a peacefully rowdy weekend

We spent Memorial Day weekend together, the whole fam.

This is about the time in a year we have a sleepover with everyone there, and I enjoy it, all their faces at breakfast, the goofing around and dumbness, the amazing mess, the things that go right and go wrong, the kids who act up, the whole rowdy,noisy occasion.

Of course, it's true nothing seriously went wrong, so that's good.

And washing dishes in the middle of a fairly chaotic scene I don't want to exert any control over--that's soothing, the hot water and bubbles, forks and pans, wiping and straightening one little corner.

They apologize that I should have to do all the dishes, but to me it's not even a chore. Jay would always rather be outside, even in rain and wind, than sitting around twiddling his thumbs in the house. Dannell has endless patience for kids and board games. Whew, she can have it. I'd way rather do dishes.

It was cold, but some kids had to swim, please, please, please, please?

Dan laughed, "Go ahead. Freeze your nipples off." Tim's hands went to the front of his life jacket and he frowned.

No, really, go. It's gonna be very cold, and you have to stay near the dock, but be my guest. Just go get it out of your SYSTEM, you guys!

They swam almost an hour--about 55 minutes longer than we expected.





Here's t.c. talking with our neighbors at the lake. They're good to us, and even though we're a big group and can be noisy, in all these years they've been nothing but friendly and kind.

My parents and family rented cabins at the resort next door, and we spent time with them too. Here's my niece cuddling Kirsten's puppy by the fire.



Here's my momma and Heidi with her baby.

We celebrated the 50th birthday of this fine brother in law. He's an unassuming man, an excellent uncle and friend. We love him.




Others played some Frisbee game until it was too dark to see.


Here are some cousins doing crafts and eating shrimp in the middle of the night.

And a game of kickball--think anyone can miss this ball? Are you ready, t.c.? Here comes the pitch.

Oh, yeah. Dan's dog is TOTALLY helpful.

Oh, a pop fly. Out. Darn it anyways.


Jay says this was the best part of the weekend, goofing around on the boat with all these kids.

This is where he told me he's staying 29 forever. Apparently he loses all sense when he puts on skis in water this cold.

And a sweet moment, Kari and l.c.

Oh, summer. Thanks for showing up at last. love, Val