Labor Day Adventures

Labor Day weekend marks our last weekend of activity free-ness. That is... the final weekend before we begin running all over to get kids from point A to point B several times a week. Oddly though, it's a routine we are looking forward to.

While it was still busy (seriously though, when isn't it?), it was relaxing still the same.

The weekend got started a little early for us and I didn't waste much time getting starting on my mission. I was determined to (deep) clean at least a portion of our house. Thanks to Carie's hard work, our home is most often "clean" but there are just those rare tasks that often don't get attention or often go unnoticed. Well, I was starting to notice them and it was driving me nuts! What a great weekend to tackle such tasks. We could devote some of the weekend to cleaning and still have an extra day for fun! So I got a good start Friday afternoon/evening and then the plan was to continue our cleaning effort on Saturday morning. We didn't want to spend the entire day cleaning. But a good couple hours of solid elbow grease by all members of our family would certainly do wonders. Well, we (I) just kept going and going and going. One task lead into another. I'm sure Carie wasn't the least bit surprised! The kids were less than thrilled from the get go and a couple of them were less than helpful. But they enjoyed hanging out at home all the same. Abby was our most incredible helper, eager even! She had such a great attitude and she really made a difference in what we were able to accomplish. For all that, she earned some unexpected dough! That certainly drew some attention. :)

Saturday evening some friends came over to enjoy dinner and some good ol Husker football. This was a day we've all been looking forward to. It was great fun to watch the game with our friends and the kids had a blast hanging out and playing. Score for everyone!!!

After a late night, Sunday morning was pretty slow going. We were all up in time to make it to Church but opted to veg out instead. We did make it out for a yummy breakfast at Bruegger's. We're loving that the kids have become Bruegger's fans! That afternoon Ellie had a birthday party to go to so we opted to stick close to home, veg out, and have a stay at home day. The kids love stay at home days! That night Abby and I headed to a late showing of Nanny McPhee Returns. I figured it wasn't a school night and the girl is most often still awake at 10:30 anyways, so why not? She loved it! I think I just found my "movie buddy"!

We had big plans for Monday. All along we had planned on going to our favorite apple orchard. We would certainly pick apples, hopefully peaches, and possibly raspberries. Heck, we may have even made a trip out to the pumpkin patch! We would have certainly done the corn maze, visited the butterfly garden, and climbed the mounds of hay bales. I don't know why, but late Sunday afternoon I decided to check their hours and confirm that they were open only to find out that they are closed every Monday. Even more specifically, Labor Day Monday. Huge bummer! But I was oh so grateful that I checked before we made the long journey.

So we scrambled to come up with a plan B. Instead of risking our experience at a new orchard (after being so pumped up about visiting our favorite), we opted to make one last visit to the Lincoln Children's Zoo before they closed for the season. In the end this turned out to be an excellent choice as we discovered our favorite exhibit, the butterfly pavilion, would be closed after Labor Day. So we enjoyed a good long visit at the zoo and particularly enjoyed a good long visit in the butterfly pavilion.

After a full day at the zoo we headed back to Omaha just in time to hang out with some friends for a BBQ. Before we arrived I was tired and feeling ready to just head home after our long day. But I'm so glad we went! There were a lot more people there than we anticipated and we knew a lot more people than we anticipated. It was great fun for all of us! We got to sit back and chat with friends while the kids ran wild with their friends. I think at one point we counted 6 couples (2-mom families) and 12 kids ages 3ish - 9ish plus a couple other families that we didn't know.

As we were sitting outdoors enjoying each other's company we were also enjoying the cool front that had come through. While it was getting really dang chilly to be sitting outdoors without proper layers to keep warm, it was so nice to feel that fall weather come through. It was a good kinda cold! Though as soon as we got home we turned on our heated mattress pads! After getting Abby all set for her "star of the week" and getting the kids through their bedtime routine, we climbed into bed and enjoyed the heat! I just wish we could open up the house. Poor Ellie's allergies have gotten the better of her. So until the pollen levels ease up, we'll keep the house closed up in the hopes that it helps.

Labor Day Weekend Recap

Finally... here is a look at last weekend!

It was awesome! Kicking it off with a hooky day on Friday sure didn't hurt!

Saturday afternoon we went to see our first production of the season (The Little Engine That Could) at The Rose. We have season tickets with some friends and after the show we went to their house for a bbq. It was heaven! They live on an acreage in such a perfect area. The weather was perfect. The company couldn't have been better. The kids absolutely love hanging out together. What a great day!

Sunday I went up to Church to fulfill our commitment to teach Sunday school. The kids had a nice slow start to the morning and they finished packing us up to head out to the lake. We arrived around noon-ish and were there for the duration of the day. The kids had tons of fun swimming, boat riding, jet skiing, tubing, water skiing, and just being kids.



























All of our kids went on the Jet Ski a few times. The girls were really excited about it and outright asked if they could go. Spencer needed a little bit of encouragement to ride but once we got going he couldn't get enough. Even near the end of our ride when I crashed a couple of wakes and sent water flying at us. We both just laughed and he told me not to do that again.













The girls had ridden on the tube earlier in the day and then Abby decided she wanted to try to water ski. Wow! Way to go Abby! She gave it a solid effort. She got up several times and went for a short distance. Unfortunately the "key" is to make it all around the island. She is convinced she can... next time. I know she can. We were so proud of her.

























Unfortunately several family members then thought they should pressure Ellie into giving it a try. Thankfully I got in a nice little chat with Ellie to let her know that it was totally her decision and it whatever she wanted to do was perfect. She could give it a try if she wanted to. We'd be there to help her. But if she didn't want to, that was totally okay with us. Thankfully I got her to focus in on me and my message instead of everyone else. She just didn't seem that interested in it and it didn't seem necessary to push her. She opted to give it a try another time. No big deal. All this pressure irritates me. This stuff doesn't or shouldn't define who they are.

But then I hear my (6yo) cousin say... "I thought Abby was the chicken, not Ellie." My other (6yo) cousin was standing right next to her and kind of thought she was cute. Thankfully neither of our girls was there. I told her that no one is a "chicken" and that is inappropriate! These two aren't particularly nice and it really irritates us. I don't much care to have my kids around them all that often. But they are the same age (6 girls born within 6 months of each other) and our kids really think the one that is local is cool. It just kills me that they think so highly of them! I just wish the feelings appeared to be mutual. I just can't take that snootiness coming from these young kids... and we have seen this go on for a few years now.

So after a long and fun day at the lake we stop at Zestos on the way out of town. We finally pull out at 10:00 and after a potty stop, a blankie stop, and some other forgotten stop we pull into the garage with all 3 sleeping children (unheard of!) at 10:55.

Monday Abby was begging to go back to the lake. Great Grandma was so kind to plant that as an option before we left Sunday night. Ugh! Abby was all convinced that if we'd go back up on Monday that she would most certainly be able to water ski all the way around the island. Ya know what, I'm sure she could have. But we couldn't spend another full day at the lake and going for a few hours just isn't a realistic option. So we ended up going down to the big slides and fed the swans and ducks more bread than they could eat. Our friends met us downtown and the kids were thrilled to see each other again. Then we treated ourselves to Ted & Wally's before heading home for a very late and much needed nap for Spencer.























After everyone was settled Carie and I kicked it into high gear and recovered the house. We had come and gone all weekend and it truly looked like it!

Later that night Carie's sister & BIL stopped by for a bit to kill some time before they had to pick someone up at the airport. After the kids were settled into bed we all sat back and vegged out.