There's No Place Like Home...

Perhaps some of you have noticed that I've been rather...absent over the last few days. Or not. Anyway, I'm back now and I figured I could offer an explanation about where I've been, [whether you want to know or not].
I was in Idaho. Oh yes, you read that right. Mystical, magical, exotic Idaho. Apparently there's a tiny little town called Idaho City, and up in the mountains there is a campground called "Camp Pinetop." It was there, among the trees of Camp Pinetop in Idaho that I spent 4 days in the company of my extended family on my dad's side for our family reunion.
Grandma, Grandpa, Aunts, Uncles and cousins. I was surrounded by family. No I'm not complaining about that because my family is amazing. My siblings, cousins and I have all grown up spending time together every summer at our Grandparents' house, or at bigger family reunions. Now many of us are fully grown adults, some of us with spouses and children of our own. Our kids now play together at reunions. It's like my Grandma has always told us: Friends come and go, but family is forever.
One of the people who came to this reunion is my cousin JK. I haven't seen her in about 5 years, so I was really happy to see her there. When we were younger, JK and I were the best of friends. Every summer, from the time we were in elementary school through high school graduation, we were practically joined at the hip. We did everything together, from the moment my family arrived at Grandma's house until the moment we went home. And then, between reunions, we wrote letters (yes, letters, you know, those things with the paper, pens, envelopes and stamps?) on a weekly basis. I've actually kept all of her letters from those years, and while catching up this past weekend, I found out that she's kept all of my letters too.
It was interesting, seeing JK after all this time. We have both changed in many ways, but mostly we're very much the same as we were as kids. I loved seeing her there, and I really hope it won't be another 5 years before we meet again.
Camp Pinetop was a bit...well...rustic for my tastes. There were individual cabins with bunk beds that we slept in. There was no heat, A/C, or electricity in these little cabins. It was hard for me to get used to sleeping in a little cabin that had only screens in the windows and on the door. The first night we were there, I jumped at every rustle of the leaves, and every buzzing of bugs outside. I slept terribly.

Waking up the next morning, I felt the same way I always felt after a sleepover when I was a teenager. You know, that groggy, fluttery, exhausted feeling that can only come from getting less than 4 hours of sleep? Meeting up with everyone at breakfast though, I actually found that most of my fellow adult family members had slept as terribly as I had. Fortunately, it got better after that first night, and I was able to sleep reasonably well.
Our son, CT had the time of his life up at that campground. He was surrounded by kids who were his age, or one or two years younger. He spent nearly every moment of every day there running outside in the sun, hiking, swimming, and just being free. (As free as his paranoid mother would allow him to be, anyway. I'm actually pretty proud of how reasonable I was about letting him play. Ty and I barely saw him for more than a couple of hours per day--and that's including the time he spent asleep.) Of course, he found a way to slip and fall in the mud several times, dangerously depleting his already limited supply of clothes that I'd packed for the trip, but we managed because I'm an awesome paranoid mom that packed extra clothes. Ha! Take THAT mud puddles!
Our daughter spent the entire trip surrounded by admirers. She was practically the belle of the ball. Everyone adored her. There wasn't a single person--adult, teenager, or child--that wasn't immediately taken in by her charms. She spent almost every moment toddling around the air-conditioned lodge, gibbering in her 19-month-old way, or carried in the arms of some adoring aunt, uncle, grandparent, parent, or cousin. All in all, she was a hit [which, frankly, came as no surprise to her parents].
Ty and I spent much of our time talking to relatives, playing card games, chasing our daughter around, and being bitten by mutant, ninja mosquitos. I'm not kidding, these critters were vicious, evil spawns of the Devil! It seemed like no matter where I was or what I was doing, I was being drained of blood by one of those little vampire bugs! In fact, one of the most prominent souveniers I brought home with me were about 15 painfully itchy mosquito bites. On my neck, arms, legs, feet, back, AND...the ones I'm most confused about: ABOUT 7 FREAKING MOSQUITO BITES ON MY BUTT!!! How in the ever-loving HECK did that happen? You know what...don't answer that...
We were all scheduled to clean up and leave on Wednesday morning, but on Tuesday after dinner and the main family activity Ty and I decided that it would work out best for us and our kids to just leave that night. We talked to my Mom, letting her know our plans, and then we packed up, cleaned out our cabin and the pool house (our share of the overall campground clean up), and drove away just before 10 PM. (Ty had taken a nap that afternoon, so he felt equal to the task of driving the 5 hours to get home.)
Anyway, we figured that driving at night would be perfect because the kids could just fall asleep in the van and wake up at home. Our daughter dozed off within 20 minutes, and CT was asleep another ten minutes after that. Our diabolical plan was coming together beautifully! And then, after an hour or so, the baby woke up. She was desperately trying to wriggle free of her car seat, and in her sleepy state, she didn't understand why she couldn't move. So she expressed her frustration with the usual screeching. I climbed into the back seat and did by best to help her, but all I could do was get her to doze off for a few minutes before she would wake up crying again.
After about an hour of this, she woke up her brother, and he couldn't get back to sleep. So finally, Ty and I decided that it would just be best if I got back into the front seat and let the baby cry herself to sleep. It was one of the saddest things in the world, listening to her cry like that for an hour, but finally, finally she fell asleep and CT was able to go to sleep again too.
We got home just after 3 AM, and I was thrilled and relieved to be there. I revelled in the luxury of being in my own house, free of mosquitos and other such pests. I loved being back in my own soft bed, and knowing that my kids were in their own beds, safe and sound. It was just good to be home again.
I've basically decided that I'm a fuddy-duddy though. I mean, I like going on trips and taking some time away, but in the end, home is by far my favorite place to be.
All in all, I enjoyed the family reunion (as always) and I look forward to the next one. It's just good to be home again.