The Party's Over...

"Turn out the lights, the party's over. They say that all good things must end." (Willie Nelson song)

The nest is empty, and very quiet. But, OH, What a blast we had!

My next post will include photos, but I haven't had a chance to go through them so instead, this post will just touch on some things I learned while hanging with the kids for the last 10 days.

• This little house holds 9 people pretty well. 
• We need a bigger table.
• The septic tank (rated for a 2 bedroom house) holds a lot more than I thought it would.
• My daughter takes great pictures.
• The same daughter takes TOO MANY pictures! (That's why I haven't had a chance to go through them to pick out a few really good ones to post.)
• A wrap-around porch apparently exists to be a race track for 4 little ones.
• Warren never stops. (This is not new news. It's just reconfirmed.)
• Samantha never stops giggling. (also reconfirmed.)
• We needed a lap-counter to track the number of laps Nicholas and Warren ran. 
• Zachary, the 2-year old, keeps up pretty well.
• There are 346 steps to climb at the 10 Commandments at Fields of the Woods. We climbed them all and then climbed another 300 to see more stuff.
• Zachary is a great step climber. He climbed all but 75 of the ones at the Fields. He climbed our steps to the loft 14 times a day.
• Bike helmets are a good thing. 
• My grandkids are tough. Not much slowed them down. Not their first trail ride on a big horse. Not a bike crash. Not a super fast ride on a tube with Paberry at the helm of the motorboat.
• Paberry does NOT know the meaning of  a 'gentle ride' when his wife requests that for her first ride on a tube behind the boat.
• You can not NOT laugh when you are riding on a tube. You just can't. Trust us.
• Laughing hysterically is the best stress reliever around. It is head clearing, mind clearing, heart and lung clearing, blood clearing. It's better than a good gin and tonic and head massage combined. I know. I had 9 people at my house for a week and a half, and after that ride, all was calm.
• Zachary loves boats. After the pontoon boat, for the next 3 days his main word was "BOAT!" 
• There is no time to read when the gang is here.
• The Hammock can take a beating. Just ask 4 kids. 

We had a wonderful time with the kids. They got to swim, boat, horseback ride and sight see. We went to Helen and played mini-golf and toured the town.

I think they'll be back.

I can't wait.

Meanwhile, I'm heading to the hammock with a book.