The Ing Trio

Dear Abigail,

We had "Camp Aunt Nicole's" at our house a couple weeks ago, and boy, was it the happening place.  You see, your Aunt Amy decided to take a little vacay across the way, as in she headed over to England for a week to visit some relatives of Uncle Martin's.  He was busy working and it was the Ing trio's spring break, so I offered up our house for Caroline, Harrison and Spencer.  Yeah, 5 kiddos, one house, several days.  Camp Aunt Nicole was under way.  On Wednesday, Aunt Amy brought the kiddos to our house and we all ventured together to the airport to drop her off.  After saying our goodbyes, we decided we were hungry so your brave momma took all 5 of you to Chuy's for lunch.  I have to say, things started off really well.  Everyone behaved and we were in and out like champs! We got home and everyone kind of settled into their spots and then when Miss Lauren got home from school, she came over to watch Katie Bug while the rest of us went to play laser tag!!  This was your first time playing, and I don't think I would have bothered taking you, but Clara Lee had just gone for Jack's birthday and Mimi said she loved it.  So, I thought, what the heck, let's try it.  I knew the Ing trio loved it, so off we went.  At first you were all pumped about it.  Then they took us in the dark room and put big jackets on us and handed big laser guns.  That's when you got a little nervous.  You asked me to just wear the vest and you'd shoot the gun.  So we played our first round just like that.  Or at least for the first 5 minutes.  Then you insisted on wearing the vest and me just going away.  I knew it wouldn't take long at all.  You were all over that place and loving it!!   The first game was just between us 5, but then an older group of people (like Mommy older!) came in and played the next round.  You LOVED that more people were in there because you were so sneaky.  One of them came out saying that you'd say "I'm not going to shoot you I just want to go past you" then they'd walk by and BAM, you'd shoot him!  I think Caroline taught you that trick, but you mastered it rather quickly!  It was a ton of fun and everyone had a blast.  

Thursday, you headed to school and Caroline went with me to Kate's gymnastics, while the boys stayed home.  After lunch, we picked you up from school and headed to Sky Zone to get our jump on!  I had all 5 of you and did not do a great job at getting pictures!!  That's you on the rope.  You had a blast, as expected.  So did everyone.  This was the #1 requested place when Camp Aunt Nicole was first spoken of!

We did some playing outside, although the weather wasn't the best... 

 And you and Caroline looked marvelous in your matching jammies!!

 While you do look all sweet and innocent in that picture, it wasn't all fun and games with you two.  At one point, I looked in your 'ship' (the little space under the bench upstairs) and you two had the IPad and a bag of chocolate chips.  I had thought you were just upstairs playing, but nope.  I was a little furious.  And once, after I told Caroline that she was too big to ride in the jeep, I looked out to see you had some how rigged the wagon onto the jeep, so Caroline was in the wagon, which was being pulled by the jeep.  Kind of defeats the purpose of not getting in the jeep, but hey, I have to give you props for thinking that through!

We did have lots of fun, though.  At one point we went to Walmart, although that kind of seems like a blur at this point.  Thankfully I have the pictures to prove it...

 Now I remember, on Friday, Uncle Jaybe picked up the boys and took them to work with him while you went to school.  Caroline, Kate and I picked you up and ran a few errands and then met everyone at Mexican that night.  Because things weren't crazy enough, I thought it would be a good idea to just let Ellie come on over and spend the night, too.  So, she did!  Crazy is an understatement, for sure.  You three DID end up going to sleep at some point, and you were all three up bright and early Saturday morning, but that's okay because Camp Aunt Nicole was prepared.  I had Daddy take the boys to a basketball game while Mommy took you and Ellie and Caroline to roller skate!!  This was your first time doing this, too, and you loved it!  I had seen/heard from other Mommy's that this skating rink had these fancy little 'walkers' to help the newbies learn to skate.  They were perfect and exactly what you and Ellie needed!

 What a fun time we had!  I have not been skating in FOREVER and while I didn't actually put on the skates (I knew better than that having both you and Ellie with me!) I did have a good time listening to all the fun music and especially doing the hokey pokey!  You girls loved the glow sticks they handed out, too, and even more so when they turned off the lights!!  What a fun time!

After skating, we headed home and enjoyed the sunshine.  Kipper came over for some fun while Aunt Steph and Uncle Jaybee had a baby shower at their house, so yeah, 7 kiddos, one roof.  Mommy really knows how to make things fun, huh!  You and Ellie and Caroline enjoyed some time outside, and after one too many silly arguments between you and Caro, I decided that Caro should head home with Ellie for the night!  I think we all needed a break, even though we did have some fun!

 While Ellie and Caro headed home, we got things packed up and headed to another special request from the Ing Trio - a japanese steakhouse!  Spencer loves him some japanese steakhouse, and Harrison, too, so we headed that way!

Mommy was feeling rather exhausted and Katie bug was pretty tired, too, so we headed back home after dinner, but you and Daddy and the boys headed over to Uncle Jaybee's to roast a few marshmellows and play with Ryan and Ellie and Caroline.  It wasn't too too late and you and the boys were back at home, ready for bed.  It was a LONG day, for sure!  Sunday morning rolled around and turned into a very pretty day.  You and Harrison played so well together, too.  Don't ever tell him I told you, but he's so good with little kids, even Katie bug :)

By that afternoon, the crew had brought Caroline back over and Papa was there ready to pick up the Ing trio and ship them back to Cookeville.  It was a long 5 days, but fun fun memories were made with these kiddos.  I'm so happy you have cousins every which way you turn your head!

Love you and all those cousins!