Cousin Fun

We only get to see my nieces once a year. My Brown Eyed Girl and Mr Blue Eyes adore their cousins and miss them dearly in the time between visits. So when the girls do come home, we try to squeeze in as much fun as possible. Building childhood memories to get them through the space between their next adventure.

Over the Fourth, they brushed and rode PC.

PC is truly a "family horse."

She didn't even blink an eye as all four kids screamed their best "Yee-Haw!"

I just love those smiles!

And so you know, it takes three little girls to lead a horse to water. 

The rest of their visit was spent up at the cabin.

They practiced their casting and reeling skills off the deck in hopes of catching a big one this summer.

Old cabinet hinges to weigh down the lines - got to love Grandpas.

We went boating on the pontoon. 

Explored one of the islands on the lake.

Climbed rocks.

 

Splashed in the water.

Four cousins.

Laughing. Smiling. Building memories. 

 
And at the end of each day they left dark rings around the tub, evidence of a fun filled day.

Each year they get a little bit bigger, a little bit taller, but the smiles on their faces are always the same. 

We sure do with they lived closer so every day could be just like this. 

 

 

The Challenger

Once upon a time the Queen Bee bossed around the little Honey Bee. Several people kept telling her that one day the little Honey Bee was going to get bigger and not always want to do everything that the Queen Bee said. The Queen Bee laughed for that would truly never happen. She was the Queen Bee after all. Older. Bigger. Smarter than the little Honey Bee. The little Honey Bee would never challenge her.

Never say never my little Queen Bee.

Playing for hours with his cars just minding his own business. Ignore the Saturday morning disaster zone our living room often becomes.
All was peaceful as I sipped my coffee and curled up with a new book admiring my lovely children from across the room.

Peaceful until a bored and pestering Queen Bee had to come and toss a wrench in Mr Blue Eye's car time. Bossy pants, the Queen Bee moving his cars and delegating orders like a drill sergeant.

Well this little Honey Bee could care less how you think cars should be played. And he is bigger and smarter and done taking orders. The little Honey Bee is getting braver and more confident every day at challenging the Queen Bee and she HATES IT!

Stick to your guns Mr Blue Eyes, stick to your guns!

Hold your ground man! That's right put your hand on that hip, give her a stern look and don't let her push you around!

The Queen Bee does not like being told "No" by a mere little Honey Bee. 

She's really not sure how to handle him challenging her orders. 

Swoon! Oh my little Honey Bee! That's right she does look and act ridiculous sometimes. Keep smiling buddy! Let her have it!

Oh the tables they are a turning!

Playhouse

When I was a little girl, I dreamed of having a little playhouse like this in my back yard.

For years, my mother talked about this magnificent playhouse she wanted Rah Rah and I to have so that she could make cute little stained glass windows in it. Unfortunately, my dear old dad would have no part of building or buying his two beautiful, angelic daughters a playhouse of their own (yeah I am laying on the guilt trip Grandpop!) The closest thing Rah Rah and I ever had to a playhouse was our dog's old, chain link kennel in the backyard.

We would spend the better part of the morning picking up and scraping off dried dog poop from the kennel floor and sweeping away dirt, dog hair and spider webs just so we could tolerate playing out there. We would rummaging through our parents old paint sheets and rag towels and rob the clothes line of valuable clothes pins needed to pin the sheets to the sides of the chain link fence to create the walls our "playhouse" so desperately lacked. The old towels became carpeting and rungs so we could sit on the hard wood slats without getting dog poop on our play dresses. We would strip the lawn chairs of their cushions for something soft to lay down on and used the dog bowl up-side-down as a table.

I am sure the neighbors wondered if they should call social services a time or two...

None the less, we learned to be resourceful and creative and it was better than a card board box I would imagine. Except for the dog poop... that was pretty unsanitary. Pretty gross actually.

My Brown Eyed Girl is five. I have been begging Hand Man to build her a play house in the backyard for the better part of two years now. These precious short years are flying by us like shooting stars. I just don't want to miss our - her - window.

I absolutely refuse to force my kids to play house in a dog kennel or horse stall or chicken coup. I told Handy Man that THIS was the year and the playhouse was either getting built or bought but regardless, it was happening.

Now if we had two girls, you could bet a buck we'd have the cute little pink or purple house with the white shutters - and Grandma would be busy making stained glass windows. However, we have a very rough and tough blue eyed boy. I wanted to find something that could balance times when it was needed for playing house and the times the structure was needed to be a lookout post for pirate ships.

I searched online for months and we finally decided to build the kids this:

The Ceder Summit Mount Forest Lodge. A two story playhouse with little windows and shutters, a little door, cafe window, slide, crow's nest, climbing wall, substantial swings and not an ounce of chain link anywhere!

I loaded up the kids and we were off with the flatbed trailer to purchase our new playhouse and swing set combo! The set included five, very heavy, boxes and a gigantic green slide. 

Saturday morning Handy Man bustled out the door eager to have a new project to tackle. By the time I grabbed my coffee and met him outside there were boxes and ceder wood pieces everywhere! I felt a little nervous. Maybe we bit off more than we could chew?

I mean there was a whole box of just nuts and bolts and screws of every shape and size known to man!

 

Discarded to the side was the instruction manual and this instructional DVD on assembly. Of course Handy Man rolled his eyes and thought I was ridiculous to think he was going to watch that thing. He is Handy Man after all...

With a couple of helpers standing by we got down to business.

In order to gain some reassurance that Handy Man wasn't going to take any short cuts, I took over the instructional manual and let him handle the building.

Bit by bit we found the random pieces that were strewn across the better part of our yard amongst five boxes while scanning every little, tiny bag to ensure we were using the correct nut or screw. 

At this point I believe we had been assembling for three hours. 

After five hours, we had finally gotten to this point. Our Brown Eyed Girl growing impatient, she insisted on checking out her new digs right away. 

Before the main structure got too heavy to maneuver, we had to find the most level place in our yard - which there is not one. Handy Man had to use a couple of 2x4's to level out the structure. 

It was coming together. The kids were overwhelmed with anticipation, testing the door and peeping out the windows.

Every five minutes we were asked, "Is it almost done yet?"

After nearly a full days work and only half assembled, we called it quits for the day. We ran to the store and when we came home...

A small storm had rolled through and the wind had toppled over the playhouse. Broken dollar bills flashed before my eyes. I nervously went to access the damages.

For the most part, everything looked to have made it out unscathed. Had we positioned it a few more feet towards the little evergreen tree I think there would have been a casualty.

Five more hours on Sunday flying solo and Handy Man had finished the build. This included back digging around the base of the playhouse in order to assure that it would not be tipping over while it housed precious cargo.

The kids were in hog heaven!

Now we could even swing with the kids outside!

Mr Blue Eyes said the rock wall was his favorite. 

My Purple Princess THE Tangled was daydreaming about letting her long hair flow down from her tower. 

Seriously about 12 hours of assembly was worth the smile on their faces. And I haven't seen them inside the house in weeks!