Kids!

This picture was taken at the celebration of my parent’s 50th wedding anniversary when Emma was two. The weekend-long celebration was held at a dude ranch in upstate New York and the whole clan from my side of the family was in attendance. There were 29 of us in all, including 12 of Emma’s aunts and uncles and 12 cousins ranging in age from 4 to 18.  In honor of this special gathering we had gotten everyone cowboy hats, embroidered polo shirts and blue and red bandanas, so we were all sporting the uniform that Emma was wearing. Our family was easy to spot that weekend.

After a full day of activities and a big family dinner, Peter and I headed back to our room to try to get Emma settled down for bed. Emma was not happy to be leaving before everyone else. She did not like to miss out on fun and she was pretty sure her older cousins were not headed off to bed.

We had gotten her bathed and into her nightgown and were just settling down to read a story when Emma heard a group of her cousins heading down our hall towards the indoor pool. She ran to the door and started banging on it. “Kids, kids, help!” she shouted. “I’m in here. I can’t get the door open!”