Niblets in Wonderland

My dear, sweet, kind, caring, over-anxious, somewhat paranoid older sister Jenny came for a visit this week.

Jenny came to see my new place and to deliver her kids for their 2nd annual Burley visit. She brought all four of her boys...Max, Milo (a.k.a. The Baby), Bentley, and Jonah.



And Ruby came too.
This visit was a big deal for a couple of reasons.

First, due to the fact that it is kind of difficult for Jenny and her hubby to travel with all five of their kids, they usually only make it to Idaho about once a year.

Second, due to the fact that it is kind of difficult for Jenny and her hubby to travel with all five of their kids, Jenny had only been to my cute little cow town ONCE in the seven years I have lived here.

And third, as you may recall from some of my other posts, Jenny worries a great deal about her kids. And when I say she worries a great deal, what I mean is that she worries a GREAT deal.

If she was a superhero, worrying would be her superpower.

If worrying was a baked good, she would have beaten my baklava and won the blue rosette.

If worrying was an Olympic sport, she would have more gold medals than Michael Phelps.

There is a sign post at the gate of our cute county fair, the kind of sign post with arrows that gives basic directions. Most people, when they look at the sign, see this...

But what Jenny sees is more like this...

But, because she loves me a lot and trusts me a little, she drove her kids up so that they could experience the fair with the rest of my adorable niblets.


She and Milo stayed just long enough to get a taste of the fair(figuratively and literally), and then took off so that the older kids could have a couple of parent-free days.

I wish Jenny could have stayed longer, but going home a bit early probably resulted in a little less stress for her, and a tiny but more "fun" for the niblets.

It turns out that, the higher an activity rates on the "parental perceived safety scale", the lower it rates on the "niblet perceived fun scale."

For example....

Playing in a bouncy house supervised by a thirteen-year-old equipped with nothing but a stop watch would probably rate around a high 7 or a low 8 on the "parental perceived safety scale", therefore registering around a 2 or 3 on the "niblet perceived fun scale".


But, if an observant mommy such as my sister were to point out the proximity of the bouncy house slide to a sharp tent spike, the "parental perceived safety scale rating" would drop to a 6.


The "niblet perceived fun scale rating" would not rise, however, unless the niblets were made aware of their mommy's concern. After all, everything is much more fun if Mommy doesn't want you to do it.

Other examples include, but are not limited to..

Swimming, splashing, dunking, wrestling, and jumping for hours upon hours in a lifeguard-less hotel pool:
Parental perceived safety scale: 4
Niblet perceived fun scale: 7
Feeding treats to sweet puppies with sharp-ish teeth:
Parental perceived safety scale: 5
Niblet perceived fun scale: 5


Playing on the super slide and/or Harry Potter ride:
Parental perceived safety scale: 3
Niblet perceived fun scale: 8


Riding on the mini kiddie coaster... with no hands:
Parental perceived safety scale: 2
Niblet perceived fun scale: 9


Ridding the giant ferris wheel:
Parental perceived safety scale: 3
Niblet perceived fun scale: 7


Taking a serious spin in the Gravitron with only your 8 year old brother as company:
Parental perceived safety scale: 0
Niblet perceived fun scale: 11


Eating more junk food in one evening than during the other 84 days of summer vacation combined:
Parental perceived safety scale: 4
Niblet perceived fun scale: 8

Getting seats so close to the rodeo action that you are frequently sprayed with arena "dirt", bronco slobber, and bull snot:
Parental perceived safety scale: 2
Niblet perceived fun scale: 9

All things considered, I think the niblets had a pretty darn good time. They ate fair food, learned Burley slang, played hard, swam harder, and developed a healthy appreciation for rodeo.
If there was an open class fair competition for best weekend, I think we would have scored a blue ribbon. But now, if you will excuse me, I am going to try to score a nap. School starts round these parts in one week, and I think it is going to take me that long to recover.

Thanks for loaning me you kids, Jenny and John!