I pushed the wheelbarrow filled with dirt over to my grandmother's flower garden.

Several of the flowers she planted in the spring were blooming. She was also planting a few more zinnias and cosmos to last the rest of the summer.

"It looks really pretty, Grandma," Meg said as she carried one of the plants to the place where Grandma wanted it planted in the ground.

"Why thank you, dear," Grandma said. "I work really hard to make it look nice. I've got to say, I appreciate the help."
Yard work was on the agenda for the morning after Meg and I did barre and stretched. That was one of the reasons why we were there, to help her out when we could.

She was a pretty good gardener. And she was doing her best to give us "landscaping tips" as we went along.

"One of these days after I'm long gone, you'll appreciate it," Grandma said.

"Why haven't you ever told us any of this stuff before?" Meg asked.

"Yeah, you usually just tell us you want this here and you want this there," I said.

"Because this is the first time I've done this with my grandchildren without hearing any grumbling and complaining," Grandma said. "You two work better together as a team than you, Maya, and Meg. And don't get me started about Jackson and Collin working together; getting the yard mowed is about all I could ask out of them when they're together."

"Guilty, I guess," I said.

"Don't ever let them hear me say this, but I guess you know who the real complainers and whiners are," Grandma said.
She didn't have to say it. I could hear Jack now complaining about having to mow or trim the bushes every five minutes.
"Oooh, it's so hot out here, and I'm soo dirty," Meg said in a voice the kind of sounded like Maya.

"That's pretty good," Grandma chuckled. "Just don't ever let her know you're mocking her. But I must say I'm pleasantly surprised by how well you get along together."

"Well Collin's my buuuuddddyyy!," Meg said in a real country twang voice as she put her arm around me.

"We loooooooooove each other," I said in my best country twang voice.

Grandma chuckled again.

"I'm really going to miss you two when these two weeks are up," she said. "I'm finding out how much you two are alike. But the next two weeks with Jack and Maya, I'm sure are going to really try me."

"If you're lucky, Jack's team will keep winning," I said. "Then he probably won't get to come."

"No such luck," Meg said. "I know some of the boys on that team. They may be called all-stars, but they really suck."

"Megan Dianne Kirchner, don't you use that kind of language," Grandma said.

"Oops, sorry Grandma," Meg said, winking at me.

"That's Ok, sweetie," Grandma said. "And I'm sure I'll have fun when Jackson and Maya are here. But it will be a different kind of fun I'm sure."

After we finished in the garden, we went straight to bush-trimming and yard mowing.

I did the mowing. Meg helped Grandma with the bushes. I finished before they did and helped Meg carry the limbs from the bushes out to the yard waste can.

"Did you really mean what you said about me taking ballet?" I asked her.

"Yeah, I think you could really do it," she said.

"Well, I may ask mom," I said.

"Aren't you worried about what Jack will think?" Meg said.

"You said yourself I shouldn't worry about what Jack thinks," I said.

"What Jack thinks about what?" Grandma said as she carried a few limbs to the waste can herself.

"Collin's thinking about taking ballet at my studio in the fall," Meg said.

"Oh I'm sure your brother would have a field day with that one, Meg," Grandma said. "But Collin, honey, I wouldn't let your cousin teasing you stop you from taking ballet if that's what you really want to do."

"Thanks Grandma," I said. "But I don't know for sure if I want to yet."

But I had to admit it, the time with Meg at the barre was pretty fun.

"I've got you three suits on my bed for you to choose from after lunch," whispered Meg. "I wore them last year, so they'll probably fit you better."

"But how am I going to get past Grandma wearing one?" I asked.

"Just leave that to me, cuz," Meg whispered.

*****

"We've got to meet Lindsey and Mauve at the dock in a few minutes," Meg said as she gulped down the last of her sandwich.

"You two have fun," Grandma said. "You've earned it today."

"Thanks, Grandma," I said. She was right. I was still a little sore from working.

"Put on your suit and t-shirt and come to my room after I'm through putting my suit on," Meg whispered.

I did as she instructed.

Laying on her bed were three sets of bikinis.

"I think this one probably suits you best," Meg said, pointing to an aqua blue tankini set.

"That'll work," I said.

Meg turned her back while I put on the tankini. I then put my swim suit and a long t-shirt over it. Meg then grabbed a bag with towels and sunscreen and we headed to the dock.

"Have fun, you two," Grandma said from the kitchen as we walked out the door.

"Uh oh," Meg said as we approached the dock.

"Uh oh, what?" I asked.

"Lindsey and Mauve's dad is there with their boat," she said.

"Oh boy, what do we do now?" I asked.

Just then, we saw Lindsey waving for us to hurry up. Then came surprise No. 2. Mauve came out of the boat wearing the exact same swim suit as I did under my clothes.

"Aren't you guys going to look really cute," Meg said.

I was already trying to come up with an excuse to head back up to Grandmas. Dads with boats weren't a part of the original deal.

"Aren't you wearing the wrong kind of suit?" Mauve asked when we walked up.

"Don't worry, dad already knows and he's cool with it," Lindsey said.

"Yeah, I think you're very brave," their dad said. "Didn't you know that Mauve is on the rec swim team?"

"Now you tell me," I said.

"Well, a bet's a bet and it's your time to pay up," Mauve said. "Let's see what's under those clothes."

Lindsey, her dad, Meg and Mauve started laughing when the shedding of my t-shirt revealed the tankini.

"We're going to match?" Mauve asked.

"Yup," I said when I pulled down my suit to reveal the bottoms.

"I've got to get a camera and get a picture of you two," Lindsey and Mauve's dad said.

"This is my twin sista Colleen," Mauve said before we got on the boat.

Her dad shook his head as the boat pulled away from the dock leaving my boys' clothes behind.

"Like I said before, you are one brave kid," he said.

Meg helped me put on sunscreen.

"You're going to get sun on parts of your legs and butt that your not used to getting sun," she said.

"Yeah, you'll get a taste of what we go through," Lindsey said.

Her dad just shook his head and laughed.

We had put our life jackets on before we pulled away from the dock. Their dad stopped the boat in the middle of the river.

"This looks like a great spot," he said. Lindsey and Mauve jumped into the water. He tossed them their skis.

"We've got next," Meg said.

"We've got next?" I asked. "I've never been skiing before."

"It's fun," she said. "I'll show you how."

Lindsey and Mauve skied up and down the river, side by side. We stopped a couple of times when each of them lost their grip on the ropes that were pulling them.

"Man, that was fun," Mauve said when they're dad pulled her back into the boat.

I was more than nervous about hopping into the river.

"The life jacket's going to keep you up," their dad said reassuringly.

"Don't worry, I'm right here with you," Meg said as she gave me instructions on how to put the skis on and how to stand in them.

We took off about three times before I realized how to get a firm grip. The boat had to come back and get me. But they were right. The life jacket held me up.

Finally, on what seemed like the fourth try, we took off, I held on and was skiing. I looked over at Meg. I couldn't believe how fun it was. We went away down the river, then Meg lost her grip. We had to go back and get her.

Then we took off again.

"You did really good for a first time out," their dad said to me as he helped me back in the boat.

"I'm telling you, next year, you've got to have your two weeks with Collin," Lindsey said. "He is much better than Maya."

"We couldn't get poor Maya out of the boat the first couple of years," Meg said.

"Last year was her first time to try, and she couldn't even get up on her skis," Mauve said.

Their dad pulled their boat up to a store with a dock. He had to fill the boat up with gas.

"Can you bring us back some sodas?" their dad asked the boy at the pumps as he gave him a few dollars.

"Sure," the boy said.

The store owner brought the drinks out. He knew their dad.

"Mike, you're out here with four pretty girls," he said.

He passed a drink to each of us. I had a towel wrapped around my waist as not to reveal that he was incorrect about how many girls were in the boat.

"Two are my daughters," he told the store owner. "Two of them are here visiting their grandma."

He drove the boat away from the dock and found a secluded spot in the middle of the river.

"It's tubing time," Mauve said as her dad tossed a large yellow tube out into the water.

Lindsey took her turn first, followed by Mauve.

"Collin and I will go together," Meg said.

We dove into the water and swam to the tube. It had hand grips for two people. She showed me how we needed to lay on the tube before we took off.

"Oh my god, this is fun!" I said about halfway through our trip.

We were exhausted when our time on the river was done. We were in for quite a shock when we got back to the dock. Grandma was sitting on a lawn chair with Prince on the dock.

"She's probably wondering why your clothes are on the dock," Meg said.

"That ain't the only thing she's going to be wondering about," I said.

"You two didn't tell her about the bet?" Lindsey's and Mauve's dad asked. "Lucy, you have some 'xplainin' to do."

We all gave him a strange look.

"Ricky Ricardo from the 'I Love Lucy Show'," he said. "But that was waaay before your time. Come to think of it, it was way before my time, too."

Grandma had a strange look on her face when we arrived.

"Well, I'm glad to see you weren't out there naked," Grandma said when I climbed out of the boat.

"You look lovely, but you really need to explain what you're doing wearing that," she said.

We were lucky. She took the bet in good humor.

"I'm glad she didn't find out what I had to do when I lost," Meg whispered.

"Be glad," I whispered. "She's making me walk back to the house wearing this. She probably would have made you walk home in your birthday suit."

Meg started giggling. I did, too.

"What are you two laughing about," Grandma asked.

"Oh nothing, nothing," I said.

"You really don't want to know, Grandma!" Meg said.