Sprinklers and Sunburn

It is always fun to have seven kids in the house for the day. Today all the Johns boys (Ryan, Trevor, Anderson and Cai) came to stay with us while their parents went to a wedding a few hours away. Our job was to have fun from 9 until 6:30-ish when we would take them back to their house for someone else to take over and put them to bed. What never ceases to amaze me is that even though there are 7 kids (all under 10) in the house it is typically silent. They are such good friends and play so well together. It's eerie. No stranger at our door would ever believe me if I told them all the kids were in the house. So it is a blessing to keep the boys for a day.

I was uncomfortable taking all 7 to the pool so I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to do. But Adrian suggested we take everyone over to the Botanical Gardens (on our membership = free activity) to the World of Wonders Children's Garden. This was a spectacular idea because eventhough it was 100 out today and high humidity, the WOW's main feature are tons of sprinklers to run through. (The only bummer was that my camera batteries died after just a couple of pictures.)

So we packed up sandwiches and all the fixings for a picnic lunch and headed over there. The kids had a blast. We stayed in for an hour or so and then went back to the van for lunch which we ate in the shade of some tall pines right next to the airport. It was really exciting to watch the planes take off. Ice-cold drinks are such a treat on hot days. After we ate we went back into the WOW and played for a short time longer. By the time we left it was after 2 and Cai was definitely getting tired. Actually he was asleep before we left the parking lot. The truth was--it was a really easy trip. Thank you, my precious Adrian for making that a reality.

So getting home to the blessed air conditioning allowed for naps for the two youngest and a movie for the rest.

Then we ate hot dogs and ice cream bars for dinner--thank you Mrs. Johns. Anderson and Cai got a quick bath and it was time to take them home. (I did get more pics after we got home.)

It's amazing how quickly a day can pass when you are really preoccupied. It was so fun. Days like today make me want to have 7 kids all our own. But then I just think about how much work that would actually be. So I think I'll stick with keeping to the occasional 7.

Pictures: #1-At the World of Wonders, Avril and Ryan; #2-Avril, Maia and Anderson; #3-Avril and Eowyn; #4-Cai; #5 & 6-Anderson; #7-Eowyn; #8-"After WOW"; #9-Adrian "after wow" :p; #10-Picnic dinner; #11-Yes, It's the Bunny Ears Years; #12-Hotdog Meditation; #13-Cai--before he got too messy; #14-more bunny ears; #15-carrot lip; #16-Gorgeous! (my favorite pic of the day.)