For the past week and several days, my sister Katey and her boys have been in town. Which means all of the cousins have been together, which is both fun and exhausting as they dash about with endless energy that can end in fights and tears when pride is hurt or weariness sets in. Thankfully Elly isn’t in on all that yet. We just have to protect her from being over-loved.
My parents now have six grandchildren and the first five are almost stair-step in age. Jay is now 7. He’s tall and lean, sometimes bossy as the firstborn and more prone to be on the outside of the other four at times. Strangely enough Emry, who is next in line at 5, doesn’t seem to mind if Jay bosses her around. She thinks he’s great and one of the funniest things to see was the two of them sitting in their little lounge chairs conversing about who knows what. Next is Beto, my sister Abby’s son, who is almost exactly one year younger than Emry at age 4. He, Emry and Ethan are frequent playmates but he had some moments of disillusion as he learned to share with Jay and Curtis. But he and Curtis, Jay’s younger brother who is only a month younger than Beto, are good friends usually. And I think Curtis was delighted that Jay had others beside himself to boss around. Ethan, at 3, is nine months younger than Curtis but, for all intents and purposes, is the “baby”. He’s been Emry’s and Beto’s third wheel for over a year. When Jay and Curtis are around, he becomes a fifth wheel. But now that he’s three, he puts great effort in keeping up with everyone else. And sometimes he actually does.
Having never had cousins very close to my age and not being around my cousins very much growing up, I love to watch the five of them together. Even though it’s exhausting to keep up with not only the endless activity but the drama. Much of our time with them was spent at my parents’ house, but we wiled away some hours at the pool and we all went to Fair Oaks Farm one day where we saw the cows but mostly enjoyed the outdoor activities, ice cream, and the ropes course. We love having them visit…in fact, Emry and Ethan are already asking when they’ll visit again!
Jay and Ellyson – the eldest and the youngest.
Emry, Ethan, Curtis and Beto hearing instructions before going on the low ropes course. Jay was allowed on the high ropes…Ethan longed to join him!
Eating ice cream!!!
Jay and Emry: what are they talking about? The pros and cons of face masks, perhaps?
The six grandkids: who they really are…
…and the only halfway decent picture of them.
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