A jaunt down south for the weekend

Here is the question of the day that is un-original seeing as how I just said it in my comment on another blog.
Why are so many of us married ladies single?  I know the answer would be something obvious to make us feel ungrateful like, our men are working hard for a living but why are there so many jobs out there that require 80% of their time away from their families?  Where are the days of Dad home in time to play with the kids before dinner or even actually see them before they go to bed...or home at night at all?  It's not fair.  It's not cool.  It makes life really hard, for a lot of people.
Complaining done.

We took the weekend to go down and see our besties in Chesapeake.  We love that they are so close to us.  Close enough for a weekend jaunt.

This picture has nothing to do with our fun weekend but I had to share.  Does anyone in my family recognize this?  I came across it in an antique store last month.  This is the EXACT same as the ET doll that I had as a child.  It was my favorite and I loved it but I was also oddly terrified of it at the same time.  I would have bought it on the spot but I was a little scared.  Happy, but scared.

Now this is from our trip.  This represents the night that we got there.  Not that Poseidon represents what we did, it just happens to be the only picture I took.  We went out, just the adults, for Laurie's birthday.  We ate steak and then went for a walk on the beach until our old legs and bodies told us that it was late and we needed to go home to bed.

The next day we hit Virginia Beach with everyone.  Nine kids is a lot to keep track of but everyone had a lot of fun and no one drown the entire time.

Mia jumped for joy.

 Hazel sat in a hole and dumped sand on herself.

Mia gave boogy boarding a go and loved it even though the water was freezing.

 Clark struck a pose on demand.  He's good like that.

The babies wore goggles.

 Laurie went for her open swim in preparation for her big triathlon coming up.  Clark accompanied her so she wouldn't be caught in a riptide while no one noticed her floating out to see.  Just kidding, she totally knows how to get out of a riptide.

Haley played and chased little ones.  Abby was there but apparently flew under my Mom with the camera radar.  I am fairly certain she was not swept out to sea.
Then we went home, ate lunch, rested and went back out to a waterpark.  It was a blast.  Children of every age had fun and no one wanted to go home even though they were totally wiped out.  Little E fell right asleep in the kiddie Amazon lazy river.  It was pretty awesome, and adorable.  I love doing things where my kids can step out of their comfort zones and do something amazing.  All of the girls tried waterslides and things that they were otherwise nervous to try.  I did not take pictures partly because I am lazy and partly because my camera kept telling me that the battery was dying.  Typical.  So typical.

Then we did sparklers.  I bought a box from Costco this year for the fourth of July.  It's like the never-ending box of sparklers.  We gave the older kids three boxes each and that didn't even make a dent in my supply.  I have been giving them out like party favors to everyone who comes over.
The kids would light their sparklers and charge around the outside of the house to see if they could make it back before it went out (it's a big house.)  It was adorable.  I love that these kids love each other.

The best part of our trip was when Mike (who is in the Bishopric) woke Clark and I up at 7am on Sunday morning, and while we laid in bed in our pajamas amongst sprawled kid bodies and looked at him through half waking eyes, asked us to speak in Sacrament meeting at 11.  His speakers called to say that the wife had fallen down the stairs Saturday night and broken her back.  What some people will do to get out of a talk.  (I can only joke about it because she is OK, on bed rest for two weeks and totally being taken care of...OK, you're right, probably not appropriate to joke about still.)  We obliged because we really like Mike, felt sorry for Laurie who was also asked to speak, AND Clark and I kinda like to talk, in case you hadn't noticed.
We dragged our feet as long as we could until Sunday night when we hit the road to come back home.  The rest of the story is very uneventful.  It includes things like laundry and kids in pajamas all day, blah blah blah.


Riddle me this--I can take my kids to a carnival, pay a million dollars for rides, treats and attractions and they will whine and complain until kingdom come.  But then, I can take them to the Target parking lot for a vendor hayday where they can wait in line no less than 45 minutes in 95 degree weather for everything (which is free) and be happy as clams.

Free hamburgers, face painting and a thrilling ride on "The Seat Belt Convincer" and they were plum tuckered out with a totally fun evening under their belt.
Who knew.