Hot enough for ya?

Yes thank you. More than hot enough.
It's so hot.
How hot is it?
It's so hot I let my kids stay inside for most of the day in air conditioned comfort. And that's not my usual routine.

However I'm finding my patience running very short lately. Could it be there's still 6 more weeks of summer vacation? Possibly.

Could it be that I spent the weekend hosting my husband's family for a family reunion? Most likely.

My husband is from a family of 13. Yes 13. 8 girls and 5 boys. So last summer it was decided that "we" should host a family reunion in 2009. Of course "we" were not exactly consulted at this point because only my husband was there. When the sisters mentioned it to my husband he just rolled his eyes and told them they better run it by me first. (He's learned a few things in 20 years of marriage.) So I succumbed to peer pressure and said yes, and my sister-in-law who lives in Vernon said she would help organize and plan.

I'm sure everyone has their own "extended family issues", but when your husband has 12 siblings, the chances for conflict are always much greater than for a typical size family.

To give you a little background, one brother and one sister live on Vancouver Island, three sisters and three brothers live in the lower mainland, one sister in Prince George, one sister and my husband in the Okanagan, one sister lives in Alberta, and one has passed away. All but one have been married at least once, some twice, and some three times. Everyone except the single sister has children in their 20's or 30's and many of them also have children. Plus my husband's elderly aunt was coming from Nova Scotia as well as several cousins and stragglers from Edmonton and Kamloops. If everyone decided to come and bring all their kids, in-laws, out-laws, grand kids, etc. we would have had well over 100 people.

But knowing my husband's family as well as I do, I knew that would never happen. Oh sure, they were all enthusiastic at the start and committed to coming. Plus we chose the date at least nine months ago, and made sure it didn't coincide with any major event here.

So here's the bottom line: the brother and sister from the island came; one brother and straggler came from Vancouver, the sister from Vernon and us. Their kids travelled from as far away as Toronto with the grandkids. And most of the kids and grandkids came too. The elderly aunt came with her son and family too. So we still had 54 people at my house on Saturday. Which was fine - everyone was supposed to bring something to share and we would provide the tent and tables and all the supplies.

Everything was planned and organized so by Friday night when people started arriving at their motels we were ready for the next day's event. Even the tent and table rentals arrived on time. Saturday morning was bright and sunny and we had time to sit around and have a few cups of coffee while a bunch went out golfing. When the guys returned some of us headed up the hill to the winery for some tastings in advance of the 1 pm arrival time for everyone else. By 1:30 our driveway looked like a used car lot and everyone was bringing their lawnchairs and food and beverages just like they were supposed to! It was magical.

By 2 pm the sky had darkened, there was loud claps of thunder and the lightning started. By 2:15 people were huddled under the tent, the awning and the shade umbrellas, which in case you don't know, are not designed to repel torrents of rain. Some stayed outside where the beer fridge was, while most everyone else headed indoors, which was unavoidable but not exactly what I had planned. But no one seemed to mind the close dampness. The little kids were let loose in my son's bedroom and within about 5 minutes had all the Lego and other toys out. The older girls put a movie on and started drawing and making friendship bracelets. The food was brought out and everything went well. Evenutally the rain let up enough for the boys to have their water gun fight outside, and when the lightning storm was over we openned up the pool for anyone else who wanted to get completely wet (if they weren't already!)

By the time everyone started leaving at about 8 pm the rain has finally quit (of course!). And what I was most thrilled about, was everyone said what a great time they had. There was no shortage of food, and several of the "out-laws" helped with with cleanup. Or at least tried to.

But most of all, I was so thrilled for my kids to have met so many of their cousins of all different ages. And despite the chaos of the day, and all the stimulation, they all did really well. I was so proud of them they all got extra servings of pie and ice cream after most people had left. (I know, I know, I shouldn't reward behavior with food, but hey, we don't have pie very often!)