SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!!!!
Yes, it’s the Eve to Christmas Eve and we are ready to shop! Being near Myrtle Beach means one thing… okay it means a few things… but for the womens in the family it mean SHOPPING. And nothing says shopping like OUTLET MALLS. I mean, the beach needs something to do when it’s raining, so the outlet malls have began to fester in the Myrtle Beach area.
I was able to coordinate meeting with Devaney and Andy (DevAndy) to meet us at the Beach. They live in Wilmington, NC which is about an hour away. It had been over a year since I had seen him. Devaney is one of my best friends from Longwood College and also my Big Brother in my fraternity. We met up at Wal-mart (since it’s a good location and EVERYBODY knows where to find Wal-mart) and went to eat over at BoJangles. The Rice Bowls at BoJangles (as far as we know) are Gluten Free Casein Reduced (has some cheese) and are very tasty and filling too. We were pleased.
DevAndy and our gang said our goodbyes and headed off in our own directions. Them, back home; us, OUTLETS. The first thing we did was unleash our Au Pair to go shop. She wasn’t able to arrange anything for Christmas so she came home with us. We instructed her NOT to work, since it was a vacation for her and there were plenty of family members to take care of the kids. Now, when you mention the word “Shopping” to our Au Pair, her eyes light up and a smile grows on her face. Clothes, especially Brand Name, are crazy expensive in Brazil… therefore the Outlet stores are like Crack Houses to her. The regular store price of something might be $100, well, the outlet price might be $50-70 if it’s still in-season… in Brazil it’s like $200-300. So either way she wins and so does her sister and boyfriend and other friends. Let’s just say we were glad we brought the van…
****cousins****
The Elder loved His Cousin when he came to visit a few years back, but now he got to meet his other Cousin too. The Older Cousin is 8yo, with very much the intelligence beyond his years. I’m sure if he’s doing recreational calculus in the school playground, but he’s well read and well spoken. And boy, does he enjoy to speak. The Younger Cousin is 6yo and more of the observer when it came to processing new people. In the first 30 seconds of coming into Lolo & Lola’s house, The Older Cousin was already telling us something while the Younger Cousin was seeing if these new creatures were friendly or not.
It didn’t help that Lola was demanding hugs from the grandsons. The Older Cousin reluctantly gave her a hug and the Younger cousin tried to run away and did the “Hug-My-Back” maneuver. All the kids seemed to hit it off pretty well from what I remember. There wasn’t a trip to Emergency Room, so things worked out okay. At some point in time I think The Cousins became bored with my kids, perhaps do to the fact that The Elder and The Younger were relishing in the brain rotting televisions all over the house. I think they were watching some Christmas Scooby Doo episode.
So, needing an adult conversation, the Older Cousin starts asking about The Elder and what videos and video games he has. We proceed to talk about different things, such as Harry Potter and Star Wars. He had a one sided with me about the Lego Star Wars game along with some other video games that I had never played. I kept throwing curve balls out to him about different topics. I asked him who shot first Han or Greedo.
The Younger Cousin tried to chime in the conversation but he couldn’t talk fast enough to get in what he wanted to say. His dad even stepped in sometimes to help but the Older Cousin would pip in… he did tried to show restraint, but it was very difficult for him. I asked the Younger Cousin questions point blank so that his executive function could catch up with him. It’s not that he didn’t know what he wanted to say, it’s just that getting it from the neurons to the mouth was slower than the Older’s Cousin response time and patience. But I think that Younger Cousin was appreciative of the attention that I gave, which in all respects, he deserves. And with no prompting, the Younger Cousin asked if he could sit on my lap… why sure!
The Cousins became instant best friends and we were one day closer to Christmas.
PLANET3RRY 
Great Post…. you described the “one-sided conversation” very diplomatically. The 8yo loves to talk, but sometimes I think it is because of the lack of attention he feels that he gets. The 6yo absolutely LOVES attention and garners it so often that the 8yo at times feels left out…. I think he was just taking advantage of the situation to have some prime time.
BTW, they have already asked when the Elder and the Younger will come back and visit. I think they really enjoyed being able to spend time with them.
Wow! You are the “kid whisperer.” Ha!
Holidays and family, just go together.
Now that its almost all over – I hope you had a good Christmas and all the best for the New Year!
No ER visits? Super success!!! Sounds like a fun time by all.
We know the outlets well. No one will shop with me I’m such a fiend. The au pair and I would get along well!
You have to check out the Lego Star Wars games. They are all very good for whatever platform you have. Cousin is not wrong on that one.