Busy Days

Last weekend was rather busy.  Daniel and his brothers got together for a weekend golf tournament, so I watched Sam's kids on Friday and Saturday.  Between my 3 boys, Sam's 3 boys and friends, we had ten boys over here all weekend.  Jane and I were rather outnumbered, but we held our own! 

Here is a small glimpse of what we did to keep busy:

I woke up early to be at a Hot Air Balloon Festival on Friday morning at 6:30 am.  I went with Madeleine.  It was a rather slow, yet entertaining morning.  Madeleine was the perfect company for this event.  I was amazed at how big the balloons are.  We quickly decided that it was an expensive hobby, so we are glad that our husbands are not involved in this. 

My favorite balloon- I want to make a quilt inspired by this.

After the balloon festival, the guys left for the golf trip.  We spent some time outside playing on the cage ball and trampoline. 

These two couldn't get enough of playing in the sand box.

 We pulled out the slide and hose and the kids had a blast playing with the water slide.  We even had three girls come over here for a while to play with Jane!

Sunday was Paul's 12th birthday

 It is a family tradition to get a dozen presents on your 12th birthday.  They get one main gift and 11 smaller gifts like a bag of their favorite chips, some frozen waffles (wrapped and put in the freezer), a card game, candy, art supplies, etc.

Paul with his loot!

Happy birthday Paul! 

 He had a birthday party on Tuesday.  They played Dungeons and Dragons with Daniel as the Dungeon Master.  It was a lively group and it was a lot of fun. 

Back row: RyAnn, Alys, Mark, Cody, Taylor.  Front row: Mieren, Paul, Tanner, Josh

When I suggested that they strangle the person next to them, they acted fast! 

The gift from Mieren and Alys came with a warning:

 It was a rather serious warning, too.  These double blades are really sharp.  Crazy sharp.  So sharp that when Paul put them back in their case, it cut the fabric on the bottom of the case.  I'm thinking that his Uncle Ben was using his "every boy wants one of these, but no one will buy it for them" type of logic when authorizing this purchase.  Since Uncle Ben doesn't have any boys, he is living vicariously through Paul.  We had a serious talk with Paul about where this is stored and that it isn't a toy.

 Friday of this week I took Mark and Paul to Trafalga to play laser tag.  While they were playing their game, Jane and I went to the park.  The weather was beautiful.  We ate some lunch in the shade and played on the playground.  I had a wonderful time with Jane.  She is so entertaining! 

"Mom, it is a castle for Princess Jane!"

 

Ta Da!

 This morning we woke up early to participate in a 5k.  I didn't do a lot of preparing for it because my lower back has been giving me issues, so I just planned on walking the route.  3 miles isn't too hard, but it takes some dedication to get through. 

 Mark and Paul were tired when we finished.  Mark thought that he could finish it in 25 minutes because he ran an 8 minute mile in school.  But he couldn't run three 8 minute miles in a row.  Paul tried to run super fast to start and was with the front pack, but couldn't hold on to that pace.  I signed up with the goal of running the course in about 35 minutes.  When I realized that I couldn't train like I needed to, I made the goal of finishing in under an hour.  I finished in under 50 minutes, so I consider this a success! 

We got home from the 5k, finished up our morning chores and left to go to Alys' birthday party at Airborn (an indoor trampoline park) just as our sweat had finished drying from the race.  The boys are exhausted, but they have had a fun day!

Alys (left) is so cute! 

Jessica serving the fruit pizza

Paul had a great time, don't let this face fool you.  Paul loves to give me this face when I pull out the camera.  With his flushed face from jumping he really looks upset!

 Daniel's brother Nathan is here tonight.  It has been fun to visit with him.  Tomorrow morning we will get packed up to go camping with my brother Dan.  I am super tired, but I have most of the food prepared for camping so hopefully it won't take too much to get on the road tomorrow!  I am so anxious to spend time in the mountains again. Up on top of the mountain or bust!