I've blogged so many times in my other site about having something like a Teen Daycare at our house about three times a year, particularly on spring break, summer vacation and Christmas time. That's every time my stepdaughter comes up north to visit us and her cousins. We normally let them stay at home doing so many different things while we are at work. They love to hang out in the living room or in my arts and crafts/reading room akaWifey's Cave. I am always happy to lend them my cave for a week. (see above)

It's amazing how fast time flies. Four years ago, when they started hanging out at our house during these vacation days, you would find me in the kitchen preparing food almost all day --and oh yes, stocking up the pantry with a lot of snacks before they all come. You'd find me cleaning up, organizing candy-colored Nike Dunks strewn around, giving advice on hair straighteners, nail polish and MySpace drama. You bet hubby and I always had a scary movie or two up our sleeve for those late nights that we want them scream and make fun of each other, especially the boys. There would be board games and contests, a lot of dancing and field trips that hubby and I would painstakingly plan out-- the visit to the Garlic festival, the museums, the USS Hornet, Santa Cruz Boardwalk, exploring San Francisco etc.

Fast forward to today, gatherings have become more quiet, not exactly cold get-togethers, but girls have learned how to gather in one corner talking about boyfriends (?) and other secrets, while the boys plug in their earphones to listen to their iPods or iPhones, or stay glued to the computer chatting with their girlfriends. One thing they haven't outgrown is playing video games together. We always have our XBox 360 in our living room, ready for the most favored XBox 360 games and others. They still stay up late playing sometimes, but I'd see some of them wanting to stay up late more to talk (and whisper) on the phone.

This great adventure is about to happen again next month on Spring Break. I wonder what changes and milestones are there to notice this time. I'm sure they still love to eat (like a bunch of hungry pitbulls on steroids --which is cute actually), and I'm sure they will play video games. I'll start stocking up my pantry with microwaveable snacks again soon. And oh, we need to find more games and new XBox 360 accessories.

Hubby will take care of that, they're easy with Shopwiki. Me...I want to plan out the field trips. I wonder where they will choose to go this time. Not so much kiddie stuff adventure anymore, I guess. Maybe they will also try to ask to go on their own. After all, one day (soon?), they will stop needing us.

Oh drat, hubby and I aren't even done with our own childhood list yet.