In-law report

Thurs. PM
The in-laws arrive at 5:00, I have dinner ready. My hubby arrives at 5:10. We eat ravioli, sauce, green beans, crusty bread. (I didn't mention before, but my husband comes from a donut empire ...ta-dah!... light shining down from the heavens, as angels sing...) Grandma and Grandpa reveal the TWO huge boxes of donuts made from their shops. We eat those and raspberries and strawberries for dessert. S has a cub scout meeting at 6:30. My hubby and father-in-law take S to the meeting. The other two kiddies and Grandma stay home and we go for a walk with the dog in the woods. Later, the kids have showers, then play war and rummy with Grandma and Grandpa. All is well. Smiles. Happiness. After the kids go to bed, we adults play Rummikub until midnight. Foreign service mentions: zero.

Good Friday
Up early, 7 am, cereal and leftover donuts for breakfast. Rummy, war, connect four. The weather is lovely. High temp of 78. We spend most of the day outside on the deck and in the wooded backyard. The boys make a bird house, play in the teepee in the woods, get out the bows and arrows. C makes an ant house. And paints it. We sit in the adirondack chairs. I make broccoli cheese soup and crusty bread for lunch, no meat, it's good friday. More games are played. We eat dinner out. Again, no meat. We come home and play some more games. We get the kids ready for bed. Once they are in bed, the adults play Sequence until 11:30. I find myself getting snippy. I am on the losing team all 3 games. I am accused of table talk. Foreign service mentions: zero.

Saturday noon (That's now)

I woke up at 6:45 with my back aching and my ass on the floor, as the air mattress deflates slowly during the night. C was grinning at me from her bed, "Good morning, Mama." We give my in-laws our wonderful comfy king size bed when they visit. I don't mind. I actually suggest it. They are in their 70s and he has bad hips and knees. Hubby and I sleep on the air mattress on the floor in C's room. I am reminded of a chart I remember seeing in the blog Diplolife. There may be parallels between cultural adaptation and in-law adaptation. Just a thought.

Here it is:

Stages of In-Law Adaptation?

Anyhow, I make pancakes and bacon for breakfast. Then I make a plan to head to the grocery store. My mother-in-law offers to accompany me. Because I wouldn't want to have any quiet or anything.

Right now I'm sitting out on the deck and Frank Sinatra is playing on the ipod bose speaker thingy and my hubby and his parents are playing rummy. The kids and the neighbor kids are playing in the woods. It's 85 degrees. I better start fixing lunch. Then it's on to egg dyeing.