First Annual Cousins' Day!

I should probably start this out by saying that I'm a serious sucker and am easily fooled. At least that's the word on the street.

For the past week or so, Libby has been making plans to come and spend the day with us yesterday. I was thrilled--- a day with my sister is always just what the doctor ordered. She's been claiming to be "bored" since school is out, and we're very much interested in enjoying some time before baby Brooke arrives.

Yesterday morning, I started to wonder about a few things. First of all, why had Libby planned this visit so far in advance. Usually it's the day before when we're making plans to visit. And why had Jason been so interested in extra hamburger from Byerly's? Was it really because he's on vacation this coming week and wanted hamburgers for lunch? My brainstorm was that this little party was going to turn into a bit of a birthday bash with my parents since they'll be leaving to go on their Mediterranean cruise on Tuesday and will miss the big Megan-turns-30 birthday. (Not a big deal in my book, but we had talked a few times about them feeling bad to be missing it.) I woke Jason up and asked him if my parents were coming along with Libby to surprise me. He said "not that I know of" and then went back to sleep. So I dismissed the whole thing and went about preparing for Libby to arrive.

I had all sorts of things that we could do, and no one really seemed to be attempting to dissuade me. I suggested that we could take Joshua to Knoebels since it was such a nice day. Then I said that Libby and I could take Joshua to shop at a little country store and then make quick run to the mall. She didn't disagree, so off we went. We were attempting a little schedule restructuring with Joshua yesterday...attempting to get him to go to bed earlier than 11:00 pm by holding back his nap during the day. He went without a nap except for a quick 25 minute cat nap on the way home from the mall and so Libby and I stalled a bit coming home to stretch it out a few more minutes. I can hear some jokes starting before I even say this...but we took the VERY scenic route through Milton before coming home.

Jason greeted us in the garage and led me out back to see the "work" he'd been doing on the railings. I came around the corner to find Jeannine, Danaca, Stephanie and Stacie all waiting there saying "SURPRISE!" and "Happy Cousins Day!"

For longer than I can remember, I've been saying that I'd love nothing more than to have a Cousins' Day with the girls. We all have such fun together when we make the time to spend together, but it's so infrequent, and normally complicated by other family things that we're doing. So, this was a wonderful surprise. It all centered around a birthday surprise for me, but the surprise of getting to spend time with everyone was unbelievable. Jeannine made quite a sacrifice to be there- she and Joe were MOVING that day into a new house with some other complicated family circumstances at the same time. What a blessing that she came despite how stressed she must have been feeling. Danaca has just moved to New York, but gave up time in Gettysburg to make the trip. Stephanie came all the way from York, and Stacie came despite being in the midst of a major house building project. Libby had done a whole bunch of pre-planning and cooking, and had two big coolers full of food that she had prepared. The "extra" burgers hit the grill and we had a great supper and some good time together.

Joshua had a blast playing with everyone. We had one minor meltdown that landed us indoors to feed Josh while everyone else was on the porch, but once the sun went down a bit, Joshua very much enjoyed playing outside with everyone. Steph, Stacie and Danaca worked with him on his batting skills. Let's just say that there's more work to be done. Stephanie- our resident soccer extraordinaire- says that his kicking was pretty good. So we'll keep working on that. We had a blast with sidewalk chalk- hence the photos above. I'm sure our neighbors are appreciating the artwork in the driveway.

It all ended way too quickly for my liking, but with a promise that this was the First Annual Cousins' Day...not just a fluke. There's nothing more precious than family, and I've got to tell you, I'm one lucky girl to have the one that I do. Maybe it's the way we were raised and the way our parents were always focused on spending time together as a large, extended family. Maybe it's the fact that we all get along so well, giggle so much and love each other a whole lot, even though we're very different people who all live extremely different lives. And maybe we're just trying to hold on to that "Richard" tradition of being together, even when it's inconvenient and takes a lot of planning to do it. What was really special to me is that Jason and Libby coordinated to put all of this together. And it shows me just how well Jason really knows me and knows what's important to me. There couldn't have been a better surprise for me.

So, girls..... thanks is all I can say. I'll do the catering next year, but we WILL get together again. I have the 30 decorations that we'll continue to recycle as we all cycle through it. What an awesome day it was. Joshua slept like a brick last night. A good party will tire anyone out! And that it was.