Cousins

Our niece Zoe and nephew Xavier came for a 5-day visit last week, and we had a blast. It was so much fun to have them on our turf, all by themselves, for a spell. Their mom, my sister, moved away from our home state of New Jersey a few years ago, which means that when we take our trips "back home," I don't get to see Caity and the kids. It's been a while since we've been able to really reconnect with Zoe and Xavier, so I decided to remedy that by bringing them out here.

First things first: They're both tall. Xavier, 12, is already an inch taller than me, and Zoe, 10, is not far behind. Not cool. My kids have agreed to never outgrow me, and for that I thank them. They're also both very smart, very sassy, and very funny. I'm still giggling from this exchange:

Me: I'll be right back. I have to go to the bathroom.

Zoe: You go to the bathroom a lot.

Xavier: Old ladies always go to the bathroom a lot.

Me: Hey! I'm not even that old!

Xavier: Yeah, I bet the word "ye" doesn't think it's old either.

It was a week of all sorts of zingers, but my ego is slowly recovering. Sidamo and Nora had so much fun with their cousins and luckily are still too young to pick up on any of the making-fun-of-mommy behaviors.

We did all sorts of fun things (the zoo, the nature/science museum, horseback riding—pics below, an amusement park, etc.) but their favorite thing was visiting our friends with eight children and a Wii. Their least favorite things: eating vegetables and walking places instead of driving.

Zoe loves horses, so we took a trip up to Karolyn's house to ride Beau. He was, as always, a great sport. Zoe was a natural. She and Nora will have lots to bond over in a few years.

Sidamo's angry about something. Xavier is trying to cheer him up.

Seems to have worked.

We were sad to see the cousins go at the end of their visit, but we're hoping to get to visit them sometime soon. I do wish we lived closer to my now-scattered family so the cousins could grow up involved in each other's lives. Sometimes the world is just a little too big.