Visit With My Niece

Our niece came for a visit this weekend and we had a blast. I should invite an 11-year-old into our home more often because we surely do more fun things when we have one around.

I picked her up late Friday so we ate out at Chinese buffet then came home and the three of us played hours worth of UNO and JENGA and cracked up laughing the entire time.  After board games Blair went to bed and I stayed up with her to watch Herbie Fully Loaded which is an excellent movie, btw.

Saturday we went kayacking on the Dan River. I was a little worried as my niece ran into a tree with her face within the first 3 minutes. But she soon had the hang of it and was moving like a pro.  We were on the river just under two hours and had a nice burn on our legs to show for it. 

After the river we came home to shower, grill out, and then went to see Monster House. This was NOT an excellent movie and my advice is not to waste your money.  (More on this in tomorrow's blog)

We came back home and all three of us were so exhausted at 9:30 that we fell into bed.

I got up early Sunday and went running, then came back and K. and I spent 3 hours in the kitchen making homemade banana-walnut loaf, a 2 layer-jam and buttercream cake, cucumber sandwiches, cheese and fruit tray, and hot tea. We had a ball, got flour everywhere and--miracle of miracles--everything tasted really good.

I will say this about the weekend--I don't have the energy to keep up with a pre-teen. After everything we did, she'd ask, "So what do you want to do now?" She's perfectly capable of entertaining herself and once or twice I told her I just wanted to sit and read and she went and got her book and read with me, but my--they have energy. Two hours on the river--"What do you want to do now?" Three hours of board games - "What do you want to do now?"  Four hours in the kitchen--"What do you want to do now?"  Here's my answer: SLEEP!

But really, we can't wait to have her back.  She's got a wide range of interests and is actually interesting to talk to and hold conversations with.

Thanks again to everyone who offered ideas on things for us to do. I'm holding the pottery and plays in reserve for the next visit. That way I'll have an answer to the question, "So what do you want to do now?" when it arises.

Cheers! - Dena