This weekend the kids and I headed out-of-town to visit my cousins Annie and Megan. My cousin Deirdre joined us for the trip, which made for a fun mini reunion.
We got to their farm around five, which meant we had a few hours to hang out before the kids went to bed and the grown ups started enjoying cocktails. After the four-hour trip we were all pretty worn out.
The next morning we were ready to have some fun. It was a sunny day, something we hadn’t had in weeks. We had coffee in the sun on the front porch while the kids played. It was very relaxing.
The weather was so nice we ended up spending most of the day outside. It was so nice to be able to be out in the fresh air.
The kids liked petting the cats.
Audrey really liked crawling onto the roof of the hog house. She thought she was pretty darn cool. Elliot was not pleased that I wouldn’t let him climb up. I feel like 2 is too young to be climbing on top of buildings.
My cousin Megan has a 4-year-old and a 5-year-old. My kids loved having them to play with. They were really good at showing the kids around and sharing their toys too. If Audrey wanted to see something, like a big tractor, Eloise would take her hand and show her where it was.
They had a wonderful time playing. Elliot really liked going to see the pigs.
He also liked riding on Uncle Patrick’s old horse.
My Uncle Dan took the kids for a ride in his farm jeep thingy. 
Then Audrey decided she was a big shot and wanted to ride in the back. 
Both kids enjoyed playing on flatbed trailers. Audrey’s greatest joy was kicking cats off of the trailers. Not like a sociopath, it was a gentle kick. 
All day we kept a small fire going. It was nice to rest by the fire and have a nice chat. We ended up eating dinner around the fire. It was incredibly relaxing. The kids were playing. The grown ups were talking. It was such great night. It was the perfect ending to a lovely day.
This morning we woke up and the weather had changed. We drove home through snow for the first hour. I didn’t want to see snow until December.
It was a great weekend, and now I am counting down the minutes until I can tuck the kids in so I can go to bed. I hope you had a good weekend too.
We had a picnic dinner. This big guy fell off of the top stair of the camper. He is fine, but for a minute there I was terrified (so was he).
He just needed some extra snuggles.
Once Elliot felt better we sat around the fire.
Elliot and Bryan had a nice little chat.
The kids had s’mores. They were all fans.
After the fire we put the kids to bed. Then my kids were absolutely crazy and Elliot is no longer allowed to camp until he is 4 and I thought they would never sleep. It sucked. I am not taking them both camping at the same time next year. If I tell you I’m taking them camping please remind me of this blog post. Audrey and Elliot were so naughty I grounded them from the Laurie Berkner Band for two weeks. Are they too young to understand a punishment that long? Absolutley. I’m already feeling guilty about that, but not guilty enough to listen to anything but my music on the way home.
We headed home after the playground. It was a 4 hour drive. Both kids were exhausted. Neither child napped. I’m now going to make a cup of tea and try to forget the bad parts of the trip and focus on the fun parts.
mildlygranola 