Long weekends

This was the first long weekend in a while where we packed it full of stuff (and still my kids don’t want to fall asleep – what is wrong with them? Don’t they know sleep is good? Again I reiterate my intention to wake them periodically when they are teenagers with loud noises and endless questions.) Despite the non-sleepers, we had so much fun – makes me excited for the rest of summer!

Most people count the weekend as starting on Friday, but not me since Simon isn’t home on Friday nights. Though he did get home slightly earlier than normal and got to laugh and me when my friend, Amy, and I texted each other good night. [This was similar to the reaction I used to get from my parents who would think the conversations I had on the phone – for hours – in high school were ridiculous. Girl friendships are awesome is what I’m saying.]

Saturday
Pancakes made by dad

Inaugural trip of the season to the newly-reopened Farmer’s Market. Sadly only asparagus and rhubarb were in season (they didn’t get strawberries until today). We did get to enjoy one of the food carts – Silver Spork – which I’ll be blogging about for grkids.com this week.

Lunch with Amy, Nick and Maggie (Jack calls her Maggie Moo, which makes me so happy) complete with marker makeup. Lovely. Thankfully the marker washed right off and didn’t get on any of the furniture.

I caught Liam licking the fridge… I don’t know why. Yes, I think that is ill-advised.

Here the children are pouting because we aren’t leaving yet for our friends’ house. Liam asked me not to show this picture to Sarah (Sarah – please avert your eyes) I told him I would just share it on Facebook – guess I lied since I’m instead putting it on my blog.

Saturday night we had delicious Chicken Tikka Masala with Sarah, Brian, Josiah, Miles and Wesley (Jack, of course, had leftover, reheated McDonald’s nuggets and fries) topped off with homemade vanilla ice cream topped with rhubarb sauce (fresh from the market). The adults were going to play Ticket to Ride after the kids went to bed but ours never went to sleep so we ended up having to take them home – boo on you children. And boo on having to follow through on threats with actual consequences.

Sunday
I gloriously got to sleep in on Sunday – though technically since I didn’t actually fall asleep until nearly 2 and woke up at 11, I got 9 hours of sleep (still a ton) but that’s about 3-4 more hours than I got each night the rest of the week so double bonus. [I have insomnia, I know not why. If you tell me it is related to Diet Coke, I will not listen to you.]

We met our small group at the park for a BBQ and kick ball. 10 adults, 15 children – good time had by all.

While the rest of the children happily ate hotdogs, Jack stated “I no yike hot dogs!” and instead chowed down on a variety of chip products and a whoopie pie (chocolate with salted peanut butter filling, from this recipe here). [My blog is perfect fodder for figuring out why Jack will have food issues later in life – I assure you, he does eat fruits and vegetables, just not much protein – or variety.]

The happiest grill master!

We played parents vs. kids and while the kids might have pulled out a win, the dads did not hold back or pull any punches when it came to striking the kids out while the mothers cheered everyone on and rolled our eyes at our husbands.

Monday
It’s a tradition to get together with my college friends and our families over Memorial Day weekend so we did it again (last year’s post). This year Andy smoked up a whole bunch of meat… we left with happy, fully tummies! I just love my friends and miss the ones who weren’t there. Here’s to a million more years as friends!

All-in-all, a wonderful weekend filled with lots of [yummy] grilled foods, even better friends and the perfect amount of Summer Shandy and sangria.