It is my considered opinion that all vacations should extend through Monday. We head home today, but after a weekend full of fun, friends, and food (oh, so much food), I’m grateful for one more day to gather 7 people’s worth of paraphernalia (anybody want to take bets on how many things we’re going to leave behind?) and take our time getting home rather than hightailing it back on a Sunday evening and waking up all cranky and stressed Monday morning. I may not feel very friendly toward Tuesday tomorrow, but I’m willing to risk it for the sake of loving Monday right now. Just call me Esau.
Zzzzzzzz….
Huh, what? Oh, hi there. Sorry. I just dozed off a little. That’s what I do when my tummy is full. And right now, my tummy is VEEEEEEEEEERY full. We’re talking cookies and pie, fruit and trail mix, brisket (Simon: “Oh, yaaaay! I LOOOOOVE biscuits!” face palm) and beef stroganoff, and so much more…almost none of which I prepared. Heavenly. And oh-so-dangerous. I’m not even exaggerating when I say that I’m pretty sure I legitimately gained 2 pounds in three days. That’s talent, folks.
Anyhoo, I thought I’d give you a recap of our lovely, relaxing weekend with even lovelier people. David and Donna, who are related to me somehow (David is my dad’s first cousin…so what does that make him to me? I never get the whole second cousin/1st-cousin-once-removed business right) invited us out to their lake house on Lake Livingston, which is a gracious, spacious home already supplied with everything from linens to shampoo to snacks, not to mention oodles of lake gear. Their family wasn’t there at first, but they joined us Friday evening, and Donna—who is the ultimate hostess—spent the next two days fattening us up spoiling us rotten by making meals and cleaning up after our children’s messes, all usually while insisting on holding one of the twins on her hip.
Like this:
{This lady is nice, and Evy thought so too, despite her somewhat disgruntled expression here; she’d probably just gotten a whiff of her sister’s diaper}
And here’s an impromptu family photo we nabbed with my cell phone when we all still had morning face. But, honestly, it’s probably getting framed since 6 out of 7 of us are actually looking at the camera, and 5 of us are smiling. Pretty sure the odds of that are like 1 in 2,345,673. So, it’s a keeper.
Oh, and here’s the taste of everything we got up to (mostly via cell phone pics again):
I won’t even bother to call out rows because this is in totally random order, but as you can see, there was a whole lot of chilling (literally: HOMEMADE SNOW CONES!), baby snuggling (much of it by David and Donna’s very sweet daughters and their friend), reading, eating, playing, storm-cloud watching, and much, much more (and less, all at once).
It was the perfect trip to top off a very enjoyable summer. I’m not going to lie and say I’m ready for it to be over. But I certainly can’t complain. God has been (and continues to be) very good to our family, and I am so thankful for the memories we made this weekend.
And now, considering the huge pile of laundry to be folded and the multitude of little people’s shoes to be found, it’s time to get a MOVE ON!
What’s in store for your Monday?
P.S. See that bottom left pic of me and Evy? I actually think she looks the most like me of any of my children because our eyes are shaped the same. I don’t think the same thing about Nola, though. And they’re identical twins. Weird.
Hahahaha!! Your comment about comments is hilarious! There are some pretty goofy comments/spam/scams. (Who would want to buy sinks wholesale anyway unless they were in the home improvement business?)
Firstly, your dad’s first cousin is your first cousin once removed *I think*. 🙂
Secondly, your post about being a feartrovert hit too close to home. Why do we let fear mess up everything? Thanks for being open about your struggles.