There was a family reunion happening the last week of school at my parent's house. Since we are going to Utah this year, Mark couldn't take off work to join us, so I did the 10 hours alone...with 5 kids.
Katie had a soccer game in the morning and Marcus and Addy had tennis and then a birthday party. We let them have their fun, and then were on our way.
Two and half hours into the trip, Jaxon starting whining. Luckily, it was right as we were passing a Cabella's, which is the perfect place to stop with kids. They loved looking at all the animals and fish (as long as we didn't talk about how they got there).
After some serious running around Cabella's we got back in the car. Another 2 1/2 hours later we stopped for dinner at Chick Fli A. Our goal was to make it 8 out of 10 hours, in my mind I planned for Jax and Zane to fall asleep in the car the last couple hours. Epic fail! Right around when they should had fallen asleep they both started crying. Hours later, everyone feel asleep 20 mins before the hotel...I had to haul 5 kids into a hotel at midnight. Weirdly enough, the hotel was bumping, so I got all sorts of strange looks.
The next morning we drove the rest of the way to meet my family at church.
We rented a few cabins to house everyone. Hannah and I shared one that was next to Jenn's family. Ours had a large pond that was a highlight for all the kids. They spent hours catching and releasing tadpoles.
Sunday after church, everyone came to our cabin for dinner. The kids don't need entertainment, just being together is more then enough for them.
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| Thomas and Petey |
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| Miley |
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| Jax and Thomas. He was so excited to see Thomas, they are going to be super heros and football players together when they get older. |
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| We brought bikes down, Jax LOVED being able to go outside and just bike down the road. Oh, I miss the country! |
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| Tori and Jenn |
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| Grant |
Monday my parent's rented out the local roller skating rink and the family gathered for lunch. This is an all time favorite activity for my kids-mostly because it might be the last roller skating rink left in the USA. The ice skating lessons have really paid off, both Marcus and Addy were able to skate this time. Jaxon was convinced that he could just put on real skates and take off like the other kids, he was so upset when it didn't happen. I tried to get him to put on plastic ones but he refused for a while. He then continued to make my life difficult until Flossie took a time out with him, thank heaven for sisters. After that, Jax tried the plastic ones and skated around like a pro.
Tuesday, we went to Tweetsie Railroad. I was very nervous about doing this with all 5 kids by myself but it was easier then I thought. Katie, Addy and Marcus are responsible and more mature then I realized and were able to do their own thing with their older cousins. So really, I just had to focus on Jax and Zane, and since Zane is an angel, I really just had Jax to worry about.
It was Thomas day so we got to ride Thomas the Train.
Last year at the fair, Jaxon wouldn't go on any of the rides. At Tweetsie he was nervous at first but was willing to ride with his cousins. He was so proud of himself and had so much fun.
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| Zane was so excited to get out of the stroller at the petting zoo, he kept trying to grab and eat the baby goats. |
Jax and I rode the bumper cars together. I'm not always the smartest mom and I let him drive. He almost killed me. He rammed us into a wall and I got a dented knee and whiplash, my back is still killing me (seriously, I am in physical therapy for it). He was so scared after the crash that he didn't want to drive any more. I had to fight through the pain to encourage him to keep going.
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| Zane went on his first Merry Go ride. He was so happy being a big boy! |
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| Jax really wanted to ride the airplane but all of his cousins were gone, so he had to gather his courage and ride by himself. I don't know who was prouder, him or me! |
Wednesdays was one of my favorite days. We biked the Creeper Trail. It is about 17 miles from the trail head near my parent's house to the where we were ending. We brought the kids bikes down. Jax really wanted to ride his own, but of course we had to tell him it was too far. We put him in the bike trailer with Caden, which he resisted at first, but in end they formed a never ending bond.
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| My parents watched all the little ones while we were gone for a few hours. |
The trip was an adventurous one, Carson's chain kept coming off. Flossie and I stopped each time, so we go behind the rest of the group. Randomly, my parent's neighbor passed a road crossing at the same time we did and had the tools to fix it. Next, we ran into Bryan who was stopped with Cooper and his flat tire. We tried pumping it up, but it went flat again, then Cooper went on Flossie's bike and Bryan carried the bike as he biked with his tag-along. Neither worked well, finally we tied the the bike to the bike trailer I pulled with Jax and Caden, and Cooper hung onto Flossie. We finally caught up with the rest of the group where they were stopped for ice cream. Marcus and Katie both managed to have bike crashes and had band aids when I saw them again.
Jenn had a bike with a baby seat on it. After ice cream we talked Jax into riding in the seat so we could put Thomas with Caden and Cooper in the bike trailer. Jax was too heavy for me to balance with Jax, so Bryan rode with Jax and I rode with Colby on the tag-along. Jax LOVED riding with Uncle Bryan, Bryan is crazy and does things mom never would.
At the end of the trail we met shuttles that drove us back to our cars.
Thursday, we went to Grayson Higland's Park for a day of games and hiking.
After a photo opp, we met everyone at our usual spot for lunch. We chatted, at lunch, played games and watched packs of children run in and out of the woods then we went on our favorite waterfall hike. Halfway through the hike there is a spot at the bottom of the falls where the kids can play in the water. I was at the back of the group with the little kids and by the time I caught up with everyone Katie was halfway up the side of the falls. All of my kids were drenched by the time we kept going.
Friday we didn't have any plans, so we all ended up at Flossie's house to let the kids jump on the trampoline and run through the woods.
She also had kittens, enough said ...
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| Jaxon has to many older cousins to get any quality time with the kittens so he settled for chasing around the mother cat. |
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| Katie begged and begged to bring this one home for her birthday. Crazy girl thought there might be a chance that I would give in. |
The kids would have stayed on the mountain all night, but we eventually had to leave so I could pack. Saturday morning, the kids hung out with the Swapp kids while I loaded the car.
Finally, I gathered up my tired but happy kids, full of good memories, and we started the long drive home. I learned my lesson and we left early enough that we would be home by bedtime. With thoughts of soon seeing Mark, we reversed ourselves and stopped at Chick Fli A and then at Cabellas and then finally home.
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