Poncho People

Last night and this morning were a little stressful. Eleven people in our house, plus one big dog and a cat was a bit squishy. Last night, we went to see "Bedtime Stories" and to Red Robin for dinner. The cousins were not getting along. Dora was grouchy because she had to sit "with the kids" and the rest were over-tired an annoyingly giggly. They were getting too familiar and comfortable with each other and knew how to push each others buttons. Luckily, margarita's helped the grown-ups get through!

Once at home and the kids were settled in-- the power went out. The TV worked but the furnace, pellet stove, family room and kitchen lights were all out. We went down to check the breaker but could not get it to flip back on. In the morning, we realized that a computer cord was cut and tripped the breaker. Once that was unplugged things went back to working. (Thanks to Uncle S for figuring it out!!) Uncle S got an extra special treat in the night too. Our cat has been trying to 'win' him over (Uncle S is VERY allergic to cats) So the cat brought Uncle S a cute little mouse and dropped it beside him while he slept. Neither Uncle S or my sister were too happy about it!!

Today, we went to the Toledo Zoo to see the "Lights Before Christmas" which we like to do every year. There were 13 of us that went. The weather was perfect... 62 with a bit of a brisk breeze.... very nice for the end of December... that is until we walked through the entrance. As soon as we got in it started to pour!! We all darted into the gift shop to dry out a little. Macy noticed rain poncho's at the counter so we bought everyone one. Everyone had clear poncho's with random zoo animals scattered around... except Dill's- his was yellow. We were wandering around singing and laughing in the rain while almost everyone else ran for cover. We were calling ourselves the Poncho people and Dill was the nacho cheese. The kids sang Christmas carols off key and looked at the animals and lights as we all walked along. Every once in a while we'd find someone to take our group picture in front of something with lights and everyone stood close together and laughed some more.

The only real negative thing that happened was some lady walked up to sister and said, "Where I am from those are just garbage bags with holes in them." Sister said, "Where I'm from we like to stay dry while we walk in the rain." Why do people care? We even got our teenagers to enjoy wearing the silly poncho's and have their pictures taken in them. We were all having a great time... does it really matter if they looked like garbage bags?

Sister and her family headed home right after the zoo... now the house feels too empty. It was a great visit, I miss them all already. 

Thanks for reading.