May 29

You know how sometimes you invite someone to a party, thinking they'll never actually come? And then they come, and you're shocked?

That was us this weekend, I think. We were invited to a graduation party in another state, four hours north of us. It was Memorial Day weekend, our calendar was empty, and so Chris and I decided to go for it, with a whirlwind 36-hour trip.

We started the trip with a breakfast date with Chris' aunt Maggie and cousin Molly. Then we loaded the kids in the car and enjoyed a pretty pleasant drive, thanks to the van's DVD player.

Everything was going great, until lunch time. When noon rolled around and the kids were getting hungry, we realized that we were in the middle of nowhere. The only place for 45 minutes in any direction was a Denny's, so we stopped there.

Big mistake. HUGE.

(Well, not really. But it was annoying.)

The only issue was that it was the slowest Denny's ever, and we were there right at noon on a Sunday. It was packed, our food took forever, and our quick lunch break ended up taking twice as long as I had hoped it would.

The kids drew pictures for us, and Daisy photographed things.

Daisy drew this picture of Chris and me. He is the big blue person with curly hair. I am small, orange, have long hair, and earrings. Isn't it a remarkable likeness?

Before we left the house, I asked each kid to pack a backpack full of toys for the trip. It was a brilliant move on my part, partially because then I wasn't responsible for their entertainment. But also, it meant that things like these goggles came along for the ride. The goggles alone were pretty entertaining.

Not to be outdone by Daisy, Caleb drew this picture of Chris and me, holding hands. Isn't it sweet?

(Yes, Chris and I routinely look this tired. Four children is no joke.)

And then Daisy drew my portrait, and even wrote my name - twice! Eventually we finished our meal and got back on the road. We got into town in time to spend a few hours hanging out with my Grandma at her house.

My four duckies with their Great Grandma! Euny told me she thinks her great-grandchild total is 16 right now, and she even has a few great-great-grandchildren!

I know my sisters and other two nephews would have loved to be in this picture, too.

Hi, Ryan!

And then it was time to check into our hotel room, get cleaned up, and go to the graduation party! It just happened to be a s'mores party, so the kids were stoked. 

Doesn't that look like an absolutely perfect s'more?

What a mess!

Double mess! After seeing these two, I didn't let Eli even try a s'more. I did let him have an untoasted marshmallow, while he was wrapped on my back. Another mistake - washing the marshmallow out of my hair was no fun!

We had fun, and were so glad we came up for the party!