Family Fun

It has already been more than a week since I returned from my weekend trip to Vegas, a weekend preceeded by a full seven day visit from my sister and her two kids (a sister who adorably and with all sincerity informed me that next time they would visit during the summer, and stay for much longer!), yet I have been unable in that time to come up with a decent post. I keep vacillating between telling about the visit and my trip, and giving space to the many toddler (or wait, is she officially a pre-schooler now?) developments and intrigues that bubble up these days. And also, maybe, I'm feeling lazy or uninspired. Too bad for me. So here is the jumbled account from receding memory of our time with family, and my time in Vegas, baby.

My sister (the middle sister, though they're both my big sisters) has two kids, a fifteen-year-old girl and a ten-year-old boy. Weirdly, they never thought to visit when I lived in Minnesota...but I was happy to hear they were planning a trip here to the emerald northwest. The visit was good- the kids were very helpful and polite, leaping up to clear the table every time we ate. Jim got my nephew attached to Medieval II, and watched Casino Royale with him; I took my sister and my niece for pedicures and a shopping trip at the cheesy but adequate Factoria Mall. We went to Pike's, and to the space needle (which Naomi calls the space noodle) and the science center, and on their own they went to the science fiction museum, back to the market, and on a search for the house our family lived in when my sister was born (she is native to Seattle, though this was her first time in the city since before she turned one).

On their last full day, I took a day off and Naomi and I went with them to the aquarium and on a boat cruise from Puget Sound, through the ship canal and the lock system, and into Lake Union. It was pretty great, and we actually had sunny, decent weather for part of the trip. I will not go into detail about the ridiculous abject fear I felt, gripping Naomi as we rode on the deck of the boat. Why did having a kid turn me into a person who can visualize the worst case scenario down to gruesome detail at any given moment? Ridiculous.

On board: safe, sound, wearing a cute hat.

The part of their visit I am least proud of has to do with my nephew and his tendency to be a bit of a sore loser. I have read and repeated many times that it is easiest to be most critical of others when they exhibit tendencies that we share (and dislike in) ourselves. I know myself to be a bad loser. I can recall with cringes of embarrassment the mini-golf matches (I know) where a few bad putts sank me into a foul temper, or even the occasional mah jong game with the in-laws, where I declared that I was no longer participating. Eeee. So I feel even worse that I gave a ten-year-old (and one that I should be giving lots of love and a general pass on things, both as an aunt and a hostess) a bit of a hard time for getting so grouchy when Pictionary and Risk didn't go his way. In any case, Naomi loooooooved having her cousins around, and I did too.