The Party and The Park

Real truth: we can get to Gma and Gpa's house at 4:00, run all five Vs through the shower, decorate the garage, and be ready to throw an epic Descendants-themed birthday party for an eight and six year old by 5:00. With a little (lot) of help from Gma, Gpa, and Auntie. It's the stuff legends are made of.

Luckily, I had anticipated that despite my best intentions, the pull of the lake would be too strong and we would stay until the very last second possible. That may or may not have totally happened. So much of the food was already prepped and we had my cousin Trish make the cake - both because it was less stress for me and because her cakes are amazing. The girls were in heaven with their Mal and Evie cake!

The party was incredibly fun and laid back. It was a beautiful evening, so we just hung out in my parents' yard with food, cake, music, and family. The kids enjoyed having full run of the yard. Dec and Otto continued to get all the wrestling out of their systems and Quinn organized multiple races around the house. Despite a day at the lake, they still all seemed to have plenty of energy to burn.

My favorite was Fiona determining she was too old for all that silliness and curling up on a lawn chair with her new Babysitter's Club book .. but the best part was Hux climbing right up in her lap with her. She was so excited to snuggle him and read to him. He seemed quite pleased with the plan as well. With all the grandparents, a big batch of cousins, and plenty of cake, the girls declared it an awesome party. It was even pretty easy to get everything cleaned up (with Auntie's help!).

The next morning, while Mike and Grandpa patched up the boat from the Thursday night mishap, the kids and I got one last dose of the cousins before we headed back south. We met Anna, Liv, Otto, Hux, and Milo at the park just down the hill from my parents' house and had so much fun. The big cousins talked all week about how it is so great and so amazing that those babies get along so well! You'd think they saw each other all the time instead of every few months. They delight in each other's company and have each other's hearts. They also pair up in different ways - and it's always fascinating to see the dynamics.

This morning, the girls and Otto were all over playing with each other and Dec and Hux were having the best time. Especially once Hux figured out that Dec would push him in the swing! We all gathered at the picnic table for some fruit snacks and then did hugs and the obligatory "Johnson good-bye" - which Mike swears lasts an hour. It's like 20 minutes tops. Ish.

With that, we wrapped up our summer travel and headed home to get prepared for back to school. We had a few fun summer things left up our sleeves though. Including a football draft and preschool picnic still that weekend. Life is so good in the summer!