I have previously blogged about getting a little "hytte" (cabin) in place of the much-wished for gazebo. We made the right decision! In spite of the current heat wave, we have enjoyed the breezes blowing through the several screened windows; on this past Friday night the little hytte was duly christened when 5 grandkids "slept over" in it…..or at least tried to do it. You know how kids can be when they sleep somewhere else than inside a house. I remember being determined to "sleep out" in a home-made "tent" which was put together over clotheslines…blankets with lots of clothespins and no provision whatsoever for the hordes of mosquitos that descend on hot summer nights. My attempts at sleeping out were usually a failure by the time I had been chewed up by the pesky biting insects and I was back in the house before midnight, complaining of the itching and misery. I woke my sleeping parents more than once on these futile outings.
On Friday night, the 5 (2 girls and 3 boys ranging in ages from 9 thru 15) got the sleeping arrangements settled: the boys were going to sleep in the loft and the girls were going to sleep in the tiny bedroom. Grampa and Gramma had previously carried out sleeping mattresses, cut them to size for the bed and for two comfortable lounge chairs that make into beds. Pillows and sheets and covers were in place. Grandpa and Gramma sat down for a few minutes to wipe sweat off their brows and catch their collective breath. It was an impossibly hot and humid Friday and we had our doubts about this sleeping out in the hytte but the grandkids were determined. The loft was the real broiler but the 3 boys insisted that they would be "just fine". By 9 p.m. we, and one of the parents had gotten them convinced that they should "stay put" and not get mosquito-bitten by going in and out. A card game was in progress. Just as the adults in the house were ready to go to bed, the two girls came inside with the news that they "were hungry" and so were the boys. They convinced Gramma that they would take a loaf of bread, a jar of jelly, a sack of potato chips and a huge jar of peanuts plus some bottled water to the hytte and they would make lunch for the hungry boys. With a warning not to get jelly all over the place, they departed once again for the cabin. The adults went to bed—finally—in the cool AC comfort of our house. I had decided I was sleeping in the "grandkids" room in a twin bed due to other beds being occupied plus a TV set was blaring in "my room" so I opted to sleep in a quieter place. Just as I was getting sleepy,(about 1 a.m.) the two youngest boys, ages 9 and 10 appeared in my quiet haven with their pillows in hand. "We can’t sleep in the loft–it is too hot!" they informed me with the implication that they were taking over the twin beds. They did just that, and I went to the TV blare in another bedroom where I tossed and turned and slept poorly. Soon the 15 year old was inside also, having fled the loft for one of the sofas in the downstairs. The girls persisted in the hytte and stayed all night.
The next morning I staggered to the hytte to inspect for damages. I discovered several empty pepsi cans which explained the energy and sleeplessness of the grandkids. They had discovered a large carton in the garage and had consumed some warm pepsi along with the bread, jelly, potato chips, and peanuts! The water bottles were also empty which would account for the girls’ midnight story (when they came in for the lunch items) that the boys were all "outside pee-ing in the grass".
On Saturday the kids were all going strong all day…playing a baseball game called "autos" in the field down hill from our house; they were spraying each other with cold well water from the hose to keep cool and they also drank a cooler full of gatorade and water bottles. (more trips into the trees for the boys). There were also many short trips around the immediate farm fields on two vehicles—a 4- wheeler and a scooter— usually with passengers, after all were cautioned about "being careful" and wearing helmets.
By Saturday night everyone was exhausted, slightly sun-burned or sun-tanned, and very ready to go to bed early. I fell into a deep sleep—this time on a sofa having been turned out again from my usual sleeping places!!! By Sunday we all felt like we were back to normal and the christening of the hytte was completed. I look forward to sleeping out there myself—but it is going to be on a lot cooler day and night when I try it. I am definitely not going to drink many bottles of water or any warm pepsis before I "sleep over." "Going" in the grass in the blackness of a summer night is NOT an option for Buffalogal.
