Adventures Of Kate and The Sitter
Chapter Seven – Backyard Camping
Halloween, this year, had been a bad experience for Jane and Maura. They had worked late and they continued all day Tuesday. The solved the case but arrived home late Tuesday night after Kelly had put the children to bed. Jane asked Kelly, "Hey, remember a little while ago when you said you wanted to take the children camping at some point and that maybe you could have a backyard camping adventure?"
"Yes, I just think it would be so much fun. I know it might have to wait until the weather is better." Kelly replied. "I still think it would be a fun thing to do with them. They love camping so much. They are constantly talking about the camping trips that you take them on each summer."
"Actually, the weather is going to be nice on Saturday with a high of 75 and a low of 63. So, Saturday night would be the perfect time, if you didn't want to wait until the spring." Jane informed her and Maura nodded in agreement.
They loved that Kelly was trying to find fun things for the children to participate in. They know so many people have sitters and the children would just spend a great deal of time watching TV or playing games, but not Kelly, she wants to have the children participating in activities and challenging their minds, not just sitting and watching TV.
"Oh, Saturday would be great. I have a paper due on Thursday so I would still have time to get everything arranged. I think the children would love a backyard camping adventure. MJ has been telling me stories about how you and Maura take them camping at least once each year. He also may have said something about you trying to teach him how to fish and that you may not have caught any fish each time he has been fishing with you." Kelly laughed at the last part as she smirked at Jane.
"Hey, I can catch fish. I just happened to not catch fish on those two occasions." Jane explained.
Kelly continued, "He said it was Arthur who really taught him how to fish, especially fly fishing. He said that Arthur bought him a fishing pole and everything."
"Well, I can't be perfect all the time. So, my father-in-law taught him how to fly fish. I have taught him so many other things." Jane said a little defensively. She had tried so hard to teach MJ to fish but it was just an off few days for her, and all of her tactics were not working. The fish were not biting.
"Jane, Kelly is just teasing you." Maura informed her wife. Maura sensed that something was bothering Jane as she normally didn't act this way with Kelly. She liked Kelly and was thankful that they had her around to help with the children.
"Yes, Jane, it's fun to tease you, like you tease me." Kelly told Jane as Jane tried to smile at her, but failed.
"I'm sorry, I guess I have a few things on my mind." Jane said as she went upstairs without saying anything further. Kelly had thought everything was fine, Jane was engaged in their conversation but all of a sudden her mood changed. Kelly was sad.
"Kelly, this last case was tough on her. She has always had so many fond memories of the Pumpkin Patch and now with the murders she is a little beside herself. She should be better after she gets some sleep. Go ahead and make your plans for Saturday and let us know what you will need food wise. I know Jane is already planning on getting the ingredients for smores as the children love those. I will see you tomorrow, good night." Maura relayed and then went upstairs to get ready for bed.
When Maura walked into the bedroom, Jane was sitting on the bed with her head in her hands. "Maur, I'm sorry. I'm just tired and upset about the last case. I know we solved it but now when I think about the Pumpkin Patch, I think about the cut-up bodies on the trailer instead of smashed pumpkins. It's going to take me a while to get over this." Jane said as she leaned against Maura who had sat down beside her.
"I know love, why don't you get ready for bed and maybe you will feel better in the morning." Maura stated as she rose from the bed so she could get ready. She was also tired and just wanted to cuddle with her wife and forget about their last case. Very few cases bothered them like this. This place held very fond memories for them.
Jane followed Maura into the bathroom as they both went through their nighttime routine of getting ready for bed. Tomorrow would be a new day and Jane was looking forward to working with Kelly on the backyard camping adventure for the children.
Thinking of the children enjoying the backyard camping adventure put a smile on Jane's face and within minutes of snuggling up to Maura she was fast asleep. Maura had been worried about whether Jane would be able to sleep better tonight as she had tossed and turned the night before.
Jane and Maura had to work on Saturday for half a day so that they could wrap up some paperwork to close out another case they had picked up that week. When they got home Jane went out in the backyard and saw the children raking up leaves with Kelly. They had several nice piles of leaves. Jane walked up to one turned and faced the children and then just fell backwards into the leaves. She had such a huge smile on her face.
The children all ran over to see what their mama was doing. "Oh Jane, I was just getting ready to show them that." Kelly said as she extended a hand to help Jane up.
"So sorry, I couldn't resist." Jane said. Jane felt bad she had ruined what Kelly was planning to show the children. She really couldn't resist though, she loved falling into piles of leaves.
"Show us what Kelly?" Kate asked.
"The art of falling into a pile of leaves." Kelly replied. "Your mama just beat me to it." Kelly demonstrated for them and then the children started falling into the leaves. They were having fun.
Maura came out and saw what was going on. "Jane!"
Jane turned to look at Maura, "We're just having a little fun, Maur."
"Do you know how many germs you are being exposed to by jumping or falling into the pile of leaves?" Maura questioned Jane.
Jane shyly looked at her wife and replied, "No, but it is so much fun Maur, don't you want to try it?"
"Not really." Maura stated as Jane approached her. Kelly had freshened up the pile by raking more leaves into it. Jane didn't like taking no for an answer and quickly pulled Maura with her as she fell down into the pile of leaves.
She turned her so that Maura was underneath her and she started kissing her. All the children piled on top of them. Angela, Constance and Arthur happened to walk into the house and heard all the commotion in the backyard and wondered what was going on. Once Angela saw what was taking place, she took out her camera and started taking pictures.
The children all took turns falling into the pile of leaves. Jane and Kelly busied themselves raking the piles back up so that the children could continue to have fun. Maura was disgusted by the thought of all the germs and immediately went inside so she could take a quick shower and change.
The children had no idea what would be happening that night. Angela and Constance had baked some cookies and purchased all the groceries they would need for their adventure. Angela and Constance went inside to take care of the groceries. Arthur sat down in one of the chairs and just watched his grandchildren having fun. He loved to hear them laugh.
After a few minutes Jane went inside to see what the ladies were doing. She saw all the groceries and was pleased that her mother and Constance had done the shopping for the children's adventure. Maura came downstairs in fresh clothes and Jane just smirked at her. "Jane, I think you should shower also." Jane started to walk over to her and Maura backed away not wanting to be touched by Jane until she took a shower and removed all of the germs.
"Oh, you're no fun Maur." Jane stated as she went upstairs to take a quick shower and change.
Kelly helped the children rake all the leaves into bags and put them off to the side of the house. She then said that they needed to go into the house as they had to get cleaned up and ready for bed. The children looked at her strangely.
"Kelly, it is not bedtime yet." Kate stated.
"I know Kate, but we are doing something special and we need to be in our pajamas for this adventure."
"What are we doing?" Kate asked. She was curious and wanted to know what was going on.
"You will find out after you are ready for bed. Now let's go upstairs and get ready for bed."
Once the children entered the house, Maura and Angela went upstairs with them to help them get ready for bed. They all needed showers to remove all the dirt and germs from falling into the leaves. Jane and Kelly went outside to set up the tent. Arthur decided to help them out, while Constance put dinner into the oven for the adults.
When the tent was erected, Jane started up the grill so it could be warming up. She then went inside to grab the ice chest and load all of the provisions they would need for this adventure. She placed the hot dogs and hamburger patties as well as some water into the ice chest. Kelly held the door open for her when she was ready to bring out the ice chest.
Kelly picked up the hot dog and hamburger buns as well as the fixings for smores and then went to the guest house to take her shower. Arthur started the fire in the outdoor fire pit. Within half an hour the entire camp area was set up, all that was missing was the campers.
The campers arrived a few minutes later blindfolded following Kelly. She wanted to surprise them. Kate insisted that she had to be first in the line behind Kelly. Lilly was next then AJ followed by MJ.
Kelly positioned the children and once all of the adults were seated, she told the children they could take off their blindfolds. The next sound heard was shrieks of joy from the children. They recognized their tent. "Are we camping in our backyard?" Kate asked.
"If you would like. I thought it might be fun." Kelly responded.
"I want to." Lilly replied as she entered the tent to find her sleeping bag all laid out already with her favorite stuff animal already present. She hugged her stuffed animal and then went back outside. She hugged Kelly and then stated, "But we haven't had dinner yet."
Jane jumped up and said, "Who wants hamburgers or hot dogs? Give Kelly your order as she is in charge. I'm simply here to get things started. Have fun children. I will see you in the morning." And with that all of the adults said their goodnights and went inside.
Angela and Constance put the finishing touches on their meal and all of the adults sat down to eat while Kelly cooked hamburgers and hot dogs for the children. Inside the dining room you could still hear the laughter of the children. It was still early and Maura hoped that the children wouldn't be too loud. She didn't want to get another noise violation from the Home Owners Association.
Angela, Constance and Arthur left after dessert and Jane and Maura were left alone as Kelly had the children for the night. Jane found an action movie to watch and the two of them sat on the couch all snuggled up and watched the movie.
After dinner, Kelly asked the children if they wanted to have smores. They all said yes and they proceeded to make smores. They sat around the campfire and Kelly told them some ghost stories. She actually had an AM radio and found an old radio mystery show and they listened to an episode of that before they put out the fire and crawled into the tent to go to sleep.
It was about 2 AM when Kate heard a noise and woke Kelly up. "Kelly, I'm scared. There is something outside. Can we go inside. I don't want to be out here anymore. I want my mama."
"How about we take our sleeping bags and go into the guest house?" Kelly offered. She knew Jane and Maura needed alone time as it had been an emotional week for them.
Kate didn't have a chance to answer before Lilly answered, "Can we do that? I would feel safer. Mama normally protects us when we are camping."
"Sure, we can camp out in the living room of the guest house. Gather your sleeping bags and pillows and let's go." Kelly said. The boys had woken up because of all of the commotion. The five of them gathered all of their belongings and walked into the guest house. Lilly watched as Kelly locked the door behind them. She wanted to feel safe. If her mama wasn't going to be there locking the door would make her feel a little safer.
MJ and AJ spread there sleeping bags out on the floor by the coffee table. Lilly arranged her sleeping bag on the love seat and Kate and Kelly shared the big sofa. Kate had her head towards Lilly and Kelly's head was at the other end. They all fell asleep rather quickly.
Early in the morning, Jane and Maura had gotten up to check on their campers and found the tent empty. Kelly had pinned a note that said, 'In the guest house.' They went into the guest house very quietly and found Kate sleeping on top of Kelly on the sofa and Lilly down on the floor between her brothers. They were all still asleep so they quietly exited the guest house and went back upstairs after fixing themselves some coffee. They figured they had some additional alone time and took full advantage of that.
It was a few hours later when Kate ran into their bedroom and woke them up. "Mama, mommy, we had so much fun camping in the backyard. Are you awake?" Kate had climbed up on the bed and climbed under the covers on Maura's side of the bed and gave her mommy a good morning kiss and then rolled over her and gave Jane a quick peck on the cheek and said, "Mama, are you faking being asleep?"
"Kate, I am not faking sleeping. I'm asleep." Jane told Kate.
"Mama, open your eyes. I know you are awake." Kate said as she took her hands and placed them on Jane's cheeks. She gave her a kiss and said, "Wake up, mama, please."
"Okay, okay, little one, what's up?" Jane said as she opened her eyes as Kate jumped on top of her. Kate proceeded to tell her all about their camping adventure.
"Wait, how did you get in the house and does Kelly know that you are here?" Jane asked concerned that Kate should've been in the guest house with Kelly and the rest of the children.
"I told Kelly I was coming over here and I know the combination to the back door, so I let myself in. I made sure the door was shut behind me."
Just then Jane could hear the commotion of the children downstairs and knew that they were all awake and inside the house. She looked at the clock, it was 8:30. She grabbed Kate and rolled over so she could wake up Maura. She kissed Maura on the cheek and Maura just hummed at her. Kate kissed her mommy on the cheek and Maura just hummed. "Maur, time to wake up."
"Five more minutes." Maura said softly as Jane kissed her again.
"Hey, that is my line." Jane told her as Kate kissed her mommy again and rolled over on top of her.
"Mama, lets kiss her at the same time." Kate told her mama as she gave her the biggest smile. Jane loved how affectionate Kate was.
"Okay, ready? 3 … 2 … 1 … kiss." They both kissed Maura. Maura opened her eyes to see Kate on top of her and Jane on her side, both of them were staring at her.
"Alright my loves, I am awake. What is the urgency?" Maura said as she smiled at Jane and Kate.
"It's time to have breakfast, mommy. You have to get up so we can have breakfast." Kate enthusiastically told her. Maura reached up and used her thumb to wipe some chocolate off of Kate's cheek.
Jane looked at Kate and Maura didn't get all the chocolate so Jane tried to lick it off of her face. "Mama, yuck, don't lick my face. That's just gross." Kate said as she stuck her arms up to block her mama from licking her face. She climbed down off of her mommies and went downstairs screaming, "Kelly, protect me, mama is licking my face."
Kelly just laughed as Kate came running into her. "Let me see your face." Kelly examined Kate's face and sure enough she still had some chocolate on it and Kelly took the dish rag and wiped Kate's face so that all the chocolate was gone. "Okay, you are chocolate free. I'm sure your mama won't lick your face anymore."
"Thank you." Kate said as she ran back up the stairs to go get her mommies. Kelly set out the little waffle makers so that the children could have waffles this morning.
"Yuck, kissing." Kate stated as she jumped up on her mommies' bed. Jane and Maura just smiled as Jane pulled Kate in for a hug and kisses.
"Is it yucky now?" Jane asked Kate as she held onto Kate and hung her upside down as she walked downstairs with Maura following right behind.
"No mama, but can you put me down?" Kate asked.
"If I put you down you will be on your head." Jane stated.
"Well mama, you could turn me right side up and then put me down."
"Nah, I think I will take you to the dining room this way as punishment for waking me up this morning." They arrived downstairs and Jane asked Kelly, "What are you cooking?"
"Mini waffles, would you like one?"
"Of course, maybe 3 or 4, they're small." Jane informed Kelly. "Maura will want a few also."
"I made enough batter for everyone to have some waffles." Kelly informed her.
"Thank you, Kelly and I will take two, do you need any help?" Maura stated.
"No thank you, I have it all under control. My assistant Kate is helping. She is quite the little helper."
"Yes, she cooks with her nonna, whenever Angela will let her. She loves cooking."
They all sat down and enjoyed their breakfast and then had a conversation about what they wanted to do today and bowling won out. After breakfast they all cleaned up and changed to go bowling.