And Then The Cousins Came

We have been a busy little family.  (“Little” is a word left open to personal interpretation.)

After swinging a lot and enjoying Beth and her beautiful girls for a too-short visit I received a crazy little e-mail.  It said something about a surprise and the name of our town and it was sent to me from my cousin Sherry.  (Sherry was the flower girl in my parent’s wedding.  I was the flower girl in Sherry and Willy’s wedding.  Their daughter was the flower girl in mine and Kevin’s wedding.  And we have plenty-o-daughters to be the flower girl in her Amber’s wedding.)

But back to the e-mail.

I don’t think I believed it at first.

Because it was so out of the blue.  So unexpected.  So . . . surprising.

After re-reading the message I realized the surprise part was about Sherry and Willy, two of my coolest cousins, being in our town.  Right then!

This is a Big Deal.  Sherry and Willy live far away – like 7 hours or more.  And they don’t travel that much.  At least not without their children.  In fact, Sherry confessed that this was the first trip they had ever made apart from their children.  (Uh.  You should maybe know – their “children” are both older than twenty now.)  So.  Yeah.  A Big Deal.

And they drove all the way down here.  To see us.

A Big Deal, I tell ya’.

And let me tell you something else.

When Sherry and Willy do decide to make a trip, they Make A Trip.

As in, they swooped in and made it impossible for our children to ever again forget the names of their cousins Sherry and Willy.

Because this is what they did  . . .

They invited all of the kids out to lunch.  And we went.

To Chuck E. Cheese.

Uh-huh.

And at Chuck E. Cheese they bought pizza and tokens galore.  (Tokens that the kids carried around and placed in carts and games and rides and stared, wide-mouthed, like children who have never left the farm or something.)

And as if that wasn’t enough, Sherry and Willy had another stop to make after that.

Toys-R-Us.

I’m not kidding.

And when the kids entered the store with its bright lights and towering merchandise, they asked The Question.

“Can we buy something?”

And the answer?

“Yes!”

It was like Christmas on crack around here, I am telling you.

Berg had his eye on an Ironman Transformer.  The girls chose Princess Barbies.

And there were celebrations all around.

Actually, it was a lot of fun.

Sure, fun to see the kids get excited about having their biggest kid wishes come true.

But also just so much fun to watch our cousins love on our kids.

And just for the record, Sherry and Willy, you guys are welcome back any time – even if your visit does not always include candy and games and toys!

We just love you and are honored to call you family!