Weekend full of McAfee's

This past weekend was finally the weekend that had been in the works for a YEAR...  The other McAfee's were camping at Rough & they came to hang out w/ us on the houseboat.  (I know the main question you have is, "Does Alicia eat?  Does she let her kids eat?"  The answer to both is yes!  We'll talk about it...)

It's also very sad, but this is the last time we'll be able to hang out w/ them for the next 9 months...

Alicia's sister in law (who is B-rad's cousin) is preggo... And then her OTHER sister in law (who is the sister of the first preggo & ALSO B-rad's cousin) is preggo w/ triplets.  I mean-there's something going on in that branch of the tree & I'm just not willing to take the risk of the pandemic spreading.  

Its been nice knowing ya, other McAfee's...

 Alicia decided to bring an extra child without consulting me first.  Oh, the humanity.  Normally I would NEVER encourage extra children but her logic made sense, 'bring a playmate so they occupy each other'.  And it ended up working out perfectly.  And in 'it's a small world' news, Janelle's (Alicia's bff & the mom of the extra kid) mom was my mother in laws best friend in school AND she was in my in-laws wedding.  I knew they would enjoy meeting him & they're not like me - they always encourage extra kids...

(and if you hear a story about me letting the kids jump off the boat to try & splash me while I was in the water & then when they couldn't - letting them push me closer to the boat so they could splash me - it's lies...all LIES.)

OK-I will start by saying YES all the kiddos were good and YES they all played well together (we had a few issues {Jake pushed Jackson down the slide & Jackson was mad.  Jake said he was sorry but Jackson wasn't feeling that.  I let Jackson push Jake down the slide & all was well in the world.}  UHM I don't know where everyone else was to leave ME in charge but that's how we handled that...) but those stories are no fun to tell so you won't be reading any of that nonsense here...

I'm always amazed at Alicia.  She is a well oil machined, people.  (Which I LOVE.)  I just love to sit back & watch her do her mom 'thang'.  She doesn't mess around with those kids.   First up was an assembly line of sun screen: 

"Stand in a row!"

"Spread your legs!"  

"Arms out!"

"Arms out!"

"Sam - arms out!"

Next was the application of the facial sunscreen.  See Jake all ready w/ his eyes closed?

They were at the boat approximately 3.4 minutes before they were tearing into the snacks.  Alicia was rounding up the kids for a picture & Nora stood quietly in the corner double fisting Goldfish crackers as fast as her little hand would let her until her mom beckoned her for a picture.

The most fun kid attractions on the houseboat are jumping off the back & going down the slide.  Daniel wanted Nora to try the slide...

 Nora did not want to try the slide...  He said to her, "C'mon Nora - we won't make you do anything that's not fun..."

 Daniel rebels a bit against Alicia's 'healthy eating' habits.  B-rad had some Mountain Dew Code Red that he had no problem sharing w/ Daniel.  They called it 'Red 40' all weekend because of the bad coloring in it.  Alicia says Red 40 is the worst...

 Alicia had brought an assortment of the small chip bags (you see them in the pic above) for the kids & small sodas. Yes, she lets the kids eat chips.  Here's what I figured out about her - she doesn't deprive her kids (or herself) of those kinds of 'unhealthy' foods.  She let them stuff their faces all weekend (within reason).  She works really diligently through the week to serve them well balanced, healthy meals, but when they camp they get special treats.  {My FAVORITE line of hers (which she said a couple of times & I laughed every time) Sam:  "Mom, I'm hungry-can I have a brownie?" (after he'd already had several brownies..)  Alicia: "No.  But there's a veggie & fruit tray upstairs.  I'll go get you something out of that if you're hungry."  It's like magic - the kid was no longer hungry...} 

Notice Sam's death grip on his tiny soda while he's on the tube in the water?  

 A couple of girls may have been drinking all day & may have been really hungry before supper was ready & may have eaten a whole row few pieces of this cookie/brownie thingie right after it came out of the oven.  That's the best time to eat it...

 

I also watched her take her finger & scrape melted cheese off a plate that had cheeseburgers on it for dinner. She also told me processed cheese was really bad.... but it's soooo good...

 I was in charge of desserts so I had the cookie/brownie thing AND a Reese dessert thing.  And by in charge I mean I bought the boxes of mix & my mother in law made them for us.  I'm spoiled like that... The boys cut that up after dinner...

 And B-rad was more than happy to share w/ his chocolate, Red 40 deprived cousin...

 My mother in law felt sorry for them invited them to breakfast on the houseboat Sunday morning when she heard that Pop tarts & cereal bars were on the menu at camp... Bright & early Sunday morning the assembly line marched onto the dock...

 After breakfast was over it was time to jump & swim again.  I heard several times through the weekend from Daniel, "Jaime - you & Alicia had a choice... You chose poorly..."

 Let me tell you about this guy right here.  Sam loves me, but he doesn't want to act like he loves me.  Saturday night (after Alicia told them all to go up to each one of us to thank us for having them - which I also love...) I told him I wanted a hug.  He said, "NO!"  So a little argument between us started.  He got down on the floor of the boat so I had him at an elevated position & I pounced.  I hugged & hugged him while he screamed.  Sunday afternoon the tube was floating away.  I said, "Sam - will you go get the tube?"  He did & then he told me that "I owed him $5 for getting it."  I said, "No - but I'll give you a hug."  "NO!" he exclaimed.  I said, "Sam - you like me - you just don't know it yet."  And when they were saying their goodbyes & thank you's Sunday afternoon - he gave me a hug - WITHOUT me begging asking.  Yep, he loves me...

 We decided that the Reese dessert got better after it sat overnight.  Someone was kind enough to bring it out to share with us.  You can see there are only crumbs left...

 But no worries, scraping your thumb along the pan will get all those crumbs up...

 Brady came out w/ an ice cream sandwich & the kids immediately walked over & just stared at him.  It was hilarious.

 And just like that - the weekend was over.  The assembly line headed out & the boat got really quiet...

 I love these people...that is all... 

See you guys no sooner than 9 months...