month than the last woman. The kids love her and she even cleans up after them. You are going to call her and kiss her ass until you've hired her back. She had a waiting list for God's sake! Unless she's chaining them to the furnace we're keeping her for as long as she lets us." It had taken another hundred and fifty a month and a shopping trip at the mall to get the girl back. Ava still refused to use the monkeys but after the twins hand eye and foot floor coordination took off when they turned thirty months Ava had been threatening to use the monkeys not only on outing but inside the house as well.
Getting Stino to agree to wait and do his homework until they came back on Sunday was a no go no way Jose so he did his work as Ava packed the still slightly sandy car with their bags. By the time she was finished he'd finished and she fixed him a snack of scrambled eggs and cheese as her explained to her the process of getting the eggs from the chickens to the store which he learned curtsey of the Discovery Channel. She loved her kids equally but there was no way she was going to even breathe a word to that kid about eating in the living room. Ava was still paying for when he'd told Ashlee that Ava had let them eat a small slice of cake along with breakfast when Ashlee elected to go shopping with friends on Sunday instead of staying home with the family. The minute she walked into the living room after putting away Ashlee's thing she'd known something was up by the way Stino looked guiltily towards the ground and Ashlee looked as if she was going to kill her. No Stino eats at the breakfast table for sure. Ava was sure his abuela was training him to be a priest or something because he was so good. It was only their similarity in appearance that let her know he was indeed her kid. Those damn goody goody Rivera genes must have over powered his Spencer ones.
Ashlee came home shortly after and the twins refused to leave their post on her legs so she took a shower with the two still attached. Stino sat on toilet undressing as he told her abut his introduction to fractions and percentages. His mother was still a little fuzzy on that subject in math and she hoped that Ava or Amy were going to be responsible for helping him with his homework from now on. Somehow everyone got clean and no one fell down so Ashlee counted it a success.
"Are you guys still not ready? We've got to get on the road in a few minutes"
"Maybe I could get ready if you took Evel and Knievel and Chriss Angel over here"
"I told you once you get home my obligations to them are done." Taking in Ashlee's rolling eyes Ava huffed "Fine Bonnie and Clyde you two go to your room and try not to redirty yourselves before I get there. And Dillinger your clothes are on your bed. I'll come in help you after I finish with the kiddos. Check?" Three loud checks rang in the air as four naked bodies ran to three different rooms. Looking over her wife's damp and still flushed body Ava lasciviously announced "You are in such trouble once we drop off the kids tonight" and heard Ashlee answer back with "promises promises" on her way down the hall.
An hour later all three children and two adults were out the car, through security, and talking in the one of the airline's restaurants eating snacks as they waited to board the plane. Spence flirted as usual with the TSA women that got assigned to helping the couple through. Ava and Ashlee traveled so often that there was not much they needed but it was always good to get extra hands. His mothers noticed that Spence already had a defined type of chic. Black or white no concern to him neither did he care about old or young but he was enthralled by breasts. The bigger the better. One of the waitresses had a pair that looked barely believable and he had been silently watching her their entire time at the booth. Definitely a Spencer and there was no need to worry if this child was unduly influenced by their relationship clearly. There was another woman passing through security with two small children one a girl around the same size as Cat and a boy that was a few inches taller than Stino. Cat began a conversation with the girl and the parents soon found out they were headed towards the same gate with flights leaving within a few minutes of each other. There was still an hour wait and the three adults chatted as Ricky began to unbutton his shirt.
"Hey guy you need to use the potty?"
"No I'm showing Stino my muscles" the boy informed his mother and then the two started flexing as if they were trying out for the Mr Universe contest. They found out that Rose lived less than a mile from their subdivision and was flying the children out to her mother's while she worked with a team of lawyers on a deposition in Huston for the next two weeks. Numbers and email addresses were exchanged as they departed towards their individual flights. After they tore Spence from his enchanted gaze. "He had better not take after you or your mother" Ashlee warned.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean"
They had five relatively spacious seats assigned to them but only used three. Ava and Ashlee sat all three children in between their own seats but Cat immediately got out of her chair and climbed in with Stino as she did every time they flew and Spence sat with whichever parent had an isle seat so he could talk to the everyone who passed. Two hours and four lavatory trips later they were landing in O'Hare. Sprinting down the concourse and riding one of the trains they made it to their connecting flight and spent less than twenty minutes in the air before they were once again in Springfield. This was the only time that the kids freaked totally once they knew they were about to see their abuela and grandmothers and in short they Wigged. The fuck. Out.
"GRANDMA GRANDMA!!" "ABUELA ABUELA!!" they chanted as the other passengers looked on in fear.
"Calm down. I'm not going to say that again" but of course Ava said it maybe three more times before Ashlee announced she'd had enough and the next one to scream was going to spend the night at the hotel with them instead of spending the weekend with the grands and that settled them considerably.
Walking off the plane apologizing to people who the children ran to in their excitement to get to their grandmothers Ava talked to Natalia as her mother yelled in the background.
"We're fine just be safe getting here and try to keep mom from riding down the emergency lane" The airport was an hour away from the farmhouse and normally there was hardly any traffic during the middle of the week at that time of day but for some reason everyone and their girlfriend was on the road doing the minimum speed limit to the absolute frustration of Olivia and Doris who was stuck following behind her.
"Mom relax we just got off the plane. No they ate before we left New York. They are not hungry already. I think I know my kids mom I've had them their whole life. Fine they'll eat once we get to the farm. Mom if they ask me for something I'm going to give it to them but they aren't asking. Mom my battery is dying I'll talk to you when you get here" Ashlee said rolling her eyes closing the phone.
Smiling at her wife Ava asked "Are we there yet?"