"ayla, i don't care if you and luke share a bed on this trip but your dad is insisting that you leave the door open." i laughed to my 17 year old daughter. colby was insisting that she and her boyfriend had to leave the door open.
"i know mom. i'm not like that anyways." she told me, picking up one of the strawberries i had just washed.
"i know, baby. your dad just wants to protect you." i told her with a gentle smile as i cut some strawberries to take in the car.
we have 17 year old twins, ayla and kai. we also have a 15 year old son, hudson and a 13 year old, lennon.
tara and jake also have twins, who are 18. violet and lucas. violet and ayla are best friends and luke and kai are best friends. ayla and luke are dating and violet and kai are dating. so when we go to the lake, we let the kids each bring a friend, so they all end up coming.
"hey mom. what time are we leaving? i need to pack?" kai asked, entering the kitchen.
"about...." i started, looking at the clock on the oven. "ten minutes. hurry up." i laughed.
"hey mom!" i heard violet and luke yell when they walked in. violet and luke were practically my own kids, which is weird considering they're dating my kids. but tara and i are really really close and we live next door to them.
"hey guys!" i yelled back, ayla leaving the kitchen to greet her boyfriend and best friend.
"go see if lennon and carter are ready." i told ayla. carter is sam and kats daughter who is 14. she and lennon our the two youngest in our friend groups kids so they're always together as well. "go give your bags to your dad, he's in the driveway loading the car." i told kai when he came back down the stairs. he nodded to me, following instruction.
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"okay, is everyone comfortable?" i asked them, looking back. we had a normal car but we also had a van that we referred to as the 'lake van.' it has 12 seats in it and we only use it for big outings. i got a chorus of yeses from behind me as colby pulled out of the driveway.
lennon and carter were in the row right behind me, holding twyla and winston who are our french bulldogs. hudson, hayden and dylan were all in the seat behind them. hayden is corey and devyns daughter, who is 15. and then dylan is hudson's friend from school. and then ayla, kai, luke and violet were in the very last row.
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"okay guys. bedroom arrangements for this week." i announced when we walked into the house. "ayla and luke, kai and violet, hudson, dylan and hayden, and then lennon and carter." i told them.
"and doors stay opened!" colby announced before the kids all ran off.
"let them live, babe." i laughed, setting my bag down so i could quickly pull up my hair.
"sorry i don't want any teen pregnancies." he laughed. "what's for dinner?" he asked, placing a gentle kiss on my forehead.
"i was thinking that the kids would probably want to go to marianna's. if not, i could make something but we'll need groceries anyways. so might as well take them out and then make them grocery shop." i laughed.
"that works. i'll go put our stuff away and you can talk to the kids?" he suggested.
"yep." i smiled, texting the group chat with all of us parents in it to let everyone know we arrived safe.
lennon is the only one with a bedroom on this floor, since she's the youngest and all of the upstairs bedrooms were taken by time she was born, so i went there first.
