Wild animals and kids

My brother-in-law and sister-in-law arrived around noon on Saturday along with my 2 year and 6 month old neices. I hadn’t seen them in 6 months or so. The first thing that struck me was the amount of stuff that accompanied them. I remember wondering how they got all this on the plane with them. Suitcases, bags, stroller, toys, it was all jammed into the back of the Volvo station wagon they rented.

My 2 year old neice had been talking about how excited she was to see Nicki again. The last time she was down she was only 1 so she was much less threatening to Nicki. Now that Lauryn has the ability to PURSUE, Nicki wanted nothing to do with her. She would retreat and growl whenever my neice would approach her. The huge mountain of supplies they brought with landed mostly on the kitchen counter and reproduced from there. Having 2 children in the house produces a dramatic and instantaneous change in the environment.

After the initial excitement died down we started talking about dinner ideas. We decided to go to the new Cheesecake Factory that opened up in the past few months. It was a saturday at 6:30 in the evening so we knew it would be a substantial wait. When we arrived we saw lots of people mulling around outside, confirming we would have time to kill. When we gave our names they said it would a 65 to 85 minute wait. Woah. They had so many people waiting that they said we should come back in 15 minutes to pick up the buzzer, they had none. We came up with a plan to make it easier. We sent the women with the kids over to the mall while my brother-in-law and I would drink at the bar, works for me. Our bartender looked like she was 16. We drank and watched the Masters at the bar for maybe 45 minutes. I had just finished my second 22 ounce beer when the buzzer went off. Ah damn, the women weren’t back yet. So I hurriedly called them on my cell phone to get them back. Luckily they were already on their way. Even though the restaurant was full, it had a very large seating capacity so they were able to keep the bodies moving. The idea of under promising and over delivering on wait times is a good thing. I really liked the place, the food was great and the cheesecake for desert was even better. Of course after eating like that I felt like a glutton. Throughout the dinner we of course had 95% of our attention directed towards the kids. Either entertaining the 2 year old or picking stuff off the floor the 6 month old would throw repeatedly. By the time we finished up and got home it was close to 10. I was very tired. A half day of kids was enough to drain me.

On Sunday we decided to go to the local zoo. I hadn’t been there in many years for whatever reason. We got there early, hoping to avoid crowds, which we did. It was really nice. The zoo here is unique in it’s setting. The trees and plants are as interesting as the animals. It is really a cool place to spend a day. As we walked around I pocketed seeds that dropped off various trees in hopes of planting them and someday having my own bit of paradise in my own yard. We saw the gambit of animals from alligators to tigers. We helped feed the kangaroos and watched them feed the gators. We spent around 4 hours there, a perfect amount of time. The kids had some grumpy spells thrown in there. but nothing too severe.

When we got back we were all kinda pooped. The kids were asleep. So I relaxed out in the pool and we decided to eat leftovers at home. The evening was spent entertaining the kids while the TV was on. I snuck away for a bit and played some WoW to relax. Tonight we are doing another dinner and they fly out tomorrow morning.

Everytime I am around people with young kids it makes me imagine transposing myself into their shoes and thinking about how I would handle such things. It seems a bit overwhelming, a lot of sacrificing of one’s self occurs and the minimum 18 year commitment is more than a little daunting. However there are aspects of it that are appealing. The bond between a child and their parents is unique and something that can’t be accomplished in any other way. But do I need to contribute to a world population that is already out of control? Do I need to bring a kid into a world that is as rotten as this one is? The answer is a resounding “I don’t know”