Hard to see 'em go.

All good things must come to an end, right?  Well, not ALL things . . . like eternal stuff, but that's another post.

When it comes to having cousins as constant playmates?  Yes.  The kids are mourning the absence of their cousins.  They're not the only ones.  I guess I'm a little at a loss of what to do next with life, too.  There are some major withdrawals that follow constant fun.  We're settling into normalcy again, which, honestly, looks a little dull at present:).

I love watching my kids develop relationships with their cousins, in their own little world.  It's more fun as they get older.  Their time spent with cousins is echoing my own memories as a kid.  And what makes it even more nostalgic (and awesome) is that the location is the same.  

I came to Idaho each summer vacation as a kid.  Now WE'RE the ones living in Idaho and family comes to visit US (well, as cool as that would make us out to be, they really come to see my parents, but we reap the benefits, too).  My kids are doing the same things with their cousins that I did with mine.  They're always asking me to tell them stories about what it was like when I was a kid.  We're bulking up our stock of great family traditions and memories.  Connecting the generations.  

The world isn't so bad when you have so much goodness to remember.

But it's time to get back to laundry and reading and quiet time and earlier, MUCH earlier bedtimes.  Which--as UNFUN as that all sounds--are necessary, and make for much happier little people, darn it.  (That's the fun-seeker in me talking.) 

It's not until family comes to visit that our summer really feels like a vacation.  

And while we have them, we're the happiest bunch around.