Only slightly loco

Well, we survived. The kids went home on Tuesday, and after a day to recover, and a day to clean the house (you would not believe where it’s possible to get popcorn!) and then another day to recover, we’re almost feeling back to normal. The cats have even almost forgiven us.
Actually, we had great fun with the kids (though I’m not joking about the popcorn – they had some left over after we went to the movies, and obviously decided it would make a good midnight snack, because in the morning we found a trail of it all through the house). We of course spent a lot of the time on the computer, playing minecraft, but we did manage to drag them out of the house for a few hours each day, so as well as going to the movies we had adventures at the swimming pool, shopping in Riccarton (the UK shop’s range of lollies kept them entranced in an agony of indecision for quite some time, as did the Discovery shop’s range of puzzles), the museum, and exploring the edges of the cordon.
I’ve always said the role of an auntie is to spoil the kids rotten then send them home for the parents to deal with the aftermath, and I think I performed that role to perfection. The kids stayed up as long as they liked (in fact a couple of nights they outlasted us!), ate what they liked, and the only real rules I enforced (other than the obvious safety things like not wandering off on their own while we were in town) were that they had to sit at the table with us to eat, and they had to help with the dishes. What are holidays for otherwise? 😉 (Ok, so it helped that they were only here a few days, so a bit of indulgence wouldn’t hurt them – and anyway, they’re really good kids – I think it would take a lot more than my efforts to properly spoil them!).
kids jan 2013
This was how I found Nephew #2 sleeping one morning when they’d gone to bed long after us – he’d been so tired he hadn’t even managed to get undressed or into his sleeping bag! (I sent the photo to brother and SIL as evidence of how well I was looking after their children ;-))
kids jan 2013
The kids insisted I take this photo of them eating apples to prove to their parents they were being good. The reality was a bit more like this:
kids jan 2013
kids jan 2013
Nephew #1 at the museum.
kids jan 2013
A “christmas tree” put up by the construction company on the site of the new temporary cathedral.
kids jan 2013
We stopped to watch this busker in Re:Start, who was attempting to Houdini his way out of a straitjacket. Nephew #2 got called up to be part of the act, but I didn’t get a photo of that because I was laughing too much.
kids jan 2013
kids jan 2013
Happy kids – my auntie work is done 🙂

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4 Comments

  1. I think you are right.
    Kids DO need an indulgent relative!
    Just like they need structured parental unit involvement.
    Balance!!!

  2. seriously cool, I too wish I had a cool auntie when I was growing up but all mine lived a LONG way away and had kids themselves so such indulgences were not possible 🙁
    I myself have yet to BE the cool auntie cause my sister has more rules than I do for the miniatures (and lists of said rules, and lists of the lists) plus they have lots of backup so I haven’t even babysat them yet 🙁
    Glad you (and they) had fun though, thats what its all about!

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