Labor Day Weekend Recap

Two of my sisters, one with her baby in tow, came to visit over Labor Day weekend and help me celebrate my birthday. Both showed up on Thursday evening, one (plus her mini) by plane and one by car.

Sweet thing in a swing — This sweet thing in a swing was apparently a dream on the plane

I drove straight to the airport from work to get one girl plus her baby girl, and then got home with them to a house that was smashingly decorated . . .

Though it was clearly done by a couple of short guys . . .

Not my most flattering pic, but Hannah looks perfect as always. I did as much of this as Ms. Mama’s Girl would allow, which was not much

The boys had bought me a chantilly berry cake from Whole Foods, plus a mason jar of late summer flowers, and a “cactus.” It’s actually a Jade plant, just a succulent (no spines!), but Jack will not be convinced that it’s not a baby cactus that will develop spikes when it grows up.

My birthday "cactus" — My birthday “cactus”

Two faces that love to share . . . — Two faces that love to share toys . . .

After cake and greetings, the second sister arrived late. We shared a glass of wine and then all went to bed, long days for all three.

The next morning the spouse flew to Philly for a conference. It was just the girls and the little boys, and we took them to the park Friday morning early, before it got blazing hot.

She got some grubby knees/shins after crawling all over the place - now she walks! — She got some grubby knees/shins after crawling all over the place – now she walks!

This one sweats like it's his job out there — This one sweats like it’s his job out there

We all got hot after an hour or so (even at 8 in the morning), and meandered back home for cold drinks and indoor play. I had a lunchtime meeting, so got myself dressed and went into work for a few hours, but then I got out of the office and we all managed to wrangle the children into a fave Mexican place for Friday night dinner.

We braved dinner out — Behind me is a wall with a corner, and we trapped Craig in that corner all night, while my sister had to fish her baby from off the table and deposit her back in the high chair about 100 times. Squirrely.

Avoiding sitting in the chair like it's made of fire — Avoiding sitting in the chair like it’s made of fire

Saturday morning we again decided to head out super early, before it got blazing hot, and took a bike ride around Audubon park. Sadly, it was only after I had the kids with helmets in hand and getting loaded in the car that I realized that I have three sons, and two bikes. Oh Lord. There were tears. However, we worked out a compromise that involved taking turns.

Even with ice water, everyone was boiling

Jack's was king cake flavored — Jack’s was king cake flavored

Sweaty baby wanted "green kind!" so he ended up with a pretty tart lime — Sweaty baby wanted “green kind!” so he ended up with a pretty tart lime

After all the sweaty sticky outdoor time, some little imp needed a bath

Monkey see monkey do. Porky Craig didn't fit quite as well in the sink, but he insisted after watching Hannah's bath — Monkey see monkey do. Porky Craig didn’t fit quite as well in the sink, but he insisted after watching Hannah’s bath

We had pork chops, asparagus, and baked potatoes for dinner that night, and got the kiddoes down before enjoying lots of wine and conversation among the girls. Most of us couldn’t stay up too much later than the kids – even with three adults on four kids, it’s still pretty exhausting.

The next day we went swimming at our local gym, and when the indoor pool proved a bit chilly, we cut swimming short and went and played basketball a while instead. I didn’t catch any pix of that, sadly, but it was good times, and we wore the turkeys out. We had po boys for lunch and I want to say NOTHING for dinner, because we were still stuffed from the po boys (it’s possible we ordered a pizza or something, but I can’t remember). Another evening of playing puzzles, drinking wine, and chatting, and then it was bedtime.

The next morning I had to take Amanda and Hannah to the airport pretty darn early, and my car didn’t start. Luckily my other sister’s car was working fine, so we got the luggage and car seat transferred to her car toot sweet and made it to the airport on time. (We had to replace the battery, but that’s done and it was a minor repair). My next sister hung around for the morning, and we had a good breakfast and some leftover po boys for lunch, and did lots of chatting in between that time. She’s the one who just got married, so we had lots of fun talking about married life. (She and her new hubs are on their honeymoon right now in France, floating on a boat down a narrow canal, I AM SO JELLY).

And that was my weekend – two weekends ago! Last weekend we had some friends in town from my last law firm – they came by to watch football and chat. This weekend another set of friends from the old law firm were in town, and we went out to dinner with them and had a great time. Next weekend my brother might be here . . . and more of my old law firm friends are coming in October and November. The nice thing about living in New Orleans is that everyone comes to visit at one time or another!

Have a great week – I’m off to enjoy the last bit of Sunday with my boys.

One Comment

Caki