Blackrock B&B

A few weeks ago, my brother e-mailed me and was all, "Hey! We're thinking of coming to visit when the Eldest Sister and Eldest Niece are visiting. Is that cool?" And I was all, "YES, YES IT IS COOL!"

My brother has not been to Blackrock since A. and I got married here thirteen years ago. His family--wife and two daughters ages 8 and almost-4 years--have never been. None of them have met Jack, and all the cousins on my side of the family have never all been in one place. So of course, of course it is cool.

This means that as of tomorrow, there will be six more people sleeping in our house for two nights. And this is about the only time I have been thankful to have such an absurdly large house, because we have beds for them all. Bedrooms, even.

Allow me to take you on a tour of our hospitable home.

Would you like a private room shaded by a verdant magnolia tree?

Please, enjoy the ambiance of A.'s childhood bedroom. I'll even promise the bed will be made before you need to sleep in it.

Or perhaps you'd prefer a charming dormer room in close proximity to a bathroom?

You'll be sleeping next to the wireless router on the windowsill, handy for any work that follows you on vacation.

If you would like a room with en suite bathroom, then the downstairs guest room is for you.

Of course, it's also the only bathroom with a shower in the entire house, so you're liable to be disturbed at 7 a.m. when A. needs to shower to get to court.

And if everything else is full up, there's always the parlor with a mattress on the floor. 

At least it'll be a real mattress, since we still have the one we replaced a few months ago. Good thing we couldn't figure out how to get rid of it yet.

Twelve people, two nights, one house. It's going to be total insanity. I can't wait.