A Visit from Anna, Lucy, and Clara

Lucy went to Thailand in June, and she flew out of LAX. Anna and Clara drove out with her and stayed with us for a few days. They arrived on a Sunday afternoon. We ate dinner and made a bad batch of experimental brownies based on a recipe I cut from a magazine during college and never tried. I'd wanted to make brownies for Lucy because they're her favorite, and we really struck out. We ate them anyway, though.

Ever really, really wanted to have a cousin slumber party, so Clara agreed to sleep in her room. They didn't get to bed until kind of late. Clara was back downstairs in a few minutes; Ever was so excited she wouldn't stop talking, and Clara was in a tizzy because she really, really wanted to sleep. Ever managed to calm down, and all was right with the world.

Monday Anna and kids made a Target run, and then we went to the beach. Fun was had by all, although the littles were very tired.

See? Tired.

After we'd been there a while, Ever needed to go to the bathroom. There were no facilities near where we were. I left the littles with Anna, and Ever and I headed up the stairs and down the street toward the restrooms. She was so anxious to get back to her cousins that she almost convinced herself she didn't have to go. Then she opted for a porta-potty instead of a full bathroom because it was slightly closer. The whole time we were walking, she kept asking if her cousins were going to stay for a while at the beach after we got back and saying she wanted to get back to her cousins because she just wanted as much time with her cousins as possible. It was so cute listening to her say "my cousins" all the time. We walked back on the beach instead of the road, and Ever ran to get back to her cousins.

We got Teri Cafe for dinner, and then Anna took Lucy to LAX late that night. Airport traffic was a nightmare, even around midnight, but Lucy got off OK.

Tuesday we went to the park. We took bikes (Ever and Clara) and a trike (Wren). Wren opted to wear her helmet the whole time, which was probably wise because she was an ambitious and slightly scary climber. 

While I spotted Wren as she climbed, Anna supervised Tyna. She is not very easy to have at a park, given that she can't walk or climb but can crawl and put a lot of things in her mouth.

That night the kids watched a movie (Alice Through the Looking Glass) and ate candy. I was impressed with Wren's attention span. She sat through the whole thing.

We also made another batch of brownies. This time, we made the the trusty "McCall brownies," and they did not disappoint. I thought maybe Anna could take the leftovers to the Deetrixes (Anna and Clara were driving to Ventura on Wednesday), but we pretty much managed to polish off the pan by Wednesday morning.

Anna took Clara, Ever, and Wren on bikes up to the rope swing before they left Wednesday. Apparently when they got there, Wren said she wanted to go back to her mom's house. (Possibly the first sign of the separation anxiety we've been experiencing recently.)

Anna and I stayed up super late most nights talking about all sorts of things. I realized we haven't had much one-on-one time over the years, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Ever, of course, had the time of her life with Clara. The cousin obsession is real in this house. Clara was a really good sport. Lucy was also so nice to her little cousins when she was here. We lucked out in the cousin department.