Labor Day Weekend

I had plans of writing a fabulous story about an awesome Labor Day weekend. HAD, past tense. Life is so darn busy that its hard to fit blog time in. Once I get a chance, its hard to go back almost two weeks and remember everything I wanted to remember. In the end, I am taking the easy way out. Here's what's left of the story -- it's just the important stuff anyway:

Labor Day weekend, we went to Waco and pseudo-camped in my parents yard. Our friends, Casey and Christina, and their four children met us for a day and a half of fun. The very patient daddies pitched the large tent with all eight kids helping. Casey and Allen let each of the kids take a turn hammering in a tent stake, and then the kids spend a long time going in and out and in and out and in and out of the tent. Dinner was campfire-cooked hot dogs, and all but the youngest two kids cooked their own. We roasted marshmallows for dessert, and somehow the kids were all de-stickied before we just sat around the fire talking. The four of us parents tried finding that magic moment in six kids when they have just enough energy to walk to the tent and get in sleeping bags, but not enough energy left to jump and play once they are there. At one point we had a planned camera-flash photograph, and it revealed that most of the kids were already laying down on the grass. That meant we reached "The Moment." and we rushed them to the tent to get some sleep. Christina slept inside the house with the two babes, and Casey, Allen, and I had cots or air mattresses outside the tent. The six kids were inside. Casey ended up sleeping in the tent, too -- he went in to tell the kids a story, but fell asleep in the process. It was a still, quiet night, and the Texas temperature had dropped enough that we were quite comfortable.

The next morning, the kids went for a walk before breakfast. I think Allen and someone fished for a bit. We ate breakfast, took the camp apart, made lunches, and spent the rest of the day at the park and zoo. The kids crashed at the end of the day, and the Smith's took that opportunity to drive home. We had a wonderful time and I can't wait to get together with them again in four years! AND, it went well enough that Allen and I are already talking about taking our family camping again soon.