A Late Night Weekend

There are some really great things about kids getting older.  One of them is that more later nights are possible and we definitely milked that this weekend!  Firstly, we took advantage of wristband night for rides during Prairie Fest Thursday night (because in addition to being able to stay up late, they also cost more and wristbands for rides are cheaper than tickets).  Also, note to self: even looking at spinning rides for a long duration can cause motion sickness to aging parents.  Late night.

Cole = first timer on this ride.  Big Fan.

Friday night was the latest night.  It was a wonderful tribute to my father-in-law in the form of a trip to the car races (one of his favorite pastimes and something he talked about often).  He would love to know that his enthusiasm for this brought 18 of us together on a beautiful Friday night for some great concession food and racing excitement!  Oh how I wish he could have been there to see the boys yell for the spin-outs and Paige cheer for the female drivers.  It was a great late night.

Beautiful night for the races

Almost the whole crew

Some fans

The junk food boys

The whole crew

We got to have Rich's mom stay with us for a couple nights which meant she joined us on our last late night back to Prairie Fest for another ride each and some (not the greatest) live music.  By this time, we were getting beat!

The last day brought the parade and some father's day festivities at my parents' house.  Great weekend!

Note to self: don't plan anything early the Monday after Prairie Fest.  Getting out of the house around 9am today proved difficult, but we did it for the sake of meeting with my group of friends one last time!  (One is moving out of state and one just moved about 40 minutes away).  While we will still be connected, our monthly "girl time" will come to an end, sadly.  One last hurrah was needed!

When we first started meeting, Will (and the other oldest boys pictured) was in his first year!

Great friends.