"Camp Aunt"

My sister has coined my day with her kids and mine as "Camp Aunt." The girls LOVE to spend the day with their cousins and I love having my niece and nephew for the day. For the most part the kids get along....always a hiccup here and there but a great day is typical for these four kids and me.

Today we went to see crocs, alligators, and tortoises. Um.....the kids were amazing. I was having heart failure . As you feed gators, they THRASH and BITE and look SCARY. No joke. Heart attack. After the kids fed tortoises, the gators, held snakes ( kill me now), held a bearded dragon (kill me now except I am already dead from the damn snakes) we headed to lunch. Burgers, fries, chicken nuggets, soda, - yeah...does anyone's aunt make them order the veggies??

After lunch we completed the Ivory soap experiment (see other blog). WHAT A DAMN MESS. HOLY HELL. SOAP EVERY WHERE. Sure the instructions suggest a minute, a minute in the half in the microwave, but we wanted to know what happened when you microwaved for two minutes. We wanted to know what happened when you added 1/4 of a cup, 3/4 of a cup, an entire bottle of water. I'll tell you what happens...MESS. MESS. MESS. Sure we laughed and everything was all fun and games until I had to clean that bubbly goopy ivory soapy shit up. MESS. FUN MESS, but MESS

Sponge bombs were next....kids are wet, sponges flying everywhere, kids laughing, and BAM, bomb in the ear, BAM bomb in the face, BAM bomb in the stomach.... "Kids, play nicely," I yell through the closed back door...there's no time for injuries, I am still cleaning ivory soap.

4 injuries later. I put on a movie. Do you know how long it takes for four kids ranging from 3 to 8 to agree on a fucking movie??? TOO LONG. You think they were trying to solve the middle east conflict. Come on kids, it is a movie!!! Hell, I cannot even tell you what they ended up choosing but I can tell you they had apple juice, ruffles, pretzels, and sea salt pita chips that caused a whine fest of "not fair I didnt get enough."

Even with the whining, the injuries, loading four kids in and out of the car, the tattling, the mess, the playroom looking like a category 5 hurricane went through, the whining, the tattling, the mess....I would not trade one minute of these special days with my niece and nephew and my girls. It is extremely special to have a FULL day with these kids, to foster their love for one another, to watch their eyes glow with excitement in everything we do, and to see the love in every hug. These four kids are phenomenal. Camp Aunt is always a great day.

And the mess....between the dog and myself, it'll get cleaned up.....one day.