This weekend, E. and I went over to Wenatchee to spend some time with my grandparents, cousins, uncles and aunts. You could call it an impromtu family reunion, but with only half the family. Most importantly, my husband was missing, He was missing because, as he is every weekend, he was working. And as is true on every holiday weekend, he was working all of the hours of the days of the weekend.
And so we went to Wenatchee to spend time with the cousins, the aunts, the uncles and the grandparents.
The entire drive to Wenatchee, E. asked me how much longer, were we almost there, and when would we get to see the cousins?
You see, my uncle and aunt were tweens when I came into the world, so to me, they've always just been more like really really cool older siblings. Accordingly, my Uncle's youngest daughter is only three months older than E. and when they are together the volume in the surrounding area increases exponentially.
Aside from BBQ's, a Spaghetti dinner and playing "what not to wear" @ Macy's with my aunts, the other major event of this weekend as a "girl's only" campout in my grandmother's backyard. My daughter, My Aunts, My Uncle & Aunt's three daughters, and myself all crawled into my Uncle's 10-man tent. We had sleeping bags, sleeping mats and a herd of small children. It was fun, but I learned a few things about myself and about backyard camping:
1.) I am no longer able to sleep on the ground. I can lay on the ground, I can talk and tell stories and giggle on the ground, but even with an inflated sleeping mat, sleep is not something I can do.
2.) Even though they will be beside themselves with excitement about the prospect of camping, the children will be the first to fall asleep.
3.) We (the adults) should have brought wine, a deck of cards and a lantern into the tent. Going to bed @ 8:30 was practical, thinking the girls would be up forever. When they were all asleep by 9 however, we felt kind of silly just lying there waiting for darkness and sleep....which never came for some of us.
4.) I always knew my daughter sleeps sideways and possibly upside down, what I didn't know was my 7 year-old cousin also does this; especially when lying beside me. I had little legs and arms (from both girls) flopped across me the entire night. This could have had something to do with the lack of sleep.
5.) Children become heavier at night. Even little 30 and 40 pounders somehow weigh as much as an adult when you try to "re-position" them on their own sleeping mat and off your face.
6.) If your Uncle/brother/spouse says "there's NO WAY you girls are going to stay in that tent all night," you will stay in the tent, even if you can't sleep. Even if the wind is blowing so hard, the tent is folding into your face, you will stay, just to prove him wrong.
7.) Little girls tell great stories.
8.) The built-in "small child alarm" works outdoors too. In fact, they wake up even earlier, since the sun is pouring in.
9.) The sound of little girls giggling is one of the best sounds in the world; I wish I could bottle it.
10.) I hope this becomes an annual tradition, although next year, I'm bringing a cot. And wine.
