Family Reunion Weekend
Thursday Homesick (7/10): What a busy day. What a tiring day! I got up early, bagged running because I just felt tired! I folded some laundry I'd done, reorganized and packed my family's stuff for this next set of visits, tidied up our stuff at Gmas house, packed up the van and we headed to St. George.
We stopped at R's house to drop off the Durango and see the finished house. They have finished it since I saw it last. It looks great! Loved getting the home tour.
We started our drive. And drove. And drove. We stopped in Nephi for me. I love eating at Taco Time! We sat and ate together w/ R's fam, then started driving again!
It took a while to get down. Mom and I worked on the menu while driving, the kids watched a movie and played tablets, the big kids read. I told M that I really missed him, I like that I don't have to drive when he is around! I get tired, I get restless, I need something to do! We stopped for some treats, and to fill up the van, and got to St. George around 3:30.
This house was amazing! It was so fun to walk in and run around to see all of the rooms, them come outside to see the pool and tennis courts etc. It was a great place! We each had a room for our families, with our own bathrooms. It's was fabulous!
Michelle was there first, so great to see her and her family. Cand and Scott arrived next! So great to see them. My little E has been waiting to see his cousin C and Q was so happy to see A. We helped them get in and settled, then Jeni, mom and I went to grocery shop. Ughhh. That took a while and there are SO. MANY. People... everywhere! I feel so claustrophobic sometimes when I visit here! We hit Costco and Walmart. Mom about choked on the cost of feeding us all! It's been a while since she's had to drop some cost on groceries! Jen and I were like... this is what it costs us normally to feed our family!!!
We got dinner going when we got back, everyone helped unload. D and K had arrived! Let the party begin! So fun to be together. It was pretty late by the time we got everything done.
We were dipping our feet in the hot tub and some of the kids asked to swim... it was like 9pm. Sure, why not, we're on vacation! All the kids got in suits and we night swam. They had so much fun! We adults visited and made some plans for our weekend.
Friday Fun Day (7/11): I got up early on Friday to run 7 miles. There is a trail right near the place we are renting. It was a good run, wondering why I didn't bring my running sunglasses, it was bright. Got out early before it got too hot. I feel slow and running feels harder than usual right now. It's frustrating.
We had bfast and all got ready. Went to see the St. George temple. It is beautiful and white in such a red place! We learned about the history of it, kids each got to take home the rock they used to plaster the outside of the temple, and we took pictures. I love that my kids want me to take their picture in front of the temple. I need to do better at getting them printed and put up in their rooms.
We next went to a little dinosaur museum. Mom was having a hard time, so we talked, and as we arrived there was a good song on the radio. I cranked the music, rolled down the windows and we had a quick dance party there in the parking lot! It was wonderful! All the cousins joined in for at least a second but they mostly watched the McAfee's enjoy that fab song!!! I told my mom to dance, it makes you happy! It did!
The dinosaur museum was cool. I was struggling w/ E being obedient, and talking all sassy to me. He had another time out in a public place, getting good at those! We learned a bunch about the dinosaurs that lived here in this area, that used to be a giant lake. I love dinosaurs, learning about them, finding out about our earth during that period of time. I'm so intrigued by it.
I love that these cousins love my kids and vice versa and they just want to be together. Ry's boys are so good with mine and have been so helpful and fun. Especially the older 2. They are teens. It would be easy for them not to care or engage in their cousins so much younger than them, that they never see! Skylar and Will were great helps with E and O at the museum.
The funniest part of this experience was the 'play room' at the end of the tour that has puzzles and toys etc to keep kids busy. There were instructions for this origami flying dino and we started that thing. Most of our time was spent here trying to figure out those folding instructions! G finished his. I helped Gav and we got close to the finish, but couldn't figure out the last steps. Scott actually stayed after we all gave up and wanted to figure it out! I'll have to ask him if he ever did! We literally left them there and headed home, because he wasn't done!!!
We got lunch for everyone, then the kids just wanted to swim, swim, swim. We spent basically the rest of the day in the pool! Fine by me! I haven't seen this much sun since last year when I was here! I too stayed outside all day!
These kids are having a ball together. There are all sorts of water toys and these kids will shoot each other for hours, seriously, it never stops. They go down the water slide. The little kids play in the little pool. The boys played water polo with Uncle D and R. It was so fun to watch. D taught G some stuff and coached him on how to swim with the ball. G loved it and has been practicing catching the ball with one hand then tossing it. I love that about this boy. He will try just about any sport and wants to be good at it. It is so fun to see him with R's boys having such a good time.
Sidenote here: The shallow end isn't so shallow, so my rule for my little boys has been life jackets. They are so bummed about that they won't even come in the big pool, they'd rather be jacket free in the small pool than put the jackets on and swim with all of us in the big one! Random. They feel they are too big for them, but I don't. O tried to show me he can swim, and although he does pretty good, I watched him struggle to keep his head a float when he went out a little too far. I was there near him and saw the little flash of fear in his eyes as he quickly tired. I asked him if he understood why I wanted a life jacket on him. He did, for just a minute!
It has been good to just sit and visit, catch up, laugh, reconnect with my fam. I love them!
D made Juicy-Lucy's for dinner. I talked to my man for a while on the phone. I edited some wedding photos... must get them done. The kids watched a movie. Everyone got back into the pool for night swimming!!!
D/K, S/C and I stayed up and visited and laughed. D cracked me up w/ his power walking spoof, we remembered 'Space Balls', told stories about going to the gym, it was funny! I loved it.
Saturday Lazers and Olympics (7/12): I got up to run again Saturday morning. I went 10 miles. There are some nice trails and such, but mostly here in St G. you just have to get up early to run before the sun fries you!!!
After breakfast the kids asked to swim right away! They are little fish! We let them swim in the morning, then after lunch we went to do Lazer Tag. This was one of our most favorite things! There are enough of us that we took up a whole game just by ourselves! It was so funny and fun to just have our family in there! The first game I had little E with me to show him how it works, the second game he wanted to go do it by himself. It was so much fun, we all had such a great time!
After Lazer Tag we went back to the house, the kids played Headbandz, then more swimming, then we had the Cooper Olympics. We had to adjust it a bit since we had them away from where we usually are. It was fun to have new challenges. It is a fun tradition to compete as families. I love to hear us all cheering for each other and laugh as we try new things.
We started with our 25 yard dash.
I think all the kids bettered their time this year. Q was turbo fast! I've known this, I wish she'd do track or cross country, maybe in a few years, she doesn't love organized sports!
D and I also tried to better our time this year. Sprinting for a short distance is really hard!
Next we took on the 3-legged race! We didn't have cords so we used plastic bags this year!
G/B were the tween champs, E/W were the kid champs and D/C were the big kid champs!
We made up this tennis challenge this year. All people in the family had to hit a ball into each square before the time could stop. I can't remember who's family won... it was fun anyway!
Our next challenge was sack races, with garbage bags, then we did a two team relay in the pool, mostly the kids just did that one. We watched them and cheered them on, then they all swam their hearts out for the last bit.
Sunday we got up and cleaned up and my family took off back to SL. My kids and I headed to a different part of St. G to visit the Chamberlains.
We stopped at R's house to drop off the Durango and see the finished house. They have finished it since I saw it last. It looks great! Loved getting the home tour.
We started our drive. And drove. And drove. We stopped in Nephi for me. I love eating at Taco Time! We sat and ate together w/ R's fam, then started driving again!
It took a while to get down. Mom and I worked on the menu while driving, the kids watched a movie and played tablets, the big kids read. I told M that I really missed him, I like that I don't have to drive when he is around! I get tired, I get restless, I need something to do! We stopped for some treats, and to fill up the van, and got to St. George around 3:30.
This house was amazing! It was so fun to walk in and run around to see all of the rooms, them come outside to see the pool and tennis courts etc. It was a great place! We each had a room for our families, with our own bathrooms. It's was fabulous!
Michelle was there first, so great to see her and her family. Cand and Scott arrived next! So great to see them. My little E has been waiting to see his cousin C and Q was so happy to see A. We helped them get in and settled, then Jeni, mom and I went to grocery shop. Ughhh. That took a while and there are SO. MANY. People... everywhere! I feel so claustrophobic sometimes when I visit here! We hit Costco and Walmart. Mom about choked on the cost of feeding us all! It's been a while since she's had to drop some cost on groceries! Jen and I were like... this is what it costs us normally to feed our family!!!
We got dinner going when we got back, everyone helped unload. D and K had arrived! Let the party begin! So fun to be together. It was pretty late by the time we got everything done.
We were dipping our feet in the hot tub and some of the kids asked to swim... it was like 9pm. Sure, why not, we're on vacation! All the kids got in suits and we night swam. They had so much fun! We adults visited and made some plans for our weekend.
Friday Fun Day (7/11): I got up early on Friday to run 7 miles. There is a trail right near the place we are renting. It was a good run, wondering why I didn't bring my running sunglasses, it was bright. Got out early before it got too hot. I feel slow and running feels harder than usual right now. It's frustrating.
We had bfast and all got ready. Went to see the St. George temple. It is beautiful and white in such a red place! We learned about the history of it, kids each got to take home the rock they used to plaster the outside of the temple, and we took pictures. I love that my kids want me to take their picture in front of the temple. I need to do better at getting them printed and put up in their rooms.
We next went to a little dinosaur museum. Mom was having a hard time, so we talked, and as we arrived there was a good song on the radio. I cranked the music, rolled down the windows and we had a quick dance party there in the parking lot! It was wonderful! All the cousins joined in for at least a second but they mostly watched the McAfee's enjoy that fab song!!! I told my mom to dance, it makes you happy! It did!
The dinosaur museum was cool. I was struggling w/ E being obedient, and talking all sassy to me. He had another time out in a public place, getting good at those! We learned a bunch about the dinosaurs that lived here in this area, that used to be a giant lake. I love dinosaurs, learning about them, finding out about our earth during that period of time. I'm so intrigued by it.
I love that these cousins love my kids and vice versa and they just want to be together. Ry's boys are so good with mine and have been so helpful and fun. Especially the older 2. They are teens. It would be easy for them not to care or engage in their cousins so much younger than them, that they never see! Skylar and Will were great helps with E and O at the museum.
The funniest part of this experience was the 'play room' at the end of the tour that has puzzles and toys etc to keep kids busy. There were instructions for this origami flying dino and we started that thing. Most of our time was spent here trying to figure out those folding instructions! G finished his. I helped Gav and we got close to the finish, but couldn't figure out the last steps. Scott actually stayed after we all gave up and wanted to figure it out! I'll have to ask him if he ever did! We literally left them there and headed home, because he wasn't done!!!
We got lunch for everyone, then the kids just wanted to swim, swim, swim. We spent basically the rest of the day in the pool! Fine by me! I haven't seen this much sun since last year when I was here! I too stayed outside all day!
These kids are having a ball together. There are all sorts of water toys and these kids will shoot each other for hours, seriously, it never stops. They go down the water slide. The little kids play in the little pool. The boys played water polo with Uncle D and R. It was so fun to watch. D taught G some stuff and coached him on how to swim with the ball. G loved it and has been practicing catching the ball with one hand then tossing it. I love that about this boy. He will try just about any sport and wants to be good at it. It is so fun to see him with R's boys having such a good time.
Sidenote here: The shallow end isn't so shallow, so my rule for my little boys has been life jackets. They are so bummed about that they won't even come in the big pool, they'd rather be jacket free in the small pool than put the jackets on and swim with all of us in the big one! Random. They feel they are too big for them, but I don't. O tried to show me he can swim, and although he does pretty good, I watched him struggle to keep his head a float when he went out a little too far. I was there near him and saw the little flash of fear in his eyes as he quickly tired. I asked him if he understood why I wanted a life jacket on him. He did, for just a minute!
It has been good to just sit and visit, catch up, laugh, reconnect with my fam. I love them!
D made Juicy-Lucy's for dinner. I talked to my man for a while on the phone. I edited some wedding photos... must get them done. The kids watched a movie. Everyone got back into the pool for night swimming!!!
D/K, S/C and I stayed up and visited and laughed. D cracked me up w/ his power walking spoof, we remembered 'Space Balls', told stories about going to the gym, it was funny! I loved it.
Saturday Lazers and Olympics (7/12): I got up to run again Saturday morning. I went 10 miles. There are some nice trails and such, but mostly here in St G. you just have to get up early to run before the sun fries you!!!
After breakfast the kids asked to swim right away! They are little fish! We let them swim in the morning, then after lunch we went to do Lazer Tag. This was one of our most favorite things! There are enough of us that we took up a whole game just by ourselves! It was so funny and fun to just have our family in there! The first game I had little E with me to show him how it works, the second game he wanted to go do it by himself. It was so much fun, we all had such a great time!
After Lazer Tag we went back to the house, the kids played Headbandz, then more swimming, then we had the Cooper Olympics. We had to adjust it a bit since we had them away from where we usually are. It was fun to have new challenges. It is a fun tradition to compete as families. I love to hear us all cheering for each other and laugh as we try new things.
We started with our 25 yard dash.
I think all the kids bettered their time this year. Q was turbo fast! I've known this, I wish she'd do track or cross country, maybe in a few years, she doesn't love organized sports!
D and I also tried to better our time this year. Sprinting for a short distance is really hard!
Next we took on the 3-legged race! We didn't have cords so we used plastic bags this year!
G/B were the tween champs, E/W were the kid champs and D/C were the big kid champs!
We made up this tennis challenge this year. All people in the family had to hit a ball into each square before the time could stop. I can't remember who's family won... it was fun anyway!
Our next challenge was sack races, with garbage bags, then we did a two team relay in the pool, mostly the kids just did that one. We watched them and cheered them on, then they all swam their hearts out for the last bit.
Sunday we got up and cleaned up and my family took off back to SL. My kids and I headed to a different part of St. G to visit the Chamberlains.