A/N This year has not been very good to us, here in my household. But, this month has been a really wild ride, and not in a good way, especially these last two weeks. My computer had been acting up, but I was able to keep on turning out chapters by babying it a little bit. However, starting about three weeks ago, it started rebooting by itself (this was in addition to the lost hard drive sectors and I/O problems I'd been having). It's not really surprising as it's over 10 years old (a 2012 iMac).

So, I bought a monitor, thinking if it finally died, I'd use my MacBook Air with a keyboard and mouse attached until I got around to figuring out how to spec out a new computer (I was thinking about a Mac Mini). I updated the OS, switched a few things around, and got ready to use it. But, it turned out to be too underpowered and without enough ports to use as my main computer. Again, not really surprising as I bought it simply to do some writing and edit pictures while I was traveling, so I didn't plan out ports and only had a 128 GB hard drive, with 121 GB used. So, I'm left with using my I/O degraded, hard drive sector missing, self rebooting iMac, which is far from ideal.

Two weeks ago, I planned to finish up the chapter and start looking at new computers, but after two and a half years, two shots, and two boosters, Covid finally caught up with me. Actually, my whole household caught it, making it a rough two weeks (I was only down for about 2.5 days), but my wife and daughter were down but I managed to get the chapter finished. Getting the chapter finished allowed me to look into computers and I now have a new Mac Studio on order, so this chapter is the last writing I will do on my iMac, the computer I've written all of my stories on (with bits and pieces on the Mac Air). There's more to the computer story (like losing all my story files), but this A/N is long enough, for now, and maybe next month I'll give you a brief account of the whole year. Enjoy.

Chapter 5 Mom and Dad Arrive

3 August 11:45 AM

Leonard and Penny were waiting for Wyatt and Susan at a table in the Starbucks near the Terminal 2 baggage claim. Wyatt had texted Penny about 15 minutes ago that they were getting off of the plane and Leonard had figured this was the best place to wait since security prevented them from being at the gate when they got off of the plane. Leonard had chosen this Starbucks, because the baggage claim carousel, for her parent's Delta flight, was visible from here. Penny had instructed her parents on how to get to the carousel and, from their vantage point, she and Leonard would be able to see them, when they arrived. Penny imagined they would be tired. Their plane had left at 8:25 this morning, but they had been up at 5 AM, so they could get to the airport on time. While it was 11:45 here now, it was 1:45 for their internal clocks and Penny knew, at their ages, they both took naps in the mid-afternoon.

Penny could see her parents walking toward them, so she and Leonard gathered up their things and walked out. The four of them met halfway between the ends of the carousel. Penny hugged her father while Leonard hugged Susan. Then they switched with Penny hugging her mother while Leonard shook Wyatt's hand. There was some small talk, asking how the flight had been and if they were tired from the flight. Wyatt had said the flight was good, but he wasn't tired, while Susan said she was looking forward to a nap.

The carousel started moving and their bags were soon gathered and the four of them headed to parking. They put their bags in the trunk of Leonard's car, with Penny and Susan sitting in the back while Wyatt sat in the front with Leonard. Susan and, although he denied being tired, Wyatt, were yawning and Penny suggested they get a nap in on the way home. After all, it was going to be about an hour's drive, and this way they wouldn't need a nap once they got home. Susan thought that was a good idea and she used her neck pillow and was soon asleep.

Wyatt continued to yawn and Penny said, "Daddy, why not recline your seat a bit and take a nap? You were up early, after all."

"I don't need a nap, Penny," said Wyatt a bit testily. "I know I don't sleep in until noon like you used to, but that doesn't mean I need a nap. Besides, I'm up early every day as it is, I do run a farm you know."

"That's kind of crappy of you to bring up I used to sleep in," said Penny. "These days, I get up every morning at six to feed the twins and…"

"Wyatt, just recline the seat a bit," said Leonard. "There isn't much to see along the way, right now. So just relax, and lean the seat back."

"That sounds like a good idea. Just relax a bit, not because I'm tired," said Wyatt, looking back at Penny. Wyatt reclined the back of the seat a bit and within five minutes, Leonard and Penny could hear him softly snoring.

He could feel a poke in the back of his head, "Sure, he would do it for you," said Penny softly.

Leonard chuckled and said, also softly, "I can't help it he's my best bud. Besides, he wasn't going to give in and neither would you because you are both stubborn and you both would have kept going round and round. He never would have gotten a nap and at least, this way, I gave him a way out, he took it."

"Yeah, ok, I'll give you that," said Penny.

"So, what are the plans for the week?" asked Leonard. "You said you wanted to wait until they got here."

"Yeah, I had an idea, but I needed to know my dad's plans," said Penny. "I know a few things now, so today, we aren't doing anything. Let them recover a bit. Tomorrow, my dad's got a meeting for his co-op's sales sometime in the morning. Thursday is Disneyland and you have your meeting on Friday and my dad may have another. As for the weekend, I don't know. Maybe some sightseeing, as mom didn't see much when they were here for the wedding."

Leonard considered this for a moment, "That sounds good to me. I assume the times you didn't mention will be us going out with them?"

"It depends, Leonard," said Penny. "They may not want to go out all that much. I have a feeling they will both want to hang around and spend time with the twins. We will also have to think about the twins' schedules when we take them out. I have a feeling it's going to be by the seat of our pants on when and where we go out."

"Yeah, you're right there," said Leonard. "Okay, we'll just call it being spontaneous and let it go. During the day, we'll at least have Louise there."

"That's true, and she'll be a big help if we need to leave them at home," said Penny. "Well, I'm going to fall asleep too. I wasn't kidding when I said I was up early with the twins."

Leonard chuckled, "Okay, you go to sleep, and I'll drive. If everyone is still asleep, I'll wake you up around the time we get to Pasadena, then you can wake up your parents."

"Okay with me, just shut up and let me sleep," said Penny.

Leonard smiled, but didn't say anything, he just kept driving and five minutes later he could hear three different people gently snoring.

3 August 1:30 PM

Leonard woke Penny up as they were going by Warner Brothers' Studios. Penny then woke her parents as Leonard planned to stop at the Glendale In-and-Out Burger for lunch. He had remembered that both of Penny's parents had enjoyed it when they came for their wedding. Leonard did stop and they all ate lunch before finishing the trip to their house in Altadena.

Upon arriving at the house, Leonard and Penny introduced Louise, but for Wyatt and Susan, the big attraction was the twins. While her parents made a fuss over them, Leonard had made several trips carrying their luggage up to the guest room. When he had finished he used his asthma inhaler before he rejoined the group and found they were still gushing over the two little girls.

He asked if they wanted to wash up and although they wanted to stay with the babies, they both also wanted to clean up. Penny led them up the stairs, to their room, and also showed them the bathroom they would use while they were there. She then came down and, as the babies were fussy, started feeding them. Penny's mom came down first and wanted to help. Penny told her that she could burp and change them, once they finished eating. Her dad came down next, looked at Penny, and walked to the kitchen. Leonard could see he looked uncomfortable and thinking he knew why Wyatt was uncomfortable, followed him into the kitchen.

As he entered he said, "Want a beer, Wyatt."

"Yes, I would," said Wyatt.

Leonard noticed Wyatt was sitting at the island, looking at the back door, so he said, "Something wrong, Wyatt?"

Wyatt hemmed and hawed for a bit before saying, "I know it's supposed to be natural and all, but I just don't feel right watching my daughter with her boobs out."

Leonard chuckled, "I can understand that, sir. But, I…"

"Son, you know better than that," said Wyatt disapprovingly. "You call me Wyatt."

Leonard nodded, "Well, Wyatt, you think of her as your daughter, so I get where you might feel uncomfortable, but she does have to feed the twins. Of course," said Leonard with a grin, "I really like it, but then, after all, she's is my wife. How about I take you around the house, so you don't have to be in there while she feeds them?"

Wyatt grimaced, then grinned, "Yeah, yeah, you're her husband I get why you enjoy it. A tour sounds good, Leonard,"

"Well, grab your beer and I'll give you the Cook's tour," said Leonard.

With that, Leonard took Wyatt out in the garage, then back upstairs. Wyatt was impressed with the master suite and how much room they had. Leonard brought him back down the stairs and showed him the downstairs bedroom and explained how it was for Louise if she stayed late. He then took Wyatt out to the kitchen and after finishing there, out to the backyard. He then led him along the side of the house, pointing out his friend Howard's house, before getting to the front yard. They looked around the front yard before entering the front door. Finding the twins had been laid down for their nap, Wyatt sat in the living room, with Penny, Louise, and Susan. While Leonard went to the kitchen to get Wyatt another beer while Penny asked Susan if she would like a tour of the house. She declined saying she was comfortable right now and had seen most of it already. Leonard returned with a beer for Wyatt and himself, before he sat down next to Penny.

"This is really some place you have here," said Wyatt. "It must have set you back quite a bit."

"Actually, daddy, we got a real good deal on it," said Penny. She looked at Leonard and he nodded slightly, so she continued, "It was just under a million."

Susan gasped, "How much?"

"Just under a million," said Penny "That's what houses go for out here. We didn't want to stay in the apartment with twins, so we needed a house."

"But your payments must be outrageous," said Susan.

"Not really, we can handle it," said Penny.

"Well, I'm just glad you got my grandbabies in a house without wheels," said Wyatt.

Susan nodded, "This is a real nice place, you must be doing very well Leonard."

Leonard could see Penny clench her jaw, so he jumped in, "Actually, Susan, Penny contributed much more than me in qualifying for the loan, she makes quite a bit more than I do."

"Really?" Said Susan.

"Oh, yes," said Leonard. "Your daughter, until her promotion, was the best salesperson in her company. Of course, she's off now, until the end of October."

Penny wanted to avoid that particular subject, so she said, "So, daddy, what time do you have to see about your sales?" asked Penny.

"Tomorrow," said Wyatt. "I have to go into LA to the Japanese Consulate to meet with their trade delegation to arrange some sales. Our co-op has a lot of soybeans to sell, and the Japanese import most of their soybeans from the US. I, and a few others of our co-op, are scheduled to meet their representatives around 10 AM."

"Do you have any other days you have to meet with someone?" asked Leonard.

"I may have to if things don't go well with the first group on Tuesday," said Wyatt. "That would be on Friday, but I don't have a time yet."

"That's good daddy," said Penny. "We want to take you and mom to Disneyland on Thursday."

Penny's mom became excited, "Really? I was hoping we could go. I've been a Disney fan my whole life and I didn't think I'd ever get a chance to visit there."

"Well, Leonard and I have been there many times," said Penny. "We'll take you and you can just enjoy yourselves. You should look it up, online, and if there is somewhere, in particular, you want to go, in the park, we can show you around."

Leonard had a question, but was a bit worried about asking it. He and Penny had never actually discussed it, but he finally gathered up his courage and said, "Wyatt, Susan, can I ask a question?"

"Sure you can," said Wyatt.

"I was wondering why you didn't come out right after the baby was born?" said Leonard.

Wyatt and Susan smiled. He turned to Penny and saw her smiling also. He turned back to Susan and Wyatt and said, "Ok, what did I miss?"

"You really didn't miss anything, Leonard," said Wyatt. "You've just never worked on a farm. It's not that we didn't want to come out here, we just had some things to do, meetings to go to, work to finish before we could travel."

"What do you mean?" Asked Leonard.

"See, at this time of year, we have a very small window to travel," said Wyatt. "Before coming out here we had to have meetings with the co-op to determine how much short or over we would be. Then we prepared for discussions about rebates if we were short or how much to ask for any extra we have. In July, we have to start getting the harvesting equipment ready. And, with corn and soybeans, being harvested, that's several different pieces of equipment. And, we have to do all that, while still adding fertilizer, weeding the fields, and doing the other chores we have on the farm."

"We also have to watch the crops and adjust water based on the rain we get," said Wyatt, who smiled, "Since Randall cleaned up a few years ago, he's put in a lot of work around the farm. But, he still doesn't have a good grasp on water requirements, so I do that. I'll be talking with Randall every day while we're here. See, we have to check how much rain we got, then calculate how much we have to water. With all that, we couldn't get here much earlier than we did. We only have about a three-week window. We'll have to start harvesting the soybeans around the third week of August, so by the time we get back, we only have about two weeks before that starts. And, depending on the weather, it could be a week earlier."

"We have about two and a half weeks to get the harvest in, before we have to start changing the equipment over to do our corn harvest. And that's also the time to arrange sales of our small amount of dairy, beef, and pork. Late summer and most of the fall are a very busy time on a farm in the Midwest, Leonard. And, before you ask, Susan will also be busy with the harvest. Everyone on the farm has to work to get the harvest in. So as much as we wanted to be here, we just couldn't make it."

"I'm sorry," said Leonard. "But, you're right, I didn't know anything about a farm."

With a wicked grin on her face, Penny said, "You could have asked me."

Leonard winced, "You're right, I could have. I'm sorry. Now, if you'll excuse me, the three of you got naps on the drive back from the airport. I didn't and I'll need one before dinner tonight."

He turned to Wyatt, "Wyatt, I know you like steak, so we have a reservation, for six PM, at one of the best steakhouses in Pasadena for dinner. They also have some very good seafood, 'cause I know Susan likes that. Louise is staying late to watch the twins so we can take our time. I know we have a lot of time, but just wanted to let you know, so you can get ready. But, for now, I'm off to get my nap."