Another Fun Filled Weekend

We've had another fun and event filled weekend.

Friday afternoon Grandpa & Yia Yia came to visit and have dinner with us. The kids were beyond excited to see them and spend time with them. We ended up choosing a Mexican restaurant for dinner where Spencer announced that the refried beans were poop. Thankfully it was a bit on the noisy side in the restaurant, but I know everyone at our table heard him!

Saturday was a day at the lake. We wanted to go up over the weekend since we had chosen not to go up during the week over the holiday days due to the expected fireworks and noise levels. But also we were celebrating Alex's 11th birthday at the lake.

We were all packed and ready to go the night before but it still seemed to take a bit too actually get out of the house Saturday morning. Then on our way out of town I had a brilliant idea to stop and get some "bird bread" for Great Grandma. They've frequently gotten "bird bread" in Lincoln (when they lived there) and she's talked about how she can't get it in Fremont. So I thought we'd see if we could score some in Omaha. Sure enough, we did! The kids were so excited to tell Great Grandma that we had a surprise for her when we arrived. She was thrilled! We had at least a dozen large bags stuffed with bread. Sure enough, later that afternoon Great Grandma and the girls' went out on their adventure and had a lot of fun.

The rest of the day was filled with water play and relaxing. As we were packing the night before the girls' had their own checklist of all the things they wanted us to take. The list included the usual stuff - their life jackets, kickboards, etc... The most important of all, their new fishing poles that Great Grandma & Grandpa gave them for their birthday. We cracked them open when we got there but unfortunately one of them didn't work. They all did a great job of sharing the working fishing pole and they had a great time.

By dinner time all the kids were thoroughly exhausted from all the swimming. Poor Haleigh (niece) was nearly falling asleep while eating her dinner. Not long after we were headed out and on our way home. We made a stop at Zesto's for a treat, as promised. Though, Carie and I really thought that they all might have been asleep before we even made it to Zesto's. That wasn't the case so we stopped and all had a treat. Not long after Ellie fell asleep, but Abby & Spencer hung in there and were still awake when we got home. Suddenly Abby wasn't tired anymore!

This afternoon we were off to a family reunion for my Grandmother's family. One of my Dad's cousins hosted the event at their home on their acreage in a town very nearby. I'm curious to know how many people were there, our guess is easily 100 but I'm not very good at judging these things. We easily counted 50 between a few families (Grandma, one sister & brother) that we know fairly well and there are several more that we aren't quite as acquainted with.

I'm glad we went since it has been a long time since I've seen so many of these people. My memories of the family reunions are from many years ago when I was still a kid and the reunions were held at the lake. Everyone has changed so much and the kids that I remembered are now parents much like I am. It was a great, albeit very hot, afternoon. The highlight of the afternoon was watching the older kids have a blast on their huge (200') waterslide. We took swimsuits for the girls' and gave them the option. They chose to watch and I was quite happy with their choice. Spencer could have gone in his clothes as I was not up for wrangling him to get his swimsuit on. Dry clothes were on hand in case! The older boys were having quite a lot of fun and it appeared to be a bit rough for the younger crowd.

This evening's theme is relaxation. We are staying in (out of the heat!) and having a "pizza party" in the family room. Fingers crossed for a smooth bedtime and a continued relaxing evening!