The Chocolate Lady

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Cousins

During my childhood, I was smothered with familial interactions, with aunts, uncles and cousins. I had a large extended family, and many of Grandma J's siblings and their children lived nearby. So, I have a lot of memories of time spent with family.....

Take for example, the many bike rides, SHARING THE BANANA SEAT, that I took.....all while under the age of 5.....and the driver of the bike with the baby? None other than Beach Bum when she was barely a teen. and I wont even try to describe the craziness of such a bike ride to a farmers house, where he chased us off his property for stealing the pomegranites off his tree.....when I wasnt even 5! Or, Aunt Julianne taking me to high school with her, I think just to show me off and use me as a novelty to win over the new foriegn exchange student that she had a crush on....

Good times, but anyways, I wont share them all now.....

But, my children do not have many local relatives to hang out with, no cousins, or aunts and uncles to put them in harms way. Nope....we are our own little California family. (Aunt Julianne and her crew do live 30 minutes away, but now we are talking 2nd generation....)

So it was a special treat, this past week, when my kids got to enjoy the company of their Colorado Cousins. They were so wound up with anticipation, that I thought they might take flight. They bounced around the house for days, asking ...every few minutes....."how many more minutes until our cousins are here?" This went on FOR DAYS!

When they finally came together, it was a wonderful moment. My kids were all over their cousins, whom they hadnt seen in over a year.

We immediately took Pooper and Beauty to the water park with T and Z. Ill admit, that Little One was left out of a lot of the festivities....due in part to her serious committment to napping.

The Fantastic Four hung out, splashed around, and had a great time. Beauty in particular, could not keep her self from clinging to Z....and, honestly, Pooper wasnt much different witih T....the touchy-feely-ness that my kids enjoy was in full force with their cousins. And, I dont think the cousins minded the love and attention.






Later, the kids enjoyed a BBQ together, Little One, in particular...just look at that face!




By night, we did fun things like set ourselves aflame....just kidding, we roasted marshmallows and savored s'mores.







We also enjoyed a snuggly slumber party each night. (that black stuff is my hurried attempt to cover up Beauty's panties.)




The time together was brief, less than 48 hours. Not enough for my kids, not nearly enough time with their cousins.

The last morning, before my kids headed off to swim team, they all gathered together for their "til we meet again" exchange, and spent the next 10 minutes with a flurry of hugs and kisses, and more hugs and kisses.









Goodbye cousins, we missed you as soon as you drove away.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

What gorgeous pictures! I love the cute BBQ one. Looks like Little One has enough hair to take advantage of some of the bling I included in her birthday package! Can't wait for those picures. How cute Z looks with Beauty! He is a fun kid, and so is Ty. I'm surprised you didn't put a link to their blog!
So glad your short visit with your Colorado cousins was fun...and don't forget Aunt Kelly, who just had a birthday!

Anonymous said...

Those pictures are gorgeous. Poor kids, bet they had a great 48 hours.

peace
#2

Anonymous said...

Wonderful memories, and fabulous photos! So good to see all your kids looking so grand. I cracked up at the second picture with roasted marshmallows, because there was Beauty, being Beauty, striking a pose meant for the end of the catwalk.

Karen B.

Pumpkin Delight (Kimberly) said...

Looks like fun! Lucky to have cousins that are the same age. Good times!

Anonymous said...

How fun! Those CO cousins need to get on top of their blogging. They don't keep us very up-to-date!

The Traveling Yogi said...

Thanks for leaving me a comment about my "award". July has been crazy and I feel like I've hardly been at home. I just updated on what we've been up to. Hopefully tomorrow I can blog again and announce my award and my picks! I feel special. :)

jlo said...

Cousins are the best! I have such fond memories of times with my cousins!!

Anonymous said...

well, we did all meet for lunch not too long ago with the cousins!

The Dorsey Boys said...

My mom has to share her pics with you. We had so much fun- the s'mores were soooo good!