Quality time is exhausting

Portions of my family came to visit over the weekend. Because that's what my family does, I guess . . . the wives leave their husbands to fend for themselves on Father's Day. Curt seems to like this idea. I'm not sure I do. But it was nice to hang out with my family anyway. That is, until the adult members left me with nearly all of the kids for a few hours.

I jest. The kids were fine together. If you call constant "can I have some chips? cookies?, another Popsicle?, fill-in-the-blank?" every few minutes or so . . . along with cries from the littlest members of the tribe for being abused in some fashion, a "fine" time. Then it was fine.

Curt was busy with his friend Tiff finishing the second phase of the play structure (YES! It's complete! A separate blog entry for that one) so I was on my own to entertain the brood. Curt thinks I'm too accommodating. Perhaps he's right. I do know that I was exhausted Saturday afternoon and was wishing they would watch a movie or something, dammit. (And isn't it nice that Curt chose Father's Day weekend to finish the play structure for his girls. What a guy!)

The big hit of the afternoon (with the exception of climbing UP the Turbo Tube) was the Slip-n-Slide. I was very surprised that Paul (who's 6) didn't know what I was talking about. He had NO idea what a Slip-n-Slide was. Of course, that didn't stop him from exercising his "male-ness" on it. He was definitely the most aggressive. Vivian was only slightly amused. Much like Audrey used to be, she's not a fan of splashy things. If something sprays water, she's running the other way. She did enjoy the little pool of water that forms at the end of the slide, but that's about it. My favorite part was watching the smiles on people's faces as they drove by and saw the kids playing on it. I'm sure it brought back memories for everyone.

What really caught me off guard this weekend was how mature Audrey seemed to be. No . . . not that she's more mature than her cousins, but that her interests are changing. She's still her bossy, sometimes whiny self so that's not what I'm talking about. Once the intrigue of the Slip-n-Slide wore off, she decided that it would be a fine time to do some sun-bathing.

Sun-bathing??? Where did she even learn about this?

For the record, I HATE to sun-bathe. Although, I must admit that even I (with my red hair, white skin and freckles) used to lay out in the sun with baby oil when I was in high school. Oh man. I cringe to think about that now.

So, Audrey pulled out her towel and got comfortable in the sun. I must admit that it did look relaxing. What's happening to my little girl? Where is she going??? After a brief snooze in the sun, she got out a stack of fairy books to read while Paul played on his Nintendo DS. Hollie and Vivian decided to watch Cinderella.

Whew. Finally. A moment of peace. I get to sit and chill for a minute.

And then . . .

"Can I have some more chips?"