Camping with the Cousins (The Conclusion)

“SNOW!” Violet couldn’t believe her eyes when she looked out the window in the morning. Rushing over to Melissa’s bed, she shook her awake. “Melissa, you have to come see this. It snowed a lot last night. There’s probably a foot out there.”

“There is not, Violet. It’s October. Whoever heard of snow in October?” Melissa pulled the covers over her head. “I’ll be down soon.”

Violet wasn’t about to give up. “No, seriously, there is. Just come on, Melissa. Please?”

“FIne, I’m coming.” Melissa reluctantly slid out of bed, rubbing her eyes as Violet led her to the window.

“Wow.” For once, she had no words. “I can’t believe it. There’s actually snow. Have the guys seen it yet?”

“I don’t know. I think they’re downstairs already, so they must have. Let’s go see.”

The two girls hurried downstairs. “Jason? Andy? You down here?” Melissa grabbed her hoodie off the couch as she passed. “It’s so cold in here.”

“Yeah, we’re here.” Jason came inside, carrying a load of firewood. “I’m going to start a fire and warm it up in here a little, and then we need to talk about what’s next.”

After Jason finished, the four gathered around the fire. “How deep is the snow, Jason?” Andy asked the question they were all thinking.

“Deep enough. I’ve never seen anything like this before. While I was out there, I looked at the car, and I don’t think we can get out of here today.”

“Oh great. I’m gonna go call Mom and Dad. We told them we’d be home by tonight, and they’re going to worry if we aren’t.” Melissa stood up and grabbed her phone. “Oh no. There’s no service.”

“So what are we going to do?” Melissa stared out the window at the snow. 

“What are we going to do? What do you mean, what are we going to do? Let’s go play in the snow!” Violet could barely contain her excitement. “Come on, let’s go have some fun!”

“Yeah, let’s go!” Jason followed her to the door. He looked back at Andy and Melissa. “You two coming?”

Melissa laughed and nodded. “Yeah, sounds awesome!”

Melissa and Violet spent the day making a snowman family while Jason and Andy built the biggest snow fort the girls had ever seen.

“You know you won’t get to spend a lot of time in that, right?” Melissa threw a snowball at Andy, but he ducked just in time.

“Yeah, I know.” Andy quickly made a snowball and threw it back at her.

“Are you trying to start a snowball fight? Come on Violet, let’s get them!”

After running around with snowballs for a while, the cousins headed inside for hot chocolate and games.

“Let’s play Monopoly now!” Violet held up the box.

“Okay. Can I have the top hat?” Melissa asked.

While they sat inside, talking, laughing, and drinking lots of hot chocolate, the snow continued to fall. It continued to fall into the night. The next morning, however, they woke to an exciting sound.

“RAIN!” Violet squealed, rushing again to Melissa and shaking her awake. “Lissa, it’s raining! The snow will melt, and we can go home!”

She took the steps two at a time, finding Jason and Andy already there. “Did you see the rain?”

“Yeah, isn’t it great? Let’s get ready to go.” Andy grabbed his suitcase and headed out the door. “Get Melissa up, would you, Violet?”

The next hour was a flurry activity as the four ran around packing up, loading the car, and having fun in the process.

“Okay, we’re loaded up! Let’s go!” Andy shouted.

The four excitedly jumped into the car. “Home, here we come!” shouted Violet.

“Come on, come on, Jason!” Violet could barely contain her excitement as they pulled into the driveway.

“Mom! Dad! We’re home!” She shouted, racing into the house with Jason close behind. “You’ll never guess what an adventure we’ve had!”