Last month, we went up to New London, CT for a family reunion. My mom and aunt Kathy refer to this now yearly even as "Camp Cousins". It's a happy name, and it refers to the fact that 1) there are a mess of cousins and 2) almost everyone sleeps out in a tent in grandma's backyard for the week. (Luckily, having children under the age of 3 and/or being pregnant exempts you from this. We stayed in a beach house 10 minutes away. Yay us!)
I'm going to refer to this yearly event as "Tick Fest" instead and here's why. There are at least 3 people who have not only been bit by ticks in this yard in recent years, but have
actually gotten Lyme Disease. My uncle Barry, my grandmother and my own mother. So 7 children plus all their parents, grandparents, great aunts and uncles and even great grandparents are hanging out in this yard for days on end. But every 2 minutes you hear my mom or aunt yelling "Check that kid for ticks!", "don't sit on the grass!", "you're gonnna need to strip down and really look because ticks are tiny!" Jesus Christ.
So anyway, we take the train up and got in really late, so the fun begins for us the next day. We take an hour drive through the winding Connecticut countryside, then turn into a national forest and drive another 15 minutes over an unpaved road. We get there you will never guess who else is there:
It's the Crips, and they are having a pic-a-nic. Did anybody know that the Crips go for picnics in Connecticut? Luckily, the Bloods playing golf in Vermont or something, and everyone had a great time.
Here's Caden "catching" his first fish. He was so excited and damn it was cute. When he finally saw the fish come out of the water he said "Hi Nemo!" Thankfully, everyone had the good sense to let Nemo back into the water rather than killing him on the spot, saving us years of therapy bills.
Pete was having a good time. Bethany not so much.
The rest of the time was spent mostly just hanging out together at Grandma's, eating constantly and watching the kids play together. It was more exciting than it sounds because everyone really likes each other and we don't see my cousins and their kids that often.
It was about 100 degrees out, so somebody had the great idea to fill some buckets and coolers with water for the little kids to cool off. Tucker and Ava stripped down and hopped right in, but not Caden. He's a sophisticated little guy, and would no sooner sit naked in a bucket on the front lawn than I would. So he made it his job to make sure the buckets were full, and he also very thoughtfully sprayed everyone's feet and pants for them.
Of course, the other big thing was for all the kids to fling themselves down Grandma's hill. I used to do this when I was a kid with my siblings and cousins. It's always been the big deal at grandma's. I even made a little movie about it. Last year it was the older kids who ruled the hill. But this year, the little guys got in on the act. So did a few spouses.
In all, Tick Fest was a really good time, and nobody got Lyme Disease. I'm so glad we went, even though the week before had been so rough. Unfortunately, 5 more people got sick afterwards, and I know for a fact that Caden was the Typhoid Mary. Oh well. In 20 years when we're looking at the photos, we won't remember which kid it was, exactly, that gave everyone strep throat that year.
