Except for the occasional fuss or gurgle from Everett, my house is quiet. This is a point worth noting, because it's the first time my house has been quiet in five days.
Last Thursday, my older sister, her husband, and their three children boarded a plane in Houston and headed West. After a delayed flight, an absolutely ridiculous rental-car debacle, and a quick stop at In & Out Burger, they made the two-and-a-half-hour drive from SFO to our house in Seaside. It was kind of late (okay, it was 9:15pm, but that's "late" by our standards these days) when they got here, but there was no shortage of ants in their pants or volume in their voices -- the kids, that is. You would have thought my sister fed them straight sugar for dinner! They were pretty rowdy. I guess it is kind of "cruel and unusual punishment" to put a five- and three-year-old on a plane for four hours, and then in a car for almost another three hours and expect them to be calm, quiet, and angelic the whole time. Fortunately, after a quick tour of the house and a hyper attempt at entertaining Everett, the kids realized just how tired they really were. Once sleeping arrangements were worked out, it was bedtime for all of us.
One of my favorite parts about their visit is that we got to eat bacon for breakfast every morning! I know that probably sounds silly. Jason and I try to limit our bacon intake, as we are both currently on a weight-loss mission, and we can usually do a pretty good job of convincing ourselves that oatmeal or scrambled egg whites are way more sensible than good ol' pork fat. But when you ask Matthew and Emma what they want for breakfast and their response is "eggs...and BACON...!" then that's what we get to have for breakfast. :)
My most favorite part about them coming to visit (or me going to Texas to visit them) is just getting to be "Auntie Stephie". I've loved being an aunt since the second Matthew was born, and now I'm an aunt three times over! Just recently, with the addition of Everett to our family, my older sister finally became an aunt for the first time. I can only imagine she would love to have all the one-on-one auntie-time with Everett that I had with Matthew when he was brand new. But because of our military lifestyle, we've learned to just enjoy the time we have with each other whenever we can manage it. Fortunately, these kids seem pretty forgiving when we go months between visits.
Not only do I get to be "auntie", but I also get to be "sister".... Amanda and I may not have always been close (well, we'll always be close in age at only 9.5 months apart, but our physical and emotional closeness has varied quite a bit over the years!), but the older we get, we seem to truly value our relationship as sisters. Especially now that we're both mothers, we have an even closer bond than before. It was nice to just spend time chatting and hanging out, babies bouncing in our laps. :)
So, I ask you, how do you entertain a five-year-old, a three-year-old, a six-month-old, and a three-and-a-half-month-old? Well, the babies are pretty easy to deal with -- just make sure they're fed and their diapers get changed, and they're pretty content. The other two are a whole different story! And even though I have a baby, my house is far from "well-equipped" when it comes to keeping the other kids entertained. Thankfully, we live in a community with a lot of playgrounds! And thankfully, I happen to live next door to a family with a four-year-old who is very generous with sharing her toys!
In addition to several trips to the park/playground, we spent one of their days here out-and-about in Monterey. We started our morning at First Awakenings for breakfast -- can you say "gigantic 'Banana-germ' pancake"...?!!! Then we headed to the Monterey Aquarium. I'm all for visiting the touristy hot-spots, but in the future I might rethink making this stop on a Saturday -- it was PACKED! There were hoards of running, shrieking children everywhere! Again, taking care of Everett and Hannah was pretty easy, but trying to keep track of and corral Matthew and Emma was quite an undertaking. After leaving the aquarium, despite the chilly, gray, hazy weather, we walked for a while along Cannery Row, making sure to stop at The Little Hat Shop before heading home. Dinner that night was sushi. (Oh, how I love sushi!!!) We deviated from our "norm" and went to Oh Sushi! instead of Crystalfish. The change of menu was kind of nice. And we all ordered sushi with reckless abandon. I'm sure the sushi chefs and other customers thought our indulgence was obscene...but I don't care. It was......awesome. :)
Unfortunately, the weather was never really great the whole time they were visiting. Still, like I said, we spent a fair amount of time outside. Sometimes, when it comes to kids expending their energy, you just have to suck it up, put on warm clothes, and get outdoors. Yesterday, their last day here, we went to Dennis the Menace Playground in Monterey. That park is pretty huge, and the "star attraction" is an old, giant Southern Pacific steam engine that the kids can climb and play on. Jeff did his best tag-teaming with Matthew and Emma while Amanda and I strolled the babies around the sidewalk. We weren't really there quite long enough to wear them out completely, but an hour-and-a-half was as long as I could stand to have Everett out in the gloomy weather. We came home, cleaned up the kids, turned on a movie to kill a little time, and then headed out to Lopez for Mexican food -- YUM!!! (A side note about Lopez: if you're set on ordering dessert, and you have fewer than eight people, only order ONE sopapilla! They're ginormous. And very delicioso.)
This morning was a little chaotic. Because of a noontime flight out of SFO, Jeff had to estimate between 2.5 and 3 hours for the drive through morning traffic to get there, which meant an 8:00/8:30 departure from our house. Jason got an early start on cooking the bacon (I'm telling you -- EVERY morning!), and I kept Everett calm and occupied so as not to wake the kiddos too soon. Once everyone was up, it was Amanda's job to get the kids dressed, and it was Jeff's job to get the suitcases ready to go. I packed a few snacks for Matthew and Emma, and Jason put together breakfast tacos that could be easily eaten in the car on the way to the airport. We took a few last-minute photos (there's just never enough time and never enough pictures...), gave each other hugs and kisses, and made promises of future visits. And just as suddenly as the noise and activity descended on this house five days ago...*snap*...it was gone, just like that.
I waved good-bye from my front porch as their rented minivan pulled away. I could instantly feel a hollow vacancy. It's strange -- as crazy as things seem with the kids bouncing off the walls, I sure do miss them when they're gone. I miss Amanda (and Jeff) and our sister-time. I miss watching Hannah grow. I miss getting to see all the new things Matthew and Emma are learning every day. I miss them getting to be a part of my and Jason's and Everett's lives. *sigh*
But y'know what...?
I kinda don't mind the peace and quiet. ;)
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