Jacob the Brave
Or Defending Mom

Upon our arrivial at the Blue Ridge Assembly, we checked into our cottage, Clemson, the FURTHEST structure from the main lobby on the property. Although extremely rustic and very outdated, it appeared it would suit us well during our stay. With one bedroom downstairs that Luke, Will and I were going to share, and 3 more bedrooms upstairs, it was perfect. The girls had a room with 3 beds in it and each set of boys would share the two remaining rooms.

Once we were settled in, I ran to the grocery store with Deanne. One of my purchses was grapes for the kids to eat as an afternoon snack. Will decided to eat the grapes, so I put some on a paper plate for him. He ate all but about 6 of them and I didn’t thnk anything of leaving them on the table.

We were out of the cabin most of the rest of the afternoon, getting henna tattoos, tiedying the baby’s blanket (we didn’t buy t-shirts but the tiedye gal was wonderfully sweet and let Will and Sophia tiedye Luke’s white blanket, eating dinner and then going to the campfire to make s’mores. After all the fun Deanne drops me and the little kids (Jacob, Cade, Sophia, Will and Luke) at the cabin …oh, I forgot to mention, my van couldn’t make the share curves up the mountain, so it was in the main parking lot. When I walked into the kitchen to get Will some juice I thought it was strange that the remainig grapes were now on the floor and appeared to be swished in half, but I figures one of the kids had done it.

The boys sit down to play, Sophia is just hanging out and I sit down to nurse Luke. Luke falls asleep and I go and put him in the pack and play in my bedroom and I settle back on the couch with a home schooling magazine. Jacob goes to the kitchen to get something and says “mom, there’s a mouse, it just ran under the couch” as he says this I see it take off into the bathroom. “look Sophia, there’s a rat!”

I quickly correct him and say “that isn’t a rat, that is a mouse. Rats live in sewers!“ Why I felt the need to correct him at that moment, I have no idea!

I HATE MICE! Jacob knows this and senses that he must spring to action as my face gets whiter before his eyes. I don’t know if it was me quickly drawing my feet up off the floor onto the couch or my eyes wildly darting from side to side that tipped him off, be he somehow knew! He says “It’s OK mom. I will catch it and then when Brett gets back he can kill it. He killed the spider in Deanne’s cabin. “ So Jacob the brave goes and gets a bowl out of the kitchen that he intends to put over the mouse. As he is searching for the bowl and Cade is babbling on and on about how Brett can smoosh it with his shoe just like he did the spider, I spy ANOTHER mouse. , at least I assume it is another mouse since it comes out from the couch on the other side of the room, nowhere near the bathroom the other one ran into.

At this point I go and get Luke out of his pack and play, since I am convinced that the mice might decide they want to dine on baby fingers and baby toes. I have Jacob and Cade move all of the luggage off the floor since I am also convinced that there might be mice under it or worse yet climbing in it (since I just know they want to follow me where ever I might go) , thankfully there aren’t any mice, but it doesn’t make me feel any better. I decide that we are heading DOWN the mountain, in the dark, with no flashlight because if the mice are partying like this with us standing there and all the lights on, I don’t even want to consider what kind of party they will have once we go to bed. By now Sophia is standing on the chair screeching “don’t let the mice get in my Bratz dolls”, Cade is still plotting what they will do when the catch the mice. I keep thinking the same damn thing ….what will they do if they catch it….imagining the plastic bowl running all across the floor!

Of course I have to pee before we can head out which means I have to enter mouse number one’s last known location. Needless to say, I am amazed that any pee made it into the toilet with all the jerking around I was doing trying to see if the mouse was in there!

So shoes on everyone, and down the mountain in the dark we go. tI is close to 10 PM and very dark. Yes, I decided in my infinite wisdom that we would be better off in the dark with bears, possums, raccoons, skunks and assorted other woodland creatures with no flashlight than we would be with 2 very small mice. We get to the main building just as she is turning off all the lights. I look at her and say “I don’t do mice. There are at least 2 of them in Clemson, and I am not going back!“ Thankfully she helps us (yes, I do realize that she was doing everything in her power to not LAUGH at me!) and finds us alternate accommodations, although not nearly as roomy or well suited to our large crew (two hotel style rooms, barely big enough for two full size beds) and there is no refrigerator or microwave. Now the real problem arises.

The older kids are all in watching the Rocky Horror Picture Show, so Deanne and I have to move 10 peoples worth of stuff and all the food from the kitchen ALONE from the cottage to the 3rd floor of the hotel (which has NO ELEVATORS)…..I can’t even describe how sore I was or how chapped the insides of my legs were from the numerous trips up and down the stairs.

So Jacob will here forth be knows as Jacob the Brave, because he was going to save me and his younger siblings from the mice! And I, will forever be known as the big fat chicken!