We are about halfway through summer with two trips down and two to go. The first adventure took us to the coast. Actually, my running team and I ran to the coast, and Bradley, the kids, and my mom met us there. It was a quick visit, and involved a beach bonfire, marshmallows, and an extremely awkward and awfully "non-kid friendly" restaurant disaster. I learned my lesson to make sure to read all of the Yelp! postings, and not just look at stars and overall stats. The short man did not appreciate Miles' interjections whilst he was describing his homemade cheese platter. 
Our second adventure was sans-dad and this was when two demons decided to take over the bodies of my normally well-behaved children. I should have known I was in trouble early on, when Miles traded his decent two-year old vocabulary for toddler profanity. It was a week of opportunity: beach day in Oceanside, Knott's Berry Farm day, trampoline park day, movie theater day, Battleship Museum/Children's Museum/Giant's Game Day, evenings by the pool, two grandmas, five moms, ten kids, and a partridge in a pear tree. Minus any booze. That's right, I was dry for almost seven days. I may or may not have slipped in a beer (or two) during the game to celebrate the Giant's victorious lead. When opportunity knocks, I welcome it. Just saying.
Despite dealing with two really poorly behaved children, the week was really great. My mother-in-law and her sister provide us with this opportunity of "Cousins' Week" every year and I truly appreciate every minute of it.
Growing up, I only had cousins on one side of the family and they were a lot older than us. I feel so lucky that my kids grow up down the road from two of their cousins, see most of the Isbell cousins on a regular basis, and get to experience all of the "down south" cousins a couple of times a year. The highlight of my week was boogie boarding ALONGSIDE Carter. He really took to it and I was so proud of him.
The local YMCA hosts a cross-country race series during the summer on Tuesday evenings. I am proud to report that Carter's mile time has improved by almost ten minutes between the last two summers. The poor guy probably could have taken even less time if he wasn't waiting on his brother to get in and out of the stroller. If you ask him about the race all he wants to tell you is about the raffle prize he won, "Yeah dad, I got a teddy bear, soap, coffee mug, and just what you wanted. . . steak sauce! They must have thought I was really old or something." Miles was equally proud of his new insulated 100 oz water bottle, mom won a nice travel mug, and I took home second place in the series. 
The goal for the remainder of the summer is to enjoy each other, the moment, have fun, pay better attention to Yelp! reviews, and pray to God that whatever took over my sons for a week does not come back. Steak sauce anyone?
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