Not for the faint of heart.We played volleyball last night on the back lawn. It’s the second game in the last couple of weeks, and I have to say, extremely exciting. It’s funny what sort of things become so enjoyable when the most you get out is to hit the Library for storytime. What’s funny about the whole evening, though, is how much the kids were neglected…I mean they had complete free for all because none of the parents were willing to leave “the game” to be any sort of parental figure. First of all, Canyon created several, of what he calls, “ponds.” Which is really just a mud garden. So while the boys are getting stuck in the mud, the little girls and little boy are pouring orange juice all over the patio…shrieking with pure delight each time as they realize that NO ONE cares. The baby wildly sucks her thumb in the hope that eventually milk will come out of it and Lily…she’s taken a fascination in what the grown-ups are doing and becomes the score-keeper/ball girl. Things didn’t get much better when Grandma Laurie showed up. She took the little girls inside under the pretense of “watching” them (I have to admit, I did one responsible thing—I put the baby to bed). Oh, did I mention that Libby’s diaper just fell off, it was so full and everyone refused to change her.
Anyway, after the fifth and final game of volleyball (over only because the sun had been down for 30 minutes and we were straining our eyes beyond their capabilities) Belen and I came in to check on the kids that grandma was taking care of, fully expecting them to be in pajamas, bathed and all curled up on the couch while grandma reads “Goodnight Moon.” No, grandma’s on the couch looking for new bed sheets on the internet…the kids have full reign of the house and we go in the kitchen to find Alice and Jack happily crunching on waffles. “Who toasted these waffles for you?” “Yummy waffles, mommy, we eat waffles.” I touch the waffle to find out that they’re still frozen and as I gather up the little kids, around the house, we realize that each one of them has a waffle. Ah, so what? We had a great match. What’s more important? I mean, obviously the kids had just as much unsupervised fun as we did.
So join us next Friday night. I must warn you, though, if you’re a responsible parent, you might want to leave your kids at home.
