Eight Isn't Enough!

  Sadly the Easter holiday has come and gone. I must say that bunny outdid himself this year. He brought and left us family’s number 1 and 2. That’s right. We are hosting a get together beyond belief. That only means one thing…LET THE INSANITY BEGIN!

  Family number 2 arrived Friday. For fun we will call them the Griswold’s, as in the infamous “Vacation” movies where Chevy Chase plays Clark Griswold. They are a wonderful family with eighteen and thirteen year old girls who never cease to make me laugh. They are the type of family that wherever they go that dark cloud follows them. Their cloud doesn’t carry rain or hail, no. Their cloud carries chaos! They can’t help it. Sadly, it is just a fact of their lives.

  Family number 1, (my mom, dad, and eleven year old niece) will arrive later today. Since Griswold is already taken we’ll call my family…Fun, because we put the fun in the word dysFUNction! See, the Griswold’s bring mostly laughter. The Fun’s sometime have me wanting to pull my hair out. No offense family, I’m sure I have you wanting to do the same thing at times.

  First let me explain a couple of things about me. I live a pretty quiet life. When the weather is conducive I like to open the window and listen to nature as I write. Sometimes, like now, I will even take the computer out on the porch and surf the internet or write. If I turn the television on it doesn’t involve cartoons, or for the volume to be on 70. I like long, hot showers. Once in a great while the radio will come on. My house is a three bedroom ranch. The smallest bedroom has been turned into a home office. Are you starting to get the picture of where I am going with this?

 For a couple of days we will pack nine people and three dogs into this house. It will be hectic and at times frustrating. The hot water will be at a minimum. Heck, everyone’s patience will be at a minimum. People will find their own spots to retreat to gather their own sanity. Then we will all take off in the morning for a Biiiiiigggg cabin in the Smoky Mountains , Tennessee. It has four bedrooms, and four bathroomsJ, with a pool table, hot tub and whatever else. It is here that I know I will inhale many stories of dysfunction for future blogs, because…well, we are dysfunction waiting to happen!   

  This morning I came into the house to hear my family plucking away at a guitar and ukulele. A little voice sang a pretty song as the chords hummed their tune. That was only after Griswold realized he left all his guitar picks at home and had to set out on a music store adventure. Later, mother and daughter one donned their black workout clothes and Housewives of Cheektowaga, NY sunglasses and set off for their afternoon exercise. Their walk didn’t last long as they realized the bugs flying at them were as big as saucers, which sent mother Griswold in a sprint back to the creature comforts of the screened in, air conditioned place they will call home for a couple of days. They decided in that twenty minute walk/run that they would never become country people.

  Don’t get me wrong, I would not trade them, or this time, for the world. They are my family and if they are strong enough to put up with me then I am lucky enough to have them. I love them wholeheartedly. 

Do you take vacations with your whole family? Do they turn into adventures, Griswold episodes, or just plain fun times? Was your Easter memorable?