Labor Day 2008

This has been the best weekend. The weather has been amazing and we had the quintessential holiday: fun with friends, time outside, delicious food from the grill, and time to relax. Oh, and rockets. :-)

On Saturday, we ran a gazillion errands and stupidly forgot that it's the weekend that the college students converge back on Boston, which means AVOID GOING TO TARGET AT ALL COSTS. We forgot and, worse yet, we went to the Target closest to Boston proper, so it was a madhouse. But, on the bright side, the toy section was a ghost town. I guess Hot Wheels aren't high on the shopping list for students decorating their apartments.

The day was supposed to be rainy, and R was excited to make popcorn and watch a movie at home. So we did that even though it was nice outside.

On Sunday, we woke up late (woohoo!), had a delicious breakfast of fresh strawberries, pancakes, and sausages, cleaned up the yard, filled the pool, and then took a walk down by the river. In the afternoon, R and I cooled off in the pool and then our friends came over with their wee twins for dinner (grilled pork tenderloin, corn on the cob, and veggies and dip). We had s'mores for dessert - yay! The babies are so sweet, and we had fun taking turns cuddling them. R was very excited to see them again and brought out his toddler bicycle to give to them. He was very upset this morning to see that it was still in our house, but I explained that the babies will take it when they are old enough to use it.

Today, we slept even later (until 9:30!). R and I made a batch of chocolate chip muffins together (although I made them with whole wheat flour, so no one wants them now except me - part of my evil plan to keep all the chocolate in the house to myself - mwah ha ha!). We made a quick trip to CVS, during which A purchased several unnecessary end-of-summer items simply because they were 75% off, came home and packed up our stuff to go launch rockets with our friends.

The rocket launch was great! A designed a logo for our rocket "club" and we had t-shirts made. Dorky yes, but it was fun to wear 'em. Our friend even had a banner made up and staked it into the ground at the field, so we look all official now. That same friend brought a huge canopy today, which was wonderful because there is no shade at the field, there were no clouds in the sky, and we were there for 3+ hours. I slathered R and I in sunblock, but I still burned my face a bit. We had lots of snacks (chips, watermelon, grapes) and water. And, we had our biggest turnout yet: 18 people, including the three of us! And, that was with three families missing. It was a bit breezy, so we lost a few rockets in the woods and the nearby corn fields, but the fun is really watching the kids race across the field to recover the parts after launch, hanging out and chatting with friends, and being outside all day.

Then we headed home for chicken wings from the grill, more veggies and dip, and more s'mores. R and I played Trouble outside on the patio while A cooked.

R and I playing Trouble in our rocket tees

I have this same shot from Labor Day two years ago

A and me - R took this all by himself!

I sat there in the warm breeze in my lovely backyard and watched my two boys and the birds visiting my birdbath and silently thanked God for all of it.

I hope your weekend was just as blessed and fun and relaxing as mine!