#1

What an exhausting start to summer.  I must have been on some kind of high when I had that irrational thought about a summer diary.  Oh, we had a really fun weekend...just tiring.  It started Friday evening, visiting with another family that we do not know very well.  It was a good evening.  They have three kids in the same age range as ours; however, theirs are quite possibly the most mellow, mild-mannered children I have ever met (like their parents).  Our four seemed like untamed savages by comparison.  Not bad, mind you....just talkative and doing everything with noise and energy (like their parents??)

Saturday was Pirate Party Day.  Four little friends of Drew's came over, plus there were our other three kids, plus the neighbor boy (a Russian orphan adopted by an Italian family), plus two older siblings of a party guest equals eleven excited swashbucklers.  We played musical islands, pass the crocodile, pin the coin in the treasure chest, decorated plastic pirate swords, went on a treasure hunt for the goody bags, and finished up with cake and ice cream while the kids watched the Veggie Tales movie, "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything."  They all went home happy, except the neighbor boy, who never wants to leave.

We ordered pizza and hung out with friends in the back yard all evening, telling funny stories in between policing the combined total of eleven kids.  That was the magic number for the day, I guess!

Sunday morning, Keith took the older kids on the bike trail before church.  He came back with two neighbor kids in tow, who also wanted to go to church.  We fed them breakfast and packed the six kids into the car.  I took them alone, since Keith stayed home to "have church" with a guy who isn't ready to go to church for various reasons.  Joshua boycotted the nursery today, so he spent his time wandering around bestowing his sippy cup, snack, cars, and books on various members of the congregation.  He was very quiet and cute, so I ignored him.

The rest of the day involved the local pool, riding bikes and scooters in the alley, enforced naptime, and---since everybody complied with that requirement---a trip to a local festival two towns over for the carnival rides and fireworks.  At the last minute, I decided to keep Joshua home, since I knew they wouldn't be back till 11 PM.  I visited instead with our across-the-alley neighbor till dark.  Joshua likes to chase their little dog and toss his toys into their wine cellar.

Today, Memorial Day, was a work-at-home day.  The kids got out the wading pool, which Joshua loves even more than his bath and potato chips.  Keith planted our raspberries (which involved making a new raised bed) and the peach and cherry trees, and did a lot of general yard upkeep.  For supper, we had a family picnic to go to, where our kids ran themselves into a state of exhaustion with their cousins.  They could barely crawl into their beds.

Yes, it was a busy weekend, but we sure had fun with a wide variety of people, doing a wide variety of activities.  It remains to be seen how we will "pay" for all those late nights as the week progresses!