Bette Davis and the Beaver Song

The Joust, along with several other inflatables, were on the first floor of the Student Recreation and Wellness Center on Saturday as a part of Little Sibs Weekend. Jessica M. Kanalas | Daily Kent Stater

Credit: DKS Editors

Another mid-April means that, for one weekend, droves of young relatives flock to campus for the thrill of Little Sibs Weekend. This was the third year my little sister, Kendall, spent the weekend with me, and our cousin, Maddie, came too. Kendall is 9. Maddie is 6.

Maddie and my aunt showed up a little after Kendall and my mom did Friday. When I went down to help unload everything Maddie brought for her two-night stay, Maddie grabbed her duffel that was practically bigger than her and charged the steps up to my second-floor apartment.

“I’ve been exercising a lot at school,” she informed me, huffing and heaving as she came in the door.

After goodbyes were said, we went to visit Brittany, my best friend, at Target to get cereal for breakfast in the morning. During dinner, the conversation turned dental after a while, as Maddie discovered a tooth on the verge of falling out.

“I’ve lost five teeth in a week,” Kendall proudly shared.

And the economy of lost teeth for the under-10 crowd is always a topic of interest.

“I got $25 for a tooth I lost at Maddie’s,” my sister told me. “But the Tooth Fairy was low on bills, so I got $5 in change.”

“Twilight” is another of Kendall’s current obsessions, and she admitted shedding more than a few tears when Edward left his family in “New Moon.”

After dinner, we suited up and went over to the rec center for the Dive-In movie. When we got home, Kendall’s eyes were burning from opening them underwater all night, so we made a run to get eye drops. Maddie, while concerned for Kendall’s comfort, was also very worried about her outfit – a blue T-shirt and grey capri sweatpants.

“Do I look OK?” she asked me from her back seat booster seat.

“Oh, you look fine. Anyone at Wal-Mart at this hour looks a little rough,” I assured her.

“No matter what I look like, people always say, ‘You look just like Bette Davis,'” she explained to Kendall and me.

She indeed does, but I couldn’t help myself and laughed for a good five minutes. Eye drops secured, we returned home, popped “Igor” into the DVD player and passed out.

We made it to the Rec to meet Brittany around noon Saturday. The girls played on some inflatables and we all made wax hands – truly a highlight of the weekend. On the way to McDonald’s for lunch, Kendall started singing “The Beaver Song” as she had been doing all weekend. Brittany joined in, a throwback to her summer camp days as a kid: “Beaver zero, beaver one. Let’s all have some beaver fun . Beaver eight, beaver nine. Stop. It’s beaver time. Go beavers.”

After lunch, playground time and what was Maddie’s first game of bowling (she came in third), we went back to Brittany’s for a nap before we went to see the Hannah Montana movie – something the girls didn’t ask to do, but rather Brittany and I have wanted to see, so we talked them into it. And we were all glad we went. Otherwise, we would’ve never experienced the amazing hip-hop hoedown dance number we’re all sure is the next great dance phenomenon.

Despite a run-in with some ants at my apartment, the evening winded down. Brittany and the girls sang some more camp songs. We got all packed up yesterday morning and spent the car ride poppin’ it, lockin’ it and polka-dottin’ it along with Miley Cyrus.

I don’t know if we all had as much fun as we had in the past, but I think the girls – between spending two hours in a pool, eating as much junk food as they wanted and getting their Hannah Montana on – definitely enjoyed themselves.

We’ll see if they come back next year.

Adam Griffiths is a junior visual journalism major and a columnist for the Daily Kent Stater. Contact him at [email protected].