Rocks
LJ gets his family to paint designs and inspirational sayings on rocks to hide around the local area. Labor Day Weekend to Columbus Day Weekend 2028.
"LJ, why are we taking a box of stones home from the beach?" Ziva pointed to the eight-inch cube box nearly filled to the top with pebbles collected from the tide line. Most of them were worn smooth by the ocean tides. All were between one and one half and three inches in diameter.
The almost seven-year-old ran over to his Ima, "Those are important for a project that I am going to start at home. We have to take them, please, Ima." He batted his best puppy eyes at his mother as the others watched from the driveway of the condo in Sea Isle City that belonged to Tim McGee's cousin.
Eleven-year-old Anthony snickered to his cousin and partner in pranks, "Yeah, dumb as a box of rocks fits here…" John grinned in reply.
The ten-year-old nudged his DiNozzo cousin, "I wonder how he got the box into the back of your van. It must be kinda heavy…"
LJ turned to the older boys, "I am not dumb as a box of rocks. And Abba helped me put the box in the van. So there!"
Ziva stepped between her sons, "What is your project, LJ?"
"I'm gonna get everyone to help me paint cute pictures or inspirational sayings on the rocks. Then I'll hide them around town, like in the flower beds at the library or by the gazebo at the Arts Center. That way people can find them and maybe have their day made better." The little boy glared at his older brother and cousin who were still snickering.
Tali appeared with her duffle to load in the cargo area, "Sort of like random acts of kindness. I think it's a great idea, and I'll help you, LJ."
"Thank you, Tali. Abba says that the box weighs about the same as me."
Tony stepped over to the rear of the van with his duffel, "Yep, about fifty pounds of rocks versus fifty-two pounds of LJ." He ruffled his youngest's hair with a smile, "I'll help decorate the rocks as well, kiddo."
Delilah rolled over to the DiNozzo van as Tim shut the rear hatch on the McGee minivan, "You know I'm not all that artistic, LJ, but I'll help also. Maybe I can be the one to spray the sealant on the finished rocks so you can make them weather resistant."
LJ high-fived his aunt, "It's a deal! Who else is on board?" He looked at his twin sisters, Anthony, and the McGee twins expectantly. "Uncle Tim?" the boy grinned at his uncle. "I think I have one hundred eighty-two stones if I counted correctly. I tried to keep count as I added them to the box."
As the child looked at his family members who had not already volunteered to help, he realized something. He turned to his mother, "Ima! You haven't offered to help yet." He batted his puppy eyes at Ziva and grinned his best DiNozzo grin at her.
Ziva smiled at her youngest, "I have an idea. How about we have a rock-painting party for your birthday? We can invite the whole family to help. That also gives us time to find the best paints to use and to buy supplies that we will need."
~Rocks~
The morning of the family party, LJ was awake before sunrise. He tried to be quiet until the rest of the family awoke, but it wasn't easy. He spent some of that time looking over the tubes of acrylic paint and the acrylic and oil-based paint markers that his Ima purchased for rock painting. He planned some of the rocks he wanted to paint, especially for the neighbors and for friends around town. The general idea was to hide the rocks for anyone to find, but LJ wanted to make sure certain people found their special rocks, like the ladybug he planned for Mrs. Carol down the street, the orange tabby cat for Miss Donna at the library, and the calico cat for Mrs. Dooley next door. He knew Rivka planned to make a horse face on one of her rocks for Ms. Ola at the farm where they bought fruit and vegetables. Tali was planning to make a music-themed rock for Mrs. Pearsall, her piano teacher, and a sunshine painted rock for Miss Sandie across the street. Beth had mentioned painting an ASL 'I love you' sign on a rock for Miss Tomi at gymnastics and one painted to look like a deer for Mrs. Doe, who lived next door to the McGees. Even Anthony planned to paint some of the rocks to look like basketballs.
"It's rock painting day! And my birthday party!" Almost seven-year-old LJ tried not to shout in the house in his excitement as the family prepared breakfast on the morning of Columbus Day. Ziva and Tony decided that the day before the boy's birthday would be the perfect day for the family party since nearly everyone had off from school or work.
Over the month between holidays, he'd added to his collection of rocks to be painted bringing the total number of rocks to just under two hundred fifty. Tony counted two hundred forty-eight the previous day when he and Ziva had laid them out on the tables on the deck to be rinsed with the garden hoses. Tali counted two hundred forty-nine smooth stones.
With twenty people coming to the cookout and party, Ziva figured about a dozen rocks per person to decorate. She knew some of the family would probably not paint that many, but the kids would most likely each paint more than their dozen. Delilah and Tim had offered to be the ones in charge of spray-painting the base coat and the sealing coat on each rock.
"Ima, when are people getting here for my party?" LJ watched his mother make pancakes for breakfast and tried to swipe some of the fruit from the bowl. He really loved strawberries and peaches, and Ima had a bowl full of both.
Ziva pushed her youngest's hand away from the bowl of fruit, "We told everyone to come between 1100 and 1200; I told you that yesterday when you asked the same question. Please leave the fruit for breakfast…"
"Two pieces? One strawberry and one peach slice… please?" he gave Ima his best puppy eyes.
"One of each. The rest are for breakfast for everybody."
"Toda, Ima!" LJ selected the largest strawberry he could find in the bowl and popped it into his mouth as he chose a peach slice. "Mmmm…"
After breakfast, LJ helped his parents set up the outside tables for rock painting, including taping disposable plastic coverings on all of them. As family arrived for the party and later meal, each one chose rocks to paint and staked out a painting area. The two Reeves' kids played with their toys from home, while their parents worked on some simple designs. Although Ellie tried to get Savannah to help, she lost interest fairly quickly. Jason was too young to paint, but he watched everyone from his playpen.
Tim tried his hand at making a design that resembled a computer memory card; with some help from LJ, it was actually passable. Delilah stuck to spraying the sealer on the finished rocks with the help of her husband.
Jimmy got creative with his stones and drew anatomical designs on several of them. All of the others agreed that the one he painted to resemble a brain was the favorite.
John made ten robot-themed rock paintings; Anthony had seven basketballs, three footballs, and two baseballs when he finished his designs.
Ziva decided that she would make butterflies on the eight rocks she chose to paint. Tony watched the others for a bit and then decided he would create emojis on each of the ten rocks in his pile to decorate.
While the painting was going on, Gibbs grilled the hamburgers and hot dogs so that each person could grab some food when taking a break from painting and designing. Everyone munched and painted until all of the stones had a design. As the others cleaned up the painting supplies and removed the plastic coverings from the tables, Ziva went inside to put the candles on LJ's cake.
She carried the sheet cake out to the deck and Tony lit the candles. After the family sang Happy birthday to the boy, he blew out his candles and made a wish.
"I wish that everybody who finds one of our painted rocks has a smile and a happy day just because!" LJ beamed at his family. "Thanks for helping me with the rock-painting!"