Kate Gilhool
Associate Editor
Greetings from Kate and Gogo! We survived our New Years Eve babysitting gig in Vermont and we have stories to tell…
I have summered with the families that hired us for as long as I can remember, and to say that they’re the best would be an understatement. They convinced my Dad to turn our basement into a dance club… (CLUB XENON, HOLLA). The offspring that my P.I.C. (Partner In Crime) babysat for definitely inherited the playful vibe.
They were all up in Vermont to celebrate one of the parents, *Joseph’s, 40th birthday. He happens to be one of my favorite parents and often rolls up to my house on his beer cooler scooter to challenge me in a game of ping pong.
The drive to Vermont was bearable and we made it to Landgrove, VT in record timing considering that neither of us had ever driven longer than an hour.
The brat pack consisted of five kids, but when the parents would go out on the town we were left with at least another five more kids. By the time they came back, Gogo and I were about to drop one of the kids in the pond.
Too bad for us, the kids beat us to it. Two nuggets flew into the pond while sledding. I’m kind of embarrassed to admit that when the second one flew in I fell over laughing.
Last year one of the kids went in because a parent told him that he’d give him five dollars.
Let’s not get it twisted kiddos, fi dollahs is tempting, but ponds in the wintertime = major no, no.
The Jacuzzi was sewpurr relaxing and we unleashed the d-oh-double-g’s (doggs) in us by hopping out of the tub to do a little sledding and then running back up to the Jacuzzi.
Skiing was a HOOT! By my fifth run I was demoted to a different crew, but it was still struggle city for me. At least I got to hang out with people who were emotionally and physically equivalent to me! (It was the eight years and under crew, joke’s on me. But I made them address me as “Princess” making it totally worth it).
While we had our ups and downs with the kids, (I was fired by a 12 year old and
Gogo was shunned by a group of tweens for swearing too much), Gogo and I made some lifelong friends, cuddle buddies, along with some major flow to our bank accounts.
*Name has been changed.
Photos by Kate Gilhool
