Our Labor Day Weekend 2007---in pictures!

So, I guess I lied...not the entire weekend in pictures! Bar Divani, karaoke (post-Bar Divani), sacked-out Hankins girls and a random pic of the Cavanaughs at our BBQ. LOL! My camera battery hit the fritz right after that shot of Sarah and Matt. But at least we captured them in a moment of rapt attention and intrigue...

What a great weekend, though. Hankins family (my brother and his fam) stayed here at Casa de Richards, and all went quite smoothly, including a night out with two babysitters here at the house. The kids had fun playing and we suffered few meltdowns...just lots of crazy hopped-up-on-sugar moments and over-tired crazies. But if they were over-tired from anything, it was too much fun! Sunday was the BBQ here at the house...lots of yummy food (spare ribs!), great friends, family and neighborhood pick-up football games. The kids had a blast, and so did we adults--who managed to squeeze in some cocktails, grub and engaging conversation...all amidst the chasing, feeding, and cleaning off of wee ones.

Monday was the family exodus down to Saugatuk--first stop was a Dune ride with the whole family! Wow...what fun. Chris got the great pictures of that...'fraid my camera didn't make the trip. Everyone had a blast! However, I think I'm still getting sand out of little Jonny Christopher's ears...

After that we had an afternoon of boating, beaching, and hanging out in Saugatuk--complete with miscommunications among family members about where to meet, with whom, and when...but overall it was a fun day. And at the very end of it, the grandparents shlepped back to GRaggs with the kids, thus allowing the other kids (myself, Brian, Chris, Ann and Jon) to take a little boat ride of our own. A highlight of this excursion would be the impromptu jump-in-the-lake moment after we'd taken the boat out into Lake Michigan. Nothing like the jettison of 5 overworked and slightly intoxicated parents (well, not including Jon) into the lake at the end of a long weekend...what a sight. Oh, and we had floatie noodles. I'm talking class, people. This was, if nothing else, a moment of total sophistication.

Giggle.

The Hankins gang headed back to Illinois Tuesday morning, but not until we grabbed a few family "portraits" at the condo. We actually managed to get all of us together--kids and all--for a few pictures. Very exciting.

The boys took power naps that afternoon, and so did I...was heaven. That evening Jonathan (my brother) and I went out for a few drinks (can anyone say " time for detox"???) and a movie...was fun, and we had some great conversation on top of it. A great way to finish off a long weekend.

Family time is always filled with so much enthusiasm, energy, laughter, blah, blah...lots of fun, surely. But at the end, I am ever so grateful just to have normalcy back, as I'm sure everyone else would say the same. Yesterday Benjamin and I drew with chalk on the driveway while J napped, then we headed up to the library for Laptime with Ms. Treee-asssshhh...ran into some friends, came home for lunch, naps, etc...and I escaped at the end of the day for some exercise therapy at the MAC. And then, last night, Brian uploaded our pics from the weekend, and we both sat staring at them on the couch and talked about what a blast it all was...

I also took some time yesterday during naps to get Benjamin's fall schedule set up...more on that later. I'm on borrowed time here as it is this morning...gotta get movin!