When I was little, a few times a year my parents would pack my little sister and me into a car late at night. We would fall asleep watching movies or fighting with each other, and when we woke up we would be at Grandma and Grandpa's house in Indiana.
Grandma and Grandpa's house was awesome for a bunch of reasons. Frosted flakes and candy for one. Yum. My sister and I weren't allowed to eat sugar but we could sometimes get away with it with Grandpa. And Grandma always had little activities for my sister and me and all of our cousins, to do. When we were there at Christmas we made little paper wreaths, cards, and wrapped presents. She had this toy cabinet containing more crayons than any small child could ever need and those oversized coloring books that for a long time were bigger than we were. We would color for HOURS. She had blocks, puzzles, games, and stamps. In case you're wondering, rubber stamps provide endless entertainment for small children.
I have a huge extended family. Lots of Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins. So there were always a bunch of us little ones milling around entertaining ourselves. I cringe thinking about the horrible Christmas pageants we made the family sit through. But my Grandma is smart. And patient. I can't even fathom the patience we must have required. Every holiday there was a "kids" table for dinner. So we could snort milk out our noses and make farting noises to our hearts content without having to deal with our parents reprimands. (I used to think the kids table was lame, but I was unbelievably disappointed at my boredom when I once tried to sit with the adults.)
But by far the most time consuming and best loved thing about going to Grandma and Grandpa's was the basement. She had this stairway going down into the basement that made a 90 degree turn about half way down. And for years, right at the bottom of the stairs was a little 4x4 foot space, and then a treadmill where my Grandma walked in the mornings.
...oh the shenanigans.
So we would pile huge pillows at the bottom of the stairs, and dare each other to jump off the top step. We would be our only male cousin on the treadmill, and turn it on at full speed flinging him off the back into the pillow pile. After he tried it, and he lived, then we would all try it. We would be down there for hours!
"Kids..."
"shhhh!!!!!.. yeah??"
"What are you doing?"
"tee hee... nothing!!!!"
"You're not getting in trouble are you?"
"Nooo....."
Inevitably one of us would get hurt or get in trouble for something. But it was more than worth it. But what made me think of all of this was the OK Go video with the treadmill "dance". I think when we were little, we thought what we were doing was just as cool as that.
I miss that house. My grandparents moved to a new house a few years ago. I kind of feel bad for the new cousins who didn't grow up playing with us down in the basement. But I'm sure they have their own version of the basement and love Grandma and Grandpa's house just as much.
