Family Reunion

Gottcha! You totally thought I fell apart again and wasn't really going to keep up this whole blog thing. The truth is that I was out of town for a week. It was the Husband's family reunion time, the one that is planned almost a year in advance, the one that we finally decided to go to, one week before it actually happened. Don't worry, camping for a week is so easy to prepare for with only a few days notice. NOT! 

Many months ago we had decided not to go based on many different reasons, one of which was camping with an infant for a week was not on my top 10 things to do list. Then one day the Husband comes home and says that we can go now because he got the time off at work. I, having the emotional stability of a jelly fish, burst into tears trying to figure out how to camp with a baby, toddler and young child not to mention the fact that this would mean not making it back to our old stomping grounds in Idaho this year, because there is no way we can do two big trips. He was kind of confused as to why I was so upset and we dropped the subject for a few months. He finally realized it would probably be better if we just plan a trip to Idaho Falls in September instead of the reunion.  About a week before the reunion he also realized that he could not undo getting the time off. So we had a choice, to either sit around home for a week or go to the reunion.

Now I truly do love my husband and he does so much for us, but I am completely serious when I say that I single handedly shopped for, prepared for and packed for this trip myself.  He came home from work on Friday, threw a few things in a bag for himself, completely forgetting underclothes and socks, which luckily I mentioned and he grabbed last minute and we left.

We got to spend a few days with my mother and grandmother before the reunion started.

Grandma
Lulu, Smiley, Sticky
I think it is kind of funny that Sticky is the only one
looking at the camera, yet everyone is smiling.

Great Grandma
Lulu, Smiley, Sticky
Here they are all looking, but only 2 out of 4 smiles

Great Grandma, the Wife
Lulu, Grandma
A not so professional 4 generation picture
(The cool thing is that we are all the first born
in our respective families and all have the
same middle name, which was my great
grandmother's first name.)

We got to go to the park with grandma and then we had a small birthday party for the girls, because their birthdays are both coming up in the next few weeks.  Lulu wanted us to put up the Christmas tree so she could get her presents properly.  I guess she associates all presents with Christmas. We really did get her presents for her birthday last year with no tree.  We went to the first part of church with grandma and great grandma, headed back to their home for lunch and then set off for the reunion.

Within the first few minutes of getting to the campground, Lulu had picked up a stick that had been in a fire pit and was almost completely covered in black ash. Within the first hour Lulu had already gone missing.  Luckily a kind lady brought her back to us. I tried to talk to her about being where we could see her and being scared when we didn't know where she was. I asked her if she had been scared and she said no, she was just sad that she couldn't find her grandma (the Husband's aunt, whom the girls call grandma because they hang out with their second cousin whose grandma it really is) but not our family. She was adamant that she had not been looking for us. I sure felt the love. Luckily there were no more missing children the rest of the week. There were ridiculously dirty children though. There were also ridiculously cute children. The girls got to hang out with their one cousin on the Husband's side. They loved it!

Sticky, Lulu, Cousin F

Cousin F, Lulu, Sticky

They got to play in the water at the lake.

Lulu, Sticky

Smiley loved being held almost all week. This made it kind of hard for me to do much although the Husband and Grandpa (Husband's dad) helped out for a few minutes here and there.

The Husband and Smiley

Grandpa and Smiley

Smiley

Smiley concentrated on being held and being cute.













Sticky got her hair done by Aunt R.

Sticky

She was known
as
Cindy Lou Who
for
the
rest
of
the
week.












The Husband got to go fishing twice, play on inner-tubes pulled behind the boat twice and stay up late a couple nights playing games with the cousins and hanging out with his brothers. He had a blast! I got to take the girls out on the inner-tube pulled behind the boat once and play Phase 10 while only taking care of Smiley, once. The rest of of the time I was nursing Smiley and making sure 2 little girls were behaving themselves and not getting lost or hurt. I kind of had to give up on the staying clean concept. I sure love my Husband and I would do it over again for him, but I'm hoping that next year will be a bit easier.