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.