Adventures with Cousins

Jeff's brother and his family came to visit a few weeks ago. We showed them one of our favorite parks that we knew would be fun for the kids. It turned out the dads had just as much fun as all the little boys. We also went to the zoo and we had a campfire. It was so great to get to spend a few days with them!

One of my motherhood low points of the year was when I forgot Lincoln's shoes when we went up into the mountains to have a campfire. I had high hopes we could maybe just keep him strapped in the stroller to avoid the occasional broken beer bottle or sliced aluminum cans littering the campsite, but baby had other ideas. 

The good news is his socks provided a good enough shield from the pokiness of the wild and Lincoln seemed to have just as much fun without shoes as he would have had with shoes. 

Ben proved to be just the guy to bring along for a camp fire. Not only does he know how to start a fire in a flash, he is also certified to determine whether or not your son has a concussion after said son putts a little too much trust in the stability of a camp chair perched on a hill and flies backwards with the back of his head directly hitting a pointy rock. 

Eli was a little shaken up and had a little bit of a goose egg, but other than that he checked out alright. In no time the fire was a blazing. 

We had the perfect little campsite with a  stream nearby for the boys to frolic through. Every time I glanced over at them I would find myself contently smiling at them and thinking, THIS is summer. Cousins, water, outside, fire, family, chips, s'mores, rock throwing, green, laughing, exploring, dirt, all of it! It was my dream summer evening. 

By the end of the excursion everyone was dirty and tired, so you know we had a lot of fun!

We spent one day at Hogle Zoo. It should be noted that we nonchalantly discussed whether to go to Hogle Zoo on Monday or Tuesday. We ultimately picked Monday for no obvious reason other than that seemingly insignificant decision ended up SAVING OUR LIVES. I checked the news Tuesday afternoon and saw that a leopard had escaped from its cage on Tuesday! We were one small decision away from being eaten alive by an uncaged, oversized cat. I have no doubts that cat spent the entire day we were there plotting his intricate escape plan. I also have no doubts that if we were there on Tuesday and the cat didn't get to me first, the claustrophobia would have after being crammed in a gift shop for an hour and a half with 3 little screaming people. Thankfully, we all survived the zoo without an uncaged cat-astrophe. 

If you want to know what it feels like to be a caged leopard desperate to escape, go ahead and visit the bird show. Because once you sit down for the bird show, they don't let you leave. Even if you have a 18-month-old who is D-O-N-E with the show and screaming his head off, they WILL NOT let you go lest the sight of someone standing up sends Alfonzo the bird flying in the wrong direction and the whole show is shot. With each signal of distress expressed by my baby, and with every creep I attempted to make towards the exit, I had a 16-year-old intern whisper to me that I wasn't allowed to stand up no matter what and to just sit tight, paying no mind to the little animal I had in my lap flapping and flailing around with more vigor than the birds holding us captive. So yeah, Leopard. I get the feeling of needing to hop outside the box for a little breather. 

Eli loved showing us around because he had just been to the zoo on a field trip so he was our designated tour guide. 

We made our way back to the house for a popsicle refresher after a hot day. 

I feel the need to mention the gigantic bump on Lincoln's head is a MOSQUITO BITE! What?!? Can one be allergic to mosquitos? He got a bite right below his eye shortly after this and his whole eye swelled up so much he could barely see. 

We played a bit at the house and then it was time to send the cousins on their way. It was so great to have them!