Great joy comes in vibrant packages but 8 humans with one bathroom in a couple hundred square feet can be challenging! Memorial Day Weekend was a blast with four generations of our family all stuck because of rain in our park model trailer near the Wisconsin Dells.
I love my family. But I am a bit of a recluse and the weather hasn’t been anyone’s friend for the past week. We received nearly 6 inches of rain in the past few days — a good part of that after the other three generations arrived for the weekend.
Saturday was beautiful! we were out and about and enjoying the forest and especially the bird songs. Sunday brought a return of rain that had haunted the three days prior so the ground was already pretty well soaked before adding another soaking. At the bottom of our site, across the road was a puddle that you could have sailed toy boats in! Monday morning dawned with a nicer outlook and some sun, and at least the kids had a chance to use the playground and the older one to get into the pool.
Sunday — in spite of the rain — was a chance to take the younger ones to the International Crane Foundation. It’s only a handful of miles from our trailer and with 15 species of Cranes on site it’s a wonderful way for the young’uns to see and learn about the birds and a little about conservation (though they are too young to really appreciate “conservation” — they just enjoyed seeing the BIG birds!)
On the way from Minneapolis to join us our Grandson-in-law met up with a cycling buddy in La Crosse and the two of them cycled 80 miles together from La Crosse to Reedsburg — a jaunt that he’d been wanting to make for some years. That gave hime 6 hours of cycling time with a good friend and that gave us an extra 6 hours with our granddaughter and the two little ones.
At 4 years and 2 years the little ones are a joy — and little bundles of energy. I love being with them but by the time the three days were over I was — we were — ready for some peace and quiet. I have to say that as is always the case generations have their own ways of doing things and it’s interesting, instructive, and a bit frustrating watching parents parenting, and grand parents grand parenting and knowing how and when to simply shut my own mouth and let them be who they are.
It will probably been a couple months before we see the young’uns again. That’s the problem with living 300 miles away. If I’m honest I’ll admit that we were pretty tuckered out by the time the invading hordes had gone. “I wish they were closer” is easier to say than to live.
I guess that’s it for today. Take care of yourself and I’ll talk with you tomorrow.
From the Far Side of '70 
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