Rain, Rain, Go Away...or Not.

This evening was so much fun it deserved it's own post!

It didn't initially start out fun though...

Back story:  I go out to my brothers house once a week for dinner -- but really just to hang out with the kids.  It was mentioned that maybe I could bring Hadley, my other niece, sometime, too.  Sure thing.  No problem, right?

So Kelli dropped her off at my work a little before 5, and she was looking extra gloomy.  And sad.  A soon as her mom drove off, the tears started.  Complete with lip quivering and whimpering.  Ugh.  I felt awful an decided to scratch the plans. I can't deal with that!  Real tears kill me!  

I called Kelli to come back and get her.  Buuuut Kelli's phone was broken.  So now I had a crying 3 year old in my office who "just wanted to go home."  But I couldn't take her because I had dinner in my car for everyone else.  

So who do I call?  Uncle Tony for the rescue.  For some reason, Hadley just LOVES Uncle Tony.  Me, not so much.  But Uncle Tony?  Oh absolutely.   He convinced her - quite easily, I might add - to "just come jump on the trampoline for a little bit" and then I would take her home.  It worked.  Thank  you, Jesus.

Actually, by the time I got her in the car and set up with my iPad (I don't know what people with kids did before these things), she was all smiles and loving my apps.

The night was going well.  We had dinner,  jumped on the trampoline, played some games ... and then a few rain drops came.  

I asked Hadley if she could catch any on her tongue. The other kids came out, too.

With no big storms in the forecast, I thought it was just going to be a quick few sprinkles and that was it.  But even at that, Hadley and Hunter LOVED it.  They just squealed and danced around like they'd never seen anything so amazing.

That is, until it thundered.  Hunter is kind of enamored with it -- maybe a little scared of it.  But as soon as Hadley heard it, she ran right in the garage and continued to tell me (with her many dramatic expressions, as you can see below) that "thunder can shock you" and she was staying right there where it was safe!  

Not quite correct, but she was too cute to argue with.

Once the thunder hit...the rain really hit.  I mean, big, heavy rain.  No hail, although it kind of looks like it in the pictures.  The rain drops were just that big!

Now this kind of storm got all the kids out and running around like a bunch of little crazies.

Allie and Brody decided to have a contest to see who could stand in it the longest.  They're both very competitive and determined kids...so this went on for quite some time.

The other two just ran in and out of the garage, getting more and more soaked with each trip.  I sent a couple of pictures to Kelli asking if a soaking wet kid was okay to bring back?

Completely soaked.  

Dripping wet.

 Hadley has this thing where she just shakes when she gets really excited.  I couldn't contain my laughter when she was standing out int he driveway with the pouring rain beating down on her...just grinning and shaking away, hahaha!

 Group shot of the wet kids!  (And video HERE.)

I mean, seriously, look at the pure joy on their faces.  It was priceless.  

Who knew a few rain drops could be this much fun!?

Adults stayed dry in the safety of the garage.

Hadley's "excited" shaking eventually turned in to teeth-chattering kind of shaking.  This was the face I got when I asked for one more picture.  Classic. 

It took some convincing, but we eventually talked all of the kids to coming in to dry off and warm up.  They absolutely could not have been any more wet.  They might as well have just jumped in a swimming pool fully clothed.  They would have looked the same!

I figured a clean kid with someone else's dry clothes on them was better than a dirty, soaking wet kid.  So I made the little ones strip down in the garage and run right up to the bath tub that was already filling up with warm water. 

How cute is this picture of them both jumping in??

They had a blast with bath time -- but that was eventually cut short when they got a little too rowdy and started jumping and kicking water all over the bathroom.  (Sorry about the wet walls, Christa!)

I'll consider it a success since no one cracked their head open. 

And I got another cute pic of their little butts! 

I was almost late getting Hadley home for bed-time, but the kids all had so much fun playing in the rain.  (And the bath afterwards was of course necessary!)  I think she'll be asking to come out with me again sometime soon.   

All in all, it was one of the more fun evenings I've had over there.  Nothing beats kids laughter...except for kids squealing with excitement.

And all because of a few (okay, a lot of) rain drops!