Six families, eight kids and one terrific evening...

I think I mentioned in the last post about friends flying in from out of town on Labor Day Weekend. A bunch of Lauren and Jonathan's friends decided to come crash the relaxing evening they had planned for their little family of 4 at the hotel in St Louis Park. :) Six families and eight kids later (one family unfortunately didn't make the group picture), we were laughing it up at the Homewood Suites that Friday night.

I pity those walking in the front doors to check in between the hours of 6pm and 10pm that particular evening. While we were sitting out on the back patio eating supper --amongst a variety of other things that one can only understand if you have that many children in one area at suppertime-- and having a good ole' time, we managed to scare off more than a couple of families who were apparently planning on enjoying a nice dinner outdoors as well.

Do you think it was the 3 1/2 year old, the 2 year old, the two 18 mos olds, the 10 month old, the 7 month old, the 4 month old or the 2 week old child that made them change their minds on joining us? Hmmm...that's questionable. I'm not sure what was more intimidating...seeing the men out on the basketball court trying to play like they were in highschool again (did I mention this is a really great hotel for a family atmospere?!) , the 3 1/2 year old and one of the 18 month olds pulling patio chairs up to this pitifully small decorative garden tree so excited to try and climb it, the other 18 month old going around screaming, "Wah wah!!! (aka water) excitedly grabbing any and every water bottle that she could get her sweet little hands on and drowning her precious little sundress with the liquid, the moms sitting at two tables trying to "easily and effortlessly" feed the smallest of the tikes, or do you think it was just the pure madness of it all?

I'm not really sure myself, but whatever the reason, our group of friends had quite the time chatting it up and letting the kids (those that could walk anyway!) roam free for a couple of hours. That's about as relaxing as we have it these days..but we love it that way. :) It was just the dose of "end of a busy work week" medicine that everyone needed. After it got too dark and chilly to remain outdoors, we then ventured inside where the hotel offered quite the large sitting area next to an almost as large television complete with a fireplace...and lots of safe running space for the kiddos.

Truly, we don't know who had the most fun...us or the kids. Doesn't matter. I'd call it a terrific evening either way and would request for a repeat in a heartbeat.

...now, I don't feel as if the couples and families who walked by all the diaper bags, bottles and strollers and shook their heads with disbelief and laughter would feel the same. However, one couldn't argue that they didn't get 3-4 minutes of fast-paced, childlike entertainment for the evening...or the desire to run to the nearest convenient store to stock up on a variety of birth control methods for the weekend. ;) No need to thank us people; this is how we roll!