A good time was had by all

We had company this weekend. Sib #2, Sib # 5, my mother and a few of the children joined us for dinner Friday night. There is always a lot of this:

We do love a good meal, and will sit around the table for hours afterwards solving the problems of the world. The wine just helps the ideas flow. I headed back to the airport at 9:00 to pick up Sib #3 and her two kids. ("The Cousins", as we collectively call our children are 18, 16, 16, 14, 9, 9, and 6. It has been awhile since we've had babies, so we very excited about the twins!)

Saturday dawned, sunny and glorious. After breakfast we got in a few rounds of Don't Break the Ice, Memory and Hi Ho the Cherrio with Miss A. She is #3's youngest and quite a cutie!

After a lunch on the patio enjoying the BEST BBQ in the world (served up out of a gas station) we spent a fab afternoon enjoying the park.

Football, Frisbee, soccer, playground and ice cream on the way home. Does it get any better than that? As #5 had only been served two of the three food groups he finds lacking in New York (Kansas Beef, Bar-B-Que and Tex Mex) we headed out to a place near Sib #2's for dinner. #5 ordered a lot of food:

But did clean his plates:

After dinner we went to #2's for more world problem solving. #3 and #5 came back home with me and we were up until 2:00 a.m. arguing the finer points of the 2008 Presidential election. Thank God it was daylight savings time weekend and we got that extra hour of sleep!

I took everyone to the airport this afternoon to send them on their way(s). There were many, many tight hugs because it will be just be me, #2 and # 4 going to my parents for Thanksgiving this year. So now I'm a little sad, but damn, its good to get my house back!!