Backyard Back-to-School Bash (#6!)

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend and is enjoying this last bit of summer. This past Friday was our annual Backyard Back-to-School Bash, and we had a blast hosting our family and friends!

The first few years we hosted this event, I spent a lot of time on decorations and planning activities and details of the evening. I think it was more necessary back then to make sure all the children had things to keep them busy. However, as time has gone on, our crowd is now mostly older kids. They are much better at occupying themselves and the need for a craft or lots of games or an obstacle course is just not there. We also nixed all the indoor and outdoor "Camp" decor this year. It makes the prep work much easier on our end, but also a *tiny bit* sad that our kiddos are growing up so much. 

We did do our make-your-own trail mix bar this year, but I don't think it will be something we will continue. The kids just aren't as interested in it as they were when they were younger (it was a favorite for several years!), and that's okay. I'm trying to stay aware and adjust things as the kids grow. On the menu was the usual hot dogs, chili, veggies, fruit, chips, and s'mores.

It was a lovely evening for hosting a crowd . . . not too hot with a nice breeze, and we were so thankful! 

The older kid crowd:

Ashlyn, Chloe, Bri, Brayden, Kyrie, Bren, Kyle, Oliver, Michael, Zack, and Jaxen

We were excited that Lisa and Chloe made the trip for the party. They haven't missed one yet!

Mar, Chelle, and Lisa

Kyrie and Bri

Chloe, Bri, Kyrie

Brecklyn, Chelsea, and Sadie

As soon as the kids finished eating, they started up a volleyball game. Sadly, our quad-ball net is no more, but instead of replacing it we decided to give volleyball a try instead. We thought it might work better since more people could play at a time. It worked out great!

Some of those who weren't interested in playing sat near the net and cheered the teams on.

Kyle, Chloe, Ashlyn, and Brayden

Of course, guests of all ages enjoy the fire! 

Caroline and Sadie

Neo and his s'more

Neo and Angie

And the playhouse and playset always get plenty of love, too!

Brecks, Samuel, and Brooke

Sadie, Brooke, Lia, Brecklyn, Gracie, and Caroline

Jordan, Blake, and Abby

Beautiful evening and beautiful sky!

Lia (who wasn't interested in the camera) and Brooke

Tia, Chelle, Angie, and Lisa

Anna, Shana, and Chelle

Eventually, the volleyball game morphed into a "Dads vs. Teens" competition. I wasn't over where the game was going on much, so I'm not sure how it happened. However, I will say that one side was definitely more invested in winning than the other side. 

I was a little surprised to see the "aged" team falling all over the place, haha!

The victorious Dads - Chris, Mark, Greg, Brad, Ross, and Jason

The teens didn't love getting beat by the Dads, but they were willing to let them have their night :-)

Of course, the victory came at a cost . . . poor Jason went home bleeding!

And the next morning, several of us wives were texting about our husbands whining that they are too old for such intense game play . . . but they won, lol! Everyone had a blast playing volleyball, so we decided that maybe an "Adults vs. Kids" volleyball game will be a new tradition!

As the sun began to set, the sky started to really show out for us. Thank you, God, for Your majestic artwork!

Bren and Zack

Blake and Brianna

For my record, those in attendance this year were: Mark, Anna, Gavon, Blake, Jason, Shana, Zack, Jordan, Ross, Tia, Sadie, Caroline, Angie, Neo, Lia, Imsun, Chelsea, Lisa, Chloe, Renee, Britt, Kyrie, Michael, Kyle, Samuel, Ashlyn, Brayden, Brad, Tiffanie, Jaxen, Greg, Sarah, Oliver, Abby, Gracie, Grampy, G-Jo, and our crew. 

As usual, all our guests began leaving as it started to get really dark (around 9:30 - 10:00pm). We picked up the yard and the house the best we could, then went down to spend some time by the fire as a family. What a blessing it is to have our community and each other!