A Whalen Good Time! ;0

Har, har, har.  I'm so funny - fitting my sister-in-law's last name into my title.  But hey, it totally works.  We did have a Whalen good time that week!  I'm talking about the grand finale of summer family visits back in July when Drew's sister Rachel and her husband and kids came into town...

Everyone seemed to be building this one up as a challenge for Drew and me.  Could the house handle two children under 5 years old?  Could Loui handle tail pulling and screaming and smelly diapers?  Could Drew and I possibly ever think about having children after this visit?  And to everyone's astonishment (except Drew and I - we totally knew this would work) the answer to those questions still remains a yes!

Everyone did great all week in a small little house with four adults, two kids and a dog.  Minor temper tantrums aside (completely expected and no, we didn't limit them to the kids) we had a blast camping in Rocky Mountain National Park, visiting the Science & Nature Museum, splashing at WaterWorld and spinning 'til we couldn't spin anymore at the old time amusement park in Heritage Square.  And Loui, mind you, didn't even bat an eye - he simply got to escape to the basement when it all got to be too much.

And here's what we learned:

1. When toting small children around on vacation, always have it planned to the minute.  Sounds counter-intuitive, right?  But thanks to Rachel's planning the kids (and us big kids!) were never bored.  Tired, yes.  Bored, no.
2. When you have people in the car who are slightly (okay, more than slightly) scared of bears and camping in general - don't flat out ask the Ranger if smelly diapers will attract predators.  The answer is yes, and if anyone cares to know, the predators also consider the smell a threat.  We really didn't need to know all that.
3. Dogs are more scared of kids than kids are of dogs.  At least in our case - Loui looked a little terrified of the crawling one reaching out to grab him.  He kept his cool, though.
4. Persistence pays off - if we hadn't kept trying, William would never have gone on the big water tubes!  Lo and behold, he had a blast (duh).
5. Kids must have iron stomachs - or maybe mine is just as weak as can be.  William survived the Tilt-O-Whirl and I flat out wouldn't even go on it for a minute.  Okay, maybe this one is more about me...
6. Without even knowing it, we already have a built in "diaper alert" for when we have kids - Loui.  He's like an egg timer for diapers.  If only he could tell me in so many words, "Mom, this one is ready."  The whole nose-to-butt thing is rather unattractive.
7. The allure of a sleeping in a sleeping bag is strong for kids - it's how we convinced William that sleeping on the floor at the house was cool (as opposed to, "We just don't have three beds!").  Out like a light.
8. Kid's plush toys are easily mistaken for dog's plush toys.  No one got their stuffing ripped out, though, just a little extra slobber.  Thank goodness they don't have squeakers...
9. The "free toys" are always the best - like magazines that can be ripped into shreds, the old muddy tennis ball in the backyard, sticks and stones and other scavenged things.
10. William is a natural born "leader" on the trail - and don't you dare take that privilege away from him!  ;)