Labor Day Weekend

Lazy long Labor Day weekend?  Nah--not a chance!  We kicked off this holiday weekend with a swim party at our house on Friday night.  We invited two baseball families and were thrilled that they could both make it.

The big boys floated in the deep end, while the little(ish) boys played basketball in the shallow end.

These cool cats stayed until almost 11:00 that night!  

After a Saturday full of home improvements, we were ready for our next fiesta--a Labor Day party for our school friends.  It started off relatively calm, with just daddy and Cami in the pool.  

Then Nash and his family showed up, making Cameron a very happy girl.

Madison was all smiles when Lexie and her family got there.
Nothing says "party" like a tiny umbrella in your cupcake!

A little while later the Sawai family arrived...

followed by the Ichibas.  Mik was in charge of "kid tossing" off of the diving board.
They loved it!

There was a raucous game of co-ed basketball, too.

I'm pretty sure Mik had to almost tackle Jackson in order to let the girls get a good shot!

It was a fantastic night filled with all sorts of high-flying fun.

As I looked around that night and saw all of these kids playing in the pool, jumping on the trampoline, playing soccer, or having fun on the swingset, I was so happy.
This is exactly why we built this backyard!  

It was a wonderful night with these ladies and their families.  We love our Hunt peeps.

We went to church the next morning, and then Jared and I went to a wedding that afternoon.
My sweet friend Heather got remarried and it was such a precious event, watching them blend their families.  She deserves her happily ever after, and I think she finally got it!

That night we headed up to the lake.  It was bedtime when we got there, but by the next morning, everyone was ready to play.

"Mr. Golden Sun is awake, Mommy!"
Ariel loved her new blowup pool...

and the big kids had a ball on the slip and slide.

They did some serious sliding!

This little mermaid preferred to stay in her grotto all morning.

It was the perfect way to start our holiday--dads got the boat ready, while the kids played in the water.

By 11am we were on the lake!  Our happy place!

Cami and Ariel took turns driving the boat...

they played in the sand...

took a dip in the water...

went for rides on the Waverunner...

and even Boom took it for a spin!

Sometimes everyone was happy...

sometimes Bubba touched Cami's float and there were screams of protest.  

Another fun ride was never far away, though!

Jackson was the spotter while Dad took these girls for a ride on the tube.  They loved it!

After a late lunch, Jared and I went back to the lake.  Get this--by ourselves!
We each hopped on our own waverunners, and took them out.  And we went FAST! It was probably our "high" of the day, just because we felt like kids again.  Having this incredible lake as our playground is pretty great, too.

Whew! After all of that, we didn't get back home until 8:00 last night.  Everyone was so tired, but a good, happy sort of tired.  We just wished that school wasn't so early this morning!