Giggle, giggle

Justice creating

Hannah painting a rock

Blob tag; Ellie, Hannah, Malia, Marc & Kyle

So I'm laying there in my sleeping bag at about 10 p.m., trying to convince myself I can sleep in a tent on the ground when I realize I'm surrounded by an ocean of giggles.
The five little girls sharing my tent were all giggling.
The two little girls and the little boy in the other tent were giggling.
It was magical and marvelous and we probably kept the whole neighborhood around us awake, especially when they started telling each other to go to sleep.
You could hear their mothers in their scoldings.
"You're seriously giving me a headache!"
"Be quiet and stop talking about being quiet!"
"Go to sleep right now. I mean it!'
"I'm so going to have a headache."
Meanwhile we pretended the traffic on the road beyond our fence sounded like a raging river and the wind flapping the tent fabric was a forest breeze.
I laid there thinking what a joy it was to listen to eight small grandchildren fuss mildly at each other with no worries about bad guys or bears or monsters.

Adell listening

The Great Purple Ape at large

We were having a great Grandma/Grandpa camp-out in the backyard: cooking hot dogs over the portable fire pit (sharp sticks UP!), racing around in a hopeless game of Freeze Tag (nobody ever stayed frozen), finding a treasure chest filled with chocolate and graham crackers so we could make S'mores with our roasted (in some cases blackened and crisped) marshmellows, playing Flashlight Winker with our new $1 flashlights.

Malia can't believe her ears

We told stories...some short, some long and some way longer. "And then..," said Hannah every time she paused.

Ellie absorbing

We listened and jumped to Grandpa's Great Purple Ape story...it gets longer with every telling.
We went on a mighty bear hunt even though I couldn't keep the sequence of obstacles straight.
We painted rocks and made constellation charts and basically celebrated being healthy and free and together.
After a while the giggling slowed down and the only sound was the wind and somebody's grandpa snoring.
It was hectic and fun and a lot of work.
It was a great night and as soon as I recover, it'll be a totally priceless memory.