The Night of the Naughties

It was our first real family vacation, and up to this point, it was perfect. Geoff and Dan had been golfing nearly each morning, we went swimming, shopping, visited with friends, dined on great meals, and spent countless hours sitting on the deck eating fresh cherries from the trees in the yard & enjoying great company & the mountain view from the valley.

But life as we knew it with our lovelies was about to come to an abrupt end. In the middle of the night, two little creatures crept from their beds and destroyed their grandparents' house. Destroyed! The pictures don't even do full justice to the damage they caused.

I was first clued in when Lauren woke me up crying because she had chips in her bed. Strange I thought, but it must have been the dog. Before I knew it Abby was up with the same issue.... she, too, had a bed full of crumbled chips and crackers. That is when I found it: the writing was on the floor. I would discover a few hours later that it was also on the hard wood floor and the wall. And just today I was informed there was yet more writing on the bathroom wall.

Thrust with anger, I lay in bed in the middle of the night trying to conceive of how this could have happened. Surely it wasn't my angels. Could it have been Heidi? We did have a lot of wine the night before. Would they think it was me? I joked about being wasted, but was certain they wouldn't blame me for the destruction. There could only be one reasonable answer. The old orchard house we were in must be haunted! Yeap, it had to be. Someone was irritated with the little girls visiting the estate and set them up. After all, the dog doesn't have opposable thumbs, so he is no longer a suspect. And then I was scared. I did the only thing I could think of to get to sleep. I prayed.

Unfortunately, my prayers were not answered. To the best of my knowledge, the house is not haunted. The culprits were my offspring. It didn't take long to figure how who done it; Abby was sitting in the middle of it all when I got up. Guilty was written all over her face, and the floor beneath her.

Abby is smart enough by now to quickly pass the blame to the little one. But in the end we derived the truth. Abby fessed up to the dining room creations, and in Lauren's words, "I threw the chips." It still makes me laugh every time I say it, but I won't tell her that. Tiny was also responsible for the kitchen etchings, and we all believe is the instigator of the entire operation.

The punishment went a little something like this: All art work must be cleaned up by the artists before breakfast; they didn't like it, but they did it. All swimming suit, leotard, and bra privileges were also revoked. Since these are privileges, they must be earned back with good behavior.

I am happy to report, that after almost a week following the destruction, they are back on track with their behavior, but it has not been easy. Grandpa & Grandma were not thrilled about seeing their house turned into the Smithsonian over night, but they handled it a lot better than Geoff & I did. And I think there is a grandma somewhere in Wenatchee, Washington who will think twice before spoiling her two little lovelies.