It is late Sunday afternoon, and the weekend with my BFF’s (featured above with two of the next generation) just ended and our home seems so empty. Our house guests, 4 adults and five children under age 6, all checked out of Camp DiCarlo leaving me, Mike and Grover alone in the family room wondering what to do with ourselves. It’s funny, although this house is quite large for us, all summer it never seems empty or, for that matter, quiet. But after the 3 ring circus that just pulled out, there is not much going on under our big-top now.
We have been looking forward to this weekend for weeks now. Candy and Susie are two of my bestest and oldest friends (Candy and I have been friends since we have been 5, and Susie and I since college) and I do not get to see them or their growing families as much as we would all like. In fact, only one of Candy’s three monkeys have been to our Cape house and the last time Susie was here, she was preggers with her first. So technically that counts. Nicholas was here once before.
Before the monkeys invaded our worlds, they used to come down all the time. Camp DiCarlo had a much different meaning then, not saying it was any better, but our schedules sure have changed. We used to be late to bed and late to rise, and now we are early to bed and very early to rise!
Candy, Dave, Gus, Max and Tess (the Gatti’s) checked in Friday late afternoon. Candy was the most excited because every time she and Gat-Monster (nickname for her husband) stayed here before, for some reason they always ended up shacking up in the twin bed room. This house has five bedrooms, but only three are truly sleeping rooms now. This time, CandyPants got here first and claimed what we call the quilted room. I have to say this bed is comfy – and the best for guests. Her boys, Gus and Max, took the twin bed room leaving Tess who just turned one, to sleep in her pack ‘n play with Mom and Dad. So far so good – everyone had a soft place to hunker down.
Friday started off pretty routine for me. I went to pilates and then to the grocery store. Then the rest of the afternoon I spent taping a movie. Our friends from Spain (they summer here for two months) have six children. Each year, the girls ( age 15 and 20 ) and one of their friends write, produce, act and edit a summer flick. And these are no ordinary home-movies, they are full on award-winning feature films. This year, they asked me to make a cameo appearance as both a dance instructor and a relative. I had a blast, but had to run out because Candy phoned from our gatehouse. I rushed to the gate and beeped and honked (security guard just loves me) to get their attention. When I finally did, there were lots of excited shouts and then just scared stares and a look of panic. I was still in character. The long lost relative I played in the movie was from a dark cult, and in my excitement and rush, I neglected to take off my make up. This is how I greeted my house-guests.
I think I scared poor Max (who turned four that very same day) the most. But he got me back later, doing his best impression of a chocolate clown. We all ventured out to the Raw Bar for an early dinner, a few adult beverages, an outdoor concert, mini-golf and then ice cream. But when we got home, we had yet another fun activity. Well, fun for everyone but Grover. It was bath-time for him. Gus, Max and I bathed the dog and then turned the hair drier on him. Now that was a jam packed day.
We must have slept really fast because Saturday morning came really quick. It was a gorgeous day and we decided to beach it for the day. Susie, Dave, Nicholas and Ava (the Gilo’s) arrived and we immediately got on our suits and hit the sand. I have to admit, the beach with 5 kids in tow is not my typical routine, but nonetheless we all managed to have a blast and catch some rays.
When we got home, the guys immediately started drinking and taking the kids for rides on the golf cart. I guess the drinking and driving laws do not pertain to carts and the girls began to prepare dinner. Saturday night we feasted on homemade lamb burgers, my brown rice and veggie salad, fresh from Sprout Farm cucumber salad and Mike’s now famous and requested sangria. We had a wonderful day and dinner.
Bedtime was very interesting. Now we had four additional guests that needed a soft place to call it a night. And two of them were on completely different schedules than the other three. My idea of turning the twin bed room into a boys camp (throw the mattresses onto the floor, add a blanket or two and call it a fort) was not going to work. Good theory though don’t you think for someone who has no kids? Our best solution was to turn the pool house into a guest suite. The pool house has seen lots of action (and I mean all kinds)in the past 15 years, but I think this is the first time anyone under the age of 3 has spent the night out there. If those walls could only talk. The Gilo’s, all four of them, ended up taking that space over and manged to get a good night rest. But the pool house only has a mini kitchen sink and a shower, so we decided to give Nicholas and Ava a bath in my tub aka mini swimming pool. Featured below is Tess ready for bed (and totally posing with her “photo time expression”) in the quilted room and the Gilo bath time. My tub definitely got the most use these past few days.
This morning we had a mini birthday party to celebrate all the kids birthdays. We got cupcakes for everyone and sang and ate out on the back deck. I think the adults had more fun eating the frosting. I love to lick off the tops and then put back the rest. Susie tried to make me eat the whole thing. Then it was time to take some photos. We said all along that we needed to get some current group shots. We got four of the five to officially pose and tons of great other shots to help us remember the weekend. And then, as if that was not enough activity for two days, we packed up and went to the local farm. There we ate lunch and then picked beets, more cucumbers, radishes, cabbage and even got a fresh egg from the hen house.
In a few hours we are headng over to our friends home for a private screening and release party for the movie I taped Friday. It is called “Lina Lei. ” But until then I am going to relax. I just got back from a late afternoon run to clear my head and my butt of the butter cream frosting and now I am going to crash on the couch to catch up on my reading. I am finishing “Water for Elephants”, which ironically enough is about life in the circus.
To the Gatti’s and Gilo’s, thank you for bringing your circus under our bigtop. That was the best weekend and the most spectacular show on earth.
I miss you all already.
Love, Aunty Coco
Posted on 08/03/2008 at 10:30 PM
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