Mermaid tea party

When we offered to keep Emily and Laine today, I tried my best to think of what to do with girls. We decided on a tea party, which horrified Dennis. He said "I don't want to go to a mermaid tea party (this was my theme), those are for girls! I want to come and have a mermaid man party with Uncle Denny".

It wasn't so bad for him, though. We picked up the girls this morning, played at the playground, and stopped for refreshments before heading to the lake. Being a mother of a boy, I wasn't prepared to have to care for an assortment of stuffed animals and a baby doll along with my human charges. You haven't lived until you've fulfilled a six-year-old's request to make her stuffed dog do the monkey bars. I pushed 4 swings at the park today: Laine's, Emily's, Dennis', and "Brownie's".

The kids happily accessorized with the beads, wigs, and hats I provided, and we all enjoyed kool-aid, sandwiches, fruit, cheese, and dessert before jumping into the lake. I had recruited help for today, so there were five adults and six children, not too bad a ratio! Chloe and her parents joined us, along with Gran, and Laura and Mary Beth came over with their Mom. We jumped in and swam, tossed children in at their request, piggy-back jumped with kids on our backs, all for the sake of entertainment. It was great fun. I wish Dennis hadn't been so territorial (or whatever it was), pushing a girl off the dock, dunking another one, smacking a cousin in the mouth, fighting over toys... Thank goodness we all had on our life jackets! I wouldn't have allowed otherwise, not with so many kids in the water!

By the end of the evening, we were watching eight children play on the Halls' newly refurbished swingset, as they had some friends over. The boat ride that both households went out on was exciting, if a bit rainy! I think Laine and Emily had fun, and I know Dennis did. We were one exhausted group of folks tonight!