A Latesummer Weekend's Fun

...Does that title sound anything like 'A Midsummer Night's Dream?'...
I don't know, sometimes I don't quite hit the mark.

Anyway, we got a very awesome invitation this last week. JC's sister was heading to a local resort for a night's stay with her family. The family friend they had planned to go with had to back out last minute.
They kindly invited us and we were so excited.

And...for the record, I would like to count it on my 'spontaneous things' list that proves that I do, indeed, do unplanned things. Even though we had more than an entire day's notice...it counts.

Here you see...we were ready to go!

Bethany was quite concerned that Scout would miss us overnight.
I told her that he would probably enjoy the quiet evening and be happy to see us back the next day. But she still wanted to spend some time saying goodbye.
Cute girl and her cat.

She loves him.

He loves her.
Can't you see it in his face as she picks him up?
(...He really does though, I promise...)

The kids each got to take their own little rolling backpack with their pj's, stuffed animals, blankets, toothbrushes, etc. They got to load them up themselves.

Once we got there, we had to kill some time until check-in, so some cousins jumped in our van and made things more exciting!

Here, Colton makes Ben laugh.
Ben has always loved Colton. I need to gather together all the pictures I have of Ben laughing with, smiling at, giving high fives to, or sitting with his cousin Colton.

Um, and yes, also pictures of them being adorable and walking through the parking lot together to go find our rooms. Colton held Ben's hand and walked across the street with him.
In front of them are Bethany, James, JC, and Brittney!

A little while later, after some big fun at the resort's water park (yep, that's right, water park), we expended the energy we apparently still had in the hotel room!
Brittney and Bethany, going NUTS! It was so funny to watch them feed off each other.

The boys followed them around, going a bit crazy themselves!

They also played a game that Grandma Teri had brought. They loved it!

James, being silly during the game.

Ben, being 'oops, I said the word hate and I know I'm not really supposed to say that, sorry Mama' during the game. It was cute.

Aunt Melissa got everyone's interest with some fantastic games on her phone.
It involved making pictures of everyone look hilarious.
Doesn't get better than that!

James...became preoccupied.

Until it was his turn to take a picture and make it funny.

Guess who he took a picture of? Yep, his mama.
Don't I look lovely?

After exhausting ourselves with laughter, it was time to settle down a bit.
James pulled out the hide-a-bed. He may have had some help, but don't tell him that.

The boys settled in for a movie while Brittney and Bethany spent some quality time together and us adults-and-almost-adults played games!

A while later, we had this:

The evening was a lot of fun, and it wasn't even a horribly late night! Everyone slept pretty well until Ben decided it was daytime at four am.
But he went back to sleep. :)
Then everyone gathered for some morning cartoons!

The morning was laid back and nice. When you are away from home, you really have no choice but to be lazy because what else can you do? It's nice to have an excuse to just sit and enjoy!

Later that evening, back home and well-rested from a rest time in which we all dozed off a bit, we ended up with some fine entertainment. We put in a DVD Polly had given us of the footage she and Mason took when she went to pick him up from his mission in the Philippines. It was a lot of scenery which was cool to see, but also some of him talking while he taped. The kids thought that was pretty cool!
Even cooler was when we actually got to see him on the video.
I knew Bethany would especially love it and I had the camera ready.
Here she is, getting a glimpse of her Daddy Mason in action!
So sweet.

After a while, things calmed down to the point that it was just about bedtime.
But then.
Rain.
So, we had to go outside! There was a lot of lightening though, so we stayed on the porch and enjoyed ourselves there!
(Bethany saw these pictures and pointed out, 'I didn't need to go potty, I was just holding up my pants off the ground.' So, keep that in mind, per her request.)

James' train came to enjoy the festivities.

And festive it was!

A favorite past time...sidewalk chalk on the wet ground.

Lately the kids have been loving that song about the raindrops being lemon drops and gum drops...they loved having an opportunity to really live it:
"STANDING OUTSIDE WITH MY MOUTH OPEN WIDE!
AEH AEH AEH-AEH AEH AEH-AEH AEH AEH-AEH!"

(remember...she is just holding her pants up...)

It all added up to a pretty enjoyable weekend. Water park. Family. Daddy Mason. Rain.
Yessss.