Fourth Of July

6 Tents. 6 Dogs. 12 Adults. 19 kids. (10 Girls, 9 Boys.) 1 Grandma. 5 Dozen Doughnuts. 3 Dozen Ears of Corn. 7 ipods. One Bathroom.

Our house may still be lacking in almost everything that could make the weekend a success but we had a blast. (In the words of Jim Turnipseed "oh my God! what a blast I had in Seattle".) The families do not get together the way we used to when the kids were little. Lisa packs her two every year and heads (by plane) to be with family and that's how we used to be. Now months go by and although we all talk all the time, we don't get to hang out the way we'd like. We are holding on to our twice yearly get-togethers... Fourth of July and Thanksgiving. No matter how cliched it is our kids are growing up way too fast. Gene is the eldest kid at 14 and Aoife is the youngest at 18 months. We hit every age and stage in between. Our collective experience should mean we've got this child rearing thing all figured out, but we're all just muddling along jerry rigging and adjusting, three steps forward, one back. We are right on the brink of having a large mix of non-related teen aged boys and girls and that sure will be interesting. We can try to keep up the pretence that they are all related but I'm pretty sure that we aren't going to get away with it.

Gus was the only casualty of the weekend (surprisingly...???!!!) when the hatchback of my car was opened and he got smacked above the eye, splitting the skin open (in that spot nearly where nearly everyone has a scar, and Gus now has three). Terry and Lisa stuck him back together with superglue. There's a joke in there someplace........

Trent made Mojotos for everyone until he got bored sometime around Saturday afternoon and resigned as barman. (He won't be hired next year.)

I'm already making plans for next year's event. I've promised everyone at least ONE more bathroom.