Family Night

On a random Friday in July, my mom called me and invited me out to dinner. My sister and her kids were going and Simon was here and it would be a terrific night. Unfortunately, she called me at 3pm and dinner was at 5pm. Normally, that would be fine, but I had plans. However, I hadn’t seen my family in a while, so I canceled my plans and made myself available. We went to…The Pirate Bar. That is not what it is called, but I can’t remember what it actually is called. My brother Nick works there. It’s a BBQ joint, which was a little worrisome, because I don’t like BBQ. The food was okay, not spectacular, but fine.

What was best about the evening was hanging out with the kids.

Between this silly girl

(and we were majorly backlit where we were sitting so none of these are terrific, but it is the spirit that I like)

these two darling boys:

The overall cuteness of this baby:

Or randomly getting a shot with my three favorite kids:

(yes, it’s really too bad it is so backlit, because it would have been frameable, otherwise.)

But it was a really nice dinner, it was great to have some quality time with my family, especially quiet time that wasn’t an event or something to DO, just the group of us having dinner.

After dinner, we went down to walk along the river. Auntie Emmy tried to be super cool by lifting the kids over the barrier and letting them climb on the rocks.

But we quickly learned that there is a HUGE difference between six and three when someone couldn’t last.

Mommy to the rescue.

But, don’t worry, as in all things, Auntie Livi is the coolest supreme. We walked to where the sidewalks are cut off due to the river being so high. Simon wondered if it was warm water and I led him down to find out. We hit the edge and he touched it with his fingers. I said he could take of his shoes and wade in if he wanted. That, apparently, equaled FULL ON SWIM, to him.

She is wading, he is completely drenched. It was a warm summer night and we all kind of figured what-the-heck. They are little and were having fun.

He is trying to entice her to come in and swim with him. She was WAY more hesitant. She eventually gave and was soaked through, but it took some tempting on his part. He set out to show her how much fun it could be….

Full on swimming, in about 18″ of water. He was having the time of his life. And the river water, while smelly and dirty, was warm as bathwater, so it was pleasant…for children. You’ll notice no adults are likewise engaged.

I took a few photos and then went to cuddle on this guy.

He just was enjoying being outside.

We had a little moment where I am holding my hair down, he has yet to master that manual dexterity. Poor old man hair.

Then I decided to do a mini photo shoot of him.

I got some truly great shots of him, but I was truly surprised when we managed to coax wet and wetter out of the water to join in. Granted, I would have preferred non-dripping children in my pictures, but at 6, 3, and 5 months, you take what you can get.

Simon wanted to sit with Camden and Arionna, not the tallest girl in the world, decided she would kneel behind Simon. As you can see, even though he is sitting, she is still barely tall enough to be seen.

So I made them do it again.

Much better. Cam was evidently done giving out smiles at that point, but he is looking, so I’m pretty pleased.

These three, they are the light of my life, I tell you. And though it may not seem like it, the adult members of my family were present as well. Overall, it was pretty much the perfect summer evening.