family movie night

the public library has organized several free family movie nights this summer at the park next to the ymca.  never ones to pass on something "free", we were in.  tonight's movie was mary poppins.  the event was very nice.  they had kids' activities starting at 7pm and the movie was going to start at "dusk".  

first of all, the evening was gorgeous!!  it was a pleasure to be outside and even more fun since matt was there too.  once we got our  stuff set up matt and the kids went to check out the activities.  first they were given a cardboard box to glue paper plate 'wheels' on to make a 'drive-in car' for the movie.  we could have gotten three but the boxes were huge and matt, wisely, thought about how we would get them home.  they gave the kids stickers, markers and crayons to decorate their 'cars'.  then we went about playing several yard games - hopscotch (that one was for you, grandma), hoola-hoop, horseshoes, etc.

mason's technique with the hoola-hoop.  i was almost crying trying not to laugh.

the people in front of us started running down the hill with two of their little boys, then our kids got in on the action and then every other kid there!  amazingly, no one got hurt coming down the hill even though there was a hole at the bottom and all three of our bigs fell several times. then they switched from running to rolling down the hill.  next some kids started bringing over hoola-hoops to roll down too.  everyone having fun.

all three bigs taking the 'car' for a test drive before the movie.

manning was super excited about playing with his toys for a while - the second picture is a squealing happy one.

as the sun went down it started to really cool down and we had to bundle up with some blankets.  it was already 9pm and we were still waiting for the movie to start!  i had really underestimated how late "dusk" was but the kids were doing great!  manning had a super late nap (we had to wake him up to even get there), maddux had slept in the car on the way home from the zoo and madelyn even had taken a nap.  mason was the only kid who had not napped.

manning decided to get all rolly-polly

as an added bonus, papa johns donated pizza for all the kids!  wasn't that nice?  every kid got a free slice of pizza.

we ended up having to leave around 10pm.  it was funny because mason said something along the lines of, "i don't think it was a good idea to stay up past bedtime. can we go home, please?"  poor guy was pretty tired after a super long and fun day.  i think i enjoyed it even more after the rough week.  you have to have bad days to appreciate these great ones!  love.