A Great Weekend

I know it's Tuesday, but I want to share about our awesome weekend.

Keith was off work Friday (which was awesome all by itself!), but I had to go out in the morning to buy some groceries for our picnic Saturday and buy a birthday gift for the boys' friend, Noah, who turned 5! I had a nice morning shopping with the boys. Naturally, when we were at Toys R Us the boys wanted everything! Before we checked out I took the boys over to the bikes and got a couple down for them to ride. They loved them! And they looked so adorable on them! But I wasn't going to buy them without Keith, so I put them back. Oh, you should've seen the puppy dog eyes! Isaac literally said to me, "You're not friendly with me, and you're mean because you take my bike and my toys away." I nearly dropped over dead. But we checked out and left. When we got home I told Keith about the bike drama, and he subtley (sp? is that even a word?) hinted he was going to buy the bikes when he went out to get his haircut.

We had lunch and a normal afternoon, the kids and I. Keith did go out for a haircut. While Josiah and Elizabeth were still napping, he came back, with the bikes! They had to be assembled, of course, but Isaac was thrilled to assist! It was such a joy to see him so excited about his new bike, and his Lightning McQueen helmet, too! I got the cameras out, and after a couple still shots of him standing next to his bike with his enormous helmet on, I switched to the movie camera to capture his first bike ride. Only thing is, we were in the driveway, which is slightly downhill. Isaac hadn't figured out the brakes yet, and started heading right for the street. Thankfully, I was standing at the end of the driveway, but I had to grab the bike to stop him for careening out into the street. When I did this, Isaac flipped over the handlebars, and landed face first in the grass. Thank God it was the grass! Funny thing is I caught most of it on video. Incidentally, however, Isaac did not want to get back on the bike. The whole things was more hilarious than anything. He took a little break while Keith assembled Josiah's bike.

So Keith got Josiah's bike put together, Josiah & Elizabeth woke up from their naps, Isaac got over his apprehension, and the boys rode their bikes for the rest of the evening! (With a brief intermission for dinner.) It was such a joy and a delight to watch them ride their bikes for the first time!

Friday nights have also become movie nights for Keith and me. We relaxed on the couch with a bottle of Chianti and watched part 1 of The Return of the King. We've been watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy, so we just have part 2 to go and we're all done with that. It's been years since I've watched them, and they are my all time favorite. I might even like them better than Gone With the Wind.

Saturday we had a family reunion picnic in South Park. The weather was fabulous, and there was a nice playground for the kids there. There's also a Game Reserve in South Park we took the kids too. One of the best parts was that Isaac met his cousin, Ping, who lives in Vienna, VA. They're about the same age, within a year. They were both bashful at first, but it didn't take long for them to warm up to one another. They were pals for the rest of the day!

On Sunday after church I took the boys to our friend Noah's 5th birthday party. After lots of playtime in the hot sun, and lots of sugar, our wonderful weekend had come to an end.

Spending lots of time with family and friends is one of my favorite things to do. I especially love with Keith and I just spend entire days at home playing with the kids.