I love kids!!!

[bubbles]

I picked up my brother-in-law, niece and nephew at 7pm on Monday. The idea being that we would get to Yosemite by midnight. Which we might have, if they had been packed and ready to go. Or if it hadn't been pouring rain and snow and we didn't have to put the chains on. Or if the boys had been willing to stop playing in the road and get back in the car once I wrestled the stupid things on. I personally am of the belief that it is more fun to play in the snow when it is not 1am and there is not a snowplow barreling at you. Everyone is entitled to their beliefs, I suppose.

We got to sleep around 4am, after a 6-hour, 200-mile drive. My niece woke up maybe four hours later and chattered incessantly until I got up with her. She does that. It's very cute.

It's a good thing we got up early. I forgot how long it takes to get children out the door. We spent two hours eating breakfast and getting outfitted to play in the snow. Meaning I cooked, cleaned, and dressed the children while they played. Then we walked out to the field about thirty feet away. It took us almost half an hour.

We spent a similar amount of time building a snow fort in preparation for the big battle, then we proceeded to have the Greatest Snowball Fight Ever. We discovered that the snow was so deep, every tree less than ten feet tall was bent and buried under the snow. So we went tree climbing. Hiding under branches, using them as weapons, trying (with little success) to avoid pitfalls. I fell once with one leg on either side of a branch. The pointy end broke against my -- well, let me just say how glad I am not to be a guy. After an hour we were all soaked, frozen, and exhausted. Not to mention sore. I'm not mentioning it. I may mention how I was stuffing handfuls of snow down my pants, but the pain remains unspoken.

We went in to warm up and have lunch. Meaning I ran a bath, did laundry, cooked and cleaned. I was just thinking about eating myself when we were invited to go sledding. So we got outfitted again. Walked down to the store to buy sleds. Got sidetracked several times by (you guessed it) snow. Found the Bumpiest Toboggan Run Ever. I discovered that it hurts less if you bruise evenly. It started to get dark. We were going to go ice skating, but they closed the rink because of all the snow. :P So we threw snowballs at the frozen river, and dragged our sleds back home. Now that I think about it, I was the only one in our group who didn't carry a kid at some point as well. Ha. I didn't make dinner either.

My niece decided that we were having a slumber party, and talked a number of otherwise sane adults into joining us. I ended up playing Truth or Dare with a very *ahem* mixed group until 1am. Then my nephew talked me into a quick game of checkers. Only he didn't technically know how to play. So I taught him. Then I realized that it was two o clock in the morning and everyone else was asleep. I wiped him out and went to bed. After cleaning the tv room, where we were having our "slumber party". After cleaning the kitchen. After cleaning myself. Well, somehow I got to bed before dawn. Which was perfect, as I was getting up at six. *rolls eyes* Whose idea was this again?

Just kidding. It was all worth it. Pounds and potatoes. Whatever that means.

Comments

[nonnierms.livejournal.com]

LOL despite the massive amounts of cleaning you got stuck with, it still sounds like you had fun :p next time, though, make your brother-in-law do the cooking and cleaning ;)

[gradeafan.livejournal.com]

Good times with the family!!

g

[bubbles79.livejournal.com]

:D That would be a heck of a birthday present! See, we promised him we'd take him snowboarding for his birthday if he got himself up here in time. We did end up asking him to babysit, but we were trying to make it more like a gift and less like a chore. So the chores fell to me. [Damn it. I'm always the last to say "Not me"!] I did have loads of fun. Even with the cleaning.

Re: Good times!

[bubbles79.livejournal.com]

Woo Hoo! That's only Day 1!