Summer Send Off

Noah completed his work in the fields on Friday and headed to college on Saturday. Still sleepless from his exhausting summer experience, he enthusiastically participated in Graysen's plan of an intentional all-nighter before the start of school on Monday. After Noah settled into his dorm and his parents headed home, the rest of the afternoon was spent preparing for the planned festivities. I picked Graysen up from work and he carried out a shopping bag full of ice cream. Noah and Caelan drove to another store to get firewood and hundreds of water balloons. They spent the better part of the early afternoon filling these for one of the evening activities, saved for Gabby's arrival home from work.

First on the docket: dinner at Raising Cane's. Brennen was already having coffee nearby with a friend, who tried to finagle an invite to the overnight party, but we kept this one exclusive :)

Second: the four of them returned to our house and the guitars were put into musical use. This accompanied Caelan while she . . .

Third: made milkshakes. But these were not your average milkshakes. When the chocolate chip cookie dough chunks hit the Ninja blades I nearly dropped the food I was making on the stove. It was SO loud! We thought, "Well, those are some solid little cookie dough bits!" Soon, the shakes were distributed to glasses for the present teens and Buck. Buck got a funny look on his face and said, "I didn't order glass in mine." He pulled a shard-like chunk out of his mouth. Soon the boys began noticing the same thing, but increasingly larger--chunks of plastic disguised within their creamy desserts. Caelan was baffled . . . until they fished out a piece that looked oddly like the spare pour-spout cover. Sure enough, she blended a lid into their ice cream. We were all laughing so hard, as the strainers came out and more chunks were discovered! Because, yes, no one was willing to give up their tasty treats even if plastic lid was in the ingredient list :) We sent the following picture to Gabby at work. She was very confused. The second picture is what was in Noah's cup, alone. He might be the "lid"eral winner of the most chunks in his glass (totally his joke, btw :)

Fourth: While they were waiting for Gabby and digesting their plastic, an exciting game of Farkle broke out in the library!

Fifth: When Gabby arrived, the fun really began! They spent more than an hour painting cute porcelain creatures . . .

. . . and then (Sixth) painting themselves :) For the next activity was an 11 PM game of laser tag on the darkened hills, and one must wear his or her battle paint (even if inspiration was pulled from the advertisements in the newspaper on the table, ha!) Never have My Little Pony tattoos looked so fierce.

At about midnight, I followed Buck to bed. He had inventory the next day, so was already peacefully snoozing for his 4:45 a.m. alarm. No sooner did I hit the pillow, than I hear yelping, crying, and snarling outside. Graysen yelled, "MURIEL!" Apparently, she got territorial and confused by all the evening antics when it was clearly bedtime. She decided to fight Chauncey, which was not part of the activity plans. She's a wee stinker sometimes!

Okay, so I was asleep for the remainder of the line-up . . . I think next was the near-silent water balloon fight, which I'm told was THE most fun part of the evening. Just look at all the balloons!! That's Muriel's doggie pool and big enough for someone to lay across. Wowza!

Because they were now wet at approximately 1 a.m., Caelan proved her summer camp fire-starting skills and got the logs blazing. Into it they threw merry color-changing chemicals . . . hopefully after they cooked the brats Caelan purchased (along with a ton of candy) at the grocery store earlier that day. Brennen also strapped some swords and such on for a warrior pose by the fire with his "tats."

Once they were de-painted, they all settled down inside to watch movies. The plan was to make candy charcuterie, but they were too tired, so just ate it out of the boxes :) Three movies, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Princess Diaries I, and Princess Diaries II, carried them into the early dawn light--when Brennen had to be at church to run sound for Sunday services. Gabby dropped him off (she had gone to bed after the fire) and headed to church with her friend C's family. Graysen hit the hay and slept for a solid 8 hours. I woke him up at four and he still crashed with no problem that night. Brennen has a hard time napping during the day, but he eventually sang himself to sleep in the chair. This might be my favorite picture ever!

I love that they planned this event together, celebrating the end of summer and making happy memories. My mama heart is full 💗