Vacation Over-- Now Back To Work

(sound of whip lash in background)

My in-laws' visit was great! The visit to the opera was a whirlwind, since the opera they wanted to see was only going to be playing on the night they arrived. They hurried into town, got dressed up, dropped off Little Cousin and picked up Favorite Husband, and left. Little Cousin cried loudly until her father brought in her favorite dishtowel. The cousins got along well, with Tiny Princess entertaining Little Cousin; but evidently T.P. didn't think she was allowed to leave L.C. alone, so (as we discovered the next day) she used her wastebasket as a chamber pot. Other than that, which was easily cleaned up, the night was a success.

The next night we ate at Maddox, a local restaurant that offers high-quality meats, some organically grown. The kids each acquired an orange frisbee as part of their kids' meals.

We took them up to Bear Lake one afternoon and operated remote-control toy boats there. Sonshine managed to get himself completely covered in water and sand despite being prohibited from entering the water. He did all right, although he did have a freak-out moment when his frisbee landed in the lake, too far out for him to wade in. Not to worry, Favorite Husband rolled up his pants and fetched it back. Tiny Princess filled her frisbee with teeny tiny shells which she wanted to take home. I told her she could take the ten best shells.

All was going quite well and pleasantly until we decided to go home. Sonshine's socks, which he had not stuffed in his shoes as he's supposed to, blew away in the wind. We could only find one of them. Then F.H. decided to bring the van around to pick us up so we wouldn't have to bring the stroller back across the patch of soft tiny gravel (coarse sand?) that had bogged down the wheels. For some reason unknown to any but God, he decided to bring the van across the same patch of sand instead of on the more firmly packed but roundabout path, and found himself stuck there. Thanks to some good samaritans, we were able to get the van out after some digging with the frisbee and a lot of hard pushing.

We had a lot of fun at the Festival of the American West, although I had to endure the whining of the World's Cutest Kids, who are not so cute after having been forced to spend the entire summer with each other. Lately they have been fighting like cats and dogs, and the Festival was no exception. They fought over whether to ride ponies or get drinks first, whether to ride in the train or the wagon, whether to run this way or run that way, .... I'm about ready to get them a dog house and a scratching post.

At the Festival, Tiny Princess had a good time, but Sonshine managed to get splinters in both his middle fingers by attempting to hang off a rough wooden pole in the Native American performance arbor. One splinter went in pretty deep, so Favorite Husband and I spent several minutes holding his hand in the "bird" position picking it out with a pin while he screamed and squirmed. (Since I am trying to find things to be grateful for instead of griping, I am grateful that Sonshine did not wet his pants.) After band-aids, they both participated in the Native American dance and got dreamcatchers for prizes. Then we ate Navajo tacos for dinner and drank homemade root beer and sarsparilla. Bagel, as usual, sat quietly in his stroller except when he was nursing.

I'd been worried that the in-laws would find the place too "backwoods" compared to the Big City, but they really seemed to be refreshed by the lack of big-city-ness here. There was much overall enjoyment of the fresh air and sunshine and local color, and the in-laws have already made a list of the activities they'd like to do next time they visit. I'm really glad they like our area. We have some relatives who flat-out refuse to visit us out here. Sometimes it seems like all I ever hear from people who live here is how much they want to get out and live in a "real" city like the one my in-laws live in, so it's refreshing to see that some people other than me actually like to be here.