31 Days of Flashbacks: Laboring on Labor Day

On Labor Day we went up to the woods to help our friends "do wood." There are various reasons that we did this including, but not limited to:

1. We have been helped so much by others so it's nice to help someone else once in a while.
2. Glenn had the day off.
3. It's called Labor Day so you really should labor, not just hang out and have that last picnic of the summer
4. There is not a lot of manual labor required in keeping up an apartment when you rent so our kids haven't had much chance to do manual labor and this was an opportunity for them to do some work helping others prepare for winter. I think that hard work is good for kids
5. We knew these two families were getting together to do wood and they hadn't invite us so we actually asked if we could come if we brought some food just so we could be involved - gluttons for punishment? Yes, we probably are.
6. We know that many hands make light(er) work.
7. More people = more fun.
8. We love these families and any excuse, even hard work, is a good excuse to spend time with them.

Caleb got to run the splitter.

Creative kids carting firewood.

Hungry workers need to eat.

Some workers in for a break.

Caleb and Hannah taking a break to give Clementine some love.

We brought the kids so that they would do manual labor. We were thinking "cart and stack firewood." Instead they mostly worked on this fort. I wouldn't even want to start to guess how many nails they used.

Lydia holding a board in place for Emma.

Timmy planting ferns.

These clever children decided to make the fort into a garden center.

Cuties in the car.

"Gardening" kids. This sure kept them busy

while the older ones stacked wood (We made Sally sit down because she is pregnant. She protested but finally consented)

The little girls started helping the daddies because...

they found out you can only get wheel barrow rides if you work.

All of a sudden the men disappeared. Oh, there they are - working on the fort with the kids :)

Looking down from the second floor of the fort.

It didn't work quite as well this way around.

All the kids - proud of their fort/ garden center. (It had a really big name but I can't remember it now.)

A smiling Craig and Mary Anne who aren't going to freeze this winter partly because of this day.

Thanks for letting us crash your Labor Day Labor Party. We had a lot of fun!