Wild and Wacky Weekend

A happy family is but an earlier heaven. ~ George Bernard Shaw

We spent the holiday weekend at my in-laws cabin 90 miles away.  And what a wonderful weekend it was.  Full of fun, laughter, adventure, laughter, food, laughter, Bud Lime, laughter, fishing, laughter...and when we were all abed, attempting to unknot the side stitch from laughing, there was still more laughter.

Some snippets of the weekend:

My FIL has a 'little car'.  You're looking at it.  He has had it for probably 50 years.  It hasn't worked well for the past couple years so my son has never had the opportunity to drive it.  Until this year.  Good thing he just finished his behind the wheel, eh?

This is half of the 10 grandchildren present...and usually the very first thing they all do when they arrive at the cabin.  3 of the 4 families represented by children present:

The 14 year olds??? They spent the afternoon taking pictures of themselves.  Faces only a mother could love:

Or the occasional 14 year old boy...:

We had some tubing action happening.  The kids are fearless:

The boat, of course, is optional:

Then there was the fishing.  Normally the pontoon is taken out to the middle of the lake where one would assume the fishing is best.  But Beanie started fishing UNDER the pontoon and started pulling up some nice sized sunnies.  I warned her that if she was going to fish, she was going to remove said fish from the hook herself:

Her cousin joined in the fishing and before we knew it Grandpa and Jacob were cleaning a mess of fish (ok...mess might be a little exaggerated...perhaps a fine appetizer plate of sunnies):

And what is a Fourth of July without the prerequisite fireworks.  We have sparklers to start:

Then all 18 of us loaded onto the pontoon (still on the lift) to watch the fireworks display over the water:

And the finale:

If only the fun had ended there.  No...Grandma needs to do a bed check on such nights.  First, she attempted to spoon snuggle with my 16 year old son.  Do you know anything of 16 year old boys?  His plaintive wail..."Dad...please take your mother away" put us into fits of laughter.  Then came the suggestion that I join my BIL so she could snuggle with her oldest son.  Gently  declining her request, she moved onto her younger son who had fallen asleep earlier and was now sporting lovely bright pink nail polish on what was left of his finger and toe nails courtesy of his younger sister.

Benjamin Franklin once said "He that raises a large family does, indeed, while he lives to observe them, stand a broader mark for sorrow; but then he stands a broader mark for pleasure too."  I count myself fortunate to be living in the circle of a large family, for the pleasure will always outweigh the sorrow.