The Kids in America

I suppose now that they're 20 and 17, I should stop calling them "The Kids", but as it made for a clever title (unless you're unfamiliar with Kim Wilde's 80's classic) I'll continue to use it, at least until the end of the post. My little brother, Daniel, and littlest sister, Nicola, a.k.a. "The Kids" (Kristina & I were dubbed "The Girls", apparently we separated ourselves into teams of two) visited in March and I lived to tell you about it.

Things got off to a bit of a rough start. They arrived late at night, so Teagan didn't see them until the morning. It must have given her quite a shock, because she put herself in a voluntary time-out at the bottom of the stairs for a solid 5 minutes. Nicola came down the stairs as she was like this and Teagan didn't even flinch. If only she looked like this during obligatory time-outs!

She became more and more friendly fairly quickly, especially since Uncle Daniel seemed to be able to play all of her favourite songs. The key to this one's heart seems to be music. She's always singing, dancing or "playing" the piano. And by 'playing' I mean 'stomping on'.

These two were thick as thieves by the time Nicola left. Here they are having a nice (sticky) chat over sour watermelons. Key to Teagan's Heart #1: Music. #2: Food. Sing a song about food and she's putty in your hands.

They spent some major bonding time watching Barney - Daniel LOVED him when he was a baby. Nicola thought that dressing to match Teagan would score her some points. She did in my book! And yes, she's in her car seat. White trash? Yes. Effective? Also yes. (This photo may or may not have prompted GG & G-Pop to spring for a pint-sized Dora armchair...details to come.)

Here we are spending more quality time, but this time it was Psych. We got The Kids hooked and had multiple Psych marathons. What?!

Apparently we keep different hours than high schoolers, so Nicola passed out on our couch several times. Teagan became very concerned when her Auntie was unresponsive. She first assessed the situation and made sure there were no live wires or anything else harmful before she approached. This is her "Oh no!" face that now comes with a garbled "Oh no!" Kind of hilarious.

Here she is saying "Are you alright? I'm here to help you." Clearly our first aid training has paid off.

Luckily, Auntie Nicola was only sleeping and therefore lived to read Teagan story after story.

It's always fun to hang out with Nicola and be reminded of how I looked 12 years ago. It must be scary for her to hang out with me, but she gets a free lesson in why you should eat right, exercise and moisturize. You're welcome, Mini-Me.

I pleasantly surprised myself by still being able to do this. You should count your blessings this was a photo and not a video...it took a lot of grunting and complaining (and time) to get there. 

Daniel and Nicola weren't incredibly interested by The Strip, although Nicola assures me she'll be back when she's 21. Not sure what she's planning (Mum, did I just get her in trouble? Oops!) but for now we stuck with a token trip to see some of the free touristy things. Like the Bellagio fountains, where each and every one of us were violated by people with no regard for personal space. I drew the line when the lady behind me rested her camera on my head and Brandon when something touched him where his bathing suit covers. We didn't take pictures in hopes of one day being able to forget The Incident. But we saw Elvis...

...and the Bellagio Gardens, which weren't as impressive as other times we've been, but we still managed to be entertained.

Next time I'll remember to flip the picture so I don't look quite so crazy. And I'll be sure to blow my nose first.

We saw the Mirage Volcano, street performers and more skin than a dermatologist sees in a week, all part of the experience. And we tried to get a decent photo of The Kids with The Sign, but some robust Texan women didn't grasp the concept of a line and so this was the best we got (they were in the background of all the other ones.)

In keeping with our high class theme, we took them to Cici's (between Brandon and Daniel, we may have made them reconsider their $5.49 special!) and Denny's. They don't exist in Canada, so we claimed it was a cultural experience. Apparently the water at Denny's was eye-rollin' good.

Teagan must have missed The Ultimate Skillet on the kids' menu. But her forlorn look didn't seem to faze her father.

We opted to take a few group photos before the trip was through, and since I didn't have the foresight to set up the camera to take them automatically, we merely broke into two groups:

Where was Teagan while we were enjoying a little photoshoot? Well, she was awfully quiet, wherever she was. This happened to be the exact moment we found out that she was tall enough (where does she get THAT from?) to reach nearly the centre of the kitchen table. How did we know? She dumped an entire container of yogurt on the floor and spent several minutes trying to get up and stay on her feet.

I'm working on my patience and trying to enjoy these little messy moments (those of you more experienced mums dealing with nail polish and permanent marker with a smile on your face have my utmost respect). I'm a neat freak, so this doesn't come naturally. I was calm enough to decide to document her first real mess (are you just laughing at me now?) reminiscent of Bambi on ice for the first time.

Everyone asked us what we did while my siblings were in town for a week, and were shocked when I responded that we didn't do much. We're homebodies and just enjoy being together at home, playing games, watching movies, punching eachother, throwing pillows while people are unawares and other such heartwarming family activities. It was a lovely, low-key visit, and it was so nice for Teagan to get to know her Auntie Nicola and Uncle Daniel better. So glad you came. Love you, you crazy Kids!