Banana, Bologna and Peanuts

Back in the old days when I was a girl, summers and other holidays were often spent with my cousins - usually by way of some very patient and loving grandparents, aunts and uncles. These visits were often planned far in advance but just as many times, they were not.

A favorite 'stay over' maneuver was to wait until all the adults were clustered together hugging and saying good byes. We children used this time to stowaway, curling up on various car floor boards, our cousins topping us with their coats or feet in hopes no one would be missed us until we had traveled too far down the road to turn back. Since there were so many in my family we had an advantage over our cousins as one or two of us could make a break for it and often go unnoticed.

Bare in mind, this was long before car seats and seat belt laws - when kids rode wherever there was room or their parents allowed them to. There were 7 kids in our tribe and we sat just about everywhere but the luggage rack.

Often times, when we encountered passing cars gawking and counting heads, nothing tickled us more than to bob and weave enough to throw off any accurate tally. Understand this was before portable DVD players, we took our entertainment where we could get it.

While our stowaway schemes often failed, more often than not the attempt opened the door for family members to invite my brothers and I to stay with them a few days or in some cases weeks.

I remember these visits fondly as some of the richest and best of times of my childhood.

This summer our blond baby grand from St. Louis has come for a visit, a 3 week visit to be exact. Her stay coincides with Mr B's annual Canadian fishing trip and we could not be more thrilled. We are a little more than a week in and the girls and I have been having a blast!

As a rule, there are not many rules...well except maybe the one about not using the words banana, bologna and peanuts and truth be told, that rule is being broken every 6 hours or so.

Anyway, we have put away most of our 'to-do' lists, letting many household chores slide while meeting our primary daily goal: Fun, fun and more fun!

According to my girls...

So far, so good.