Family Reunion

This past weekend we had a mini family reunion camping trip. We went to Salt Fork State Park with both my brothers and their families. One of my brothers lives in Japan and he and his family are in the States visiting for the summer. It's been almost a year since we've seen them. It was our first trip to this state park and I would recommend it, it was a very nice park. We had a lot of rain on one of the days, but the next day was beautiful. There were nine kids altogether and they had a blast together. The rain didn't stop their fun at all, they just ran around and played in it. We spent most of the second day at the lake, swimming, riding jet skis and tubing. My shoulders are still sore from the tubing experience thanks to my brother Matt.

We had a birthday/Christmas party for all the kids since it's a little difficult to exchange presents via mail. The kids think it's great to have a birthday party and get presents. We even had cupcakes and decorations.

Noah and Emily blowing up balloons.

The kids had a blast playing with the balloons.

For some reason Alissa and Nathaniel thought that rolls of duct tape were a great toy.

The pile of presents and the kids dying to get into them.

Steph and Chris worked hard to lite the candles, but the wind refuse to cooperate.

Yummy!

Finally it's time to open the presents!

After lunch and the birthday/Christmas celebration we headed off to the lake.

Alissa loves the water.

The kids all jumped in.

Leah went on a jet ski ride with Steph and Rachel.

Caleb thinks Chris is the greatest and wanted to hang out with him and do what he was doing. Unfortunately Caleb wasn't feeling 100% this weekend. After some Tylenol he joined in the fun and played hard.

Alissa loved running in and sitting down in the water.

The three girls were inseparable all weekend.

Chris is getting ready to go tubing.

Alissa swam and played hard. Now it's nap time under a shade tree.

Rachel and Emily are off to ride the tube.

Sami loved playing with Alissa.

We had a few small fireworks. These were snakes Chris was setting off for the kids.

All the big people hanging around the fire.

Alissa loved all the attention she was getting from her cousins. Emily was great with her.

Riding bikes was a big part of the fun.

Emily and Chris took all the kids to the park. The park was a bike ride away and so they all rode in a line with Alissa in the bike trailer.

Emily did a great job making them tow the line!

There was a trail right behind our campsites. The kids were allowed to go down the path to the fallen tree and play. They were pretending it was a house!

It was an awesome time together. I wish that everyone lived closer so that we could do it more often, but we'll just enjoy the time that we do have together.

A Holiday Weekend Away

We had a great forth of July weekend. We spent the weekend with Rod's parents. We split the time between their house and their camper. They have a permanent camp site not too far from their house. There is a pool there so the kids were very excited to go there.

I've been talking a lot about Leah and Caleb and their fear of water. I've been trying about everything to convince them that it's not so bad to have water in your face. We've been doing showers and dumping the kids heads in the bathtub. Nothing seems to convince them that it's not terrible. In the beginning of June I'd signed Leah and Caleb up for swimming lessons and it was less than productive. The kids were so scared to get water in their faces that they were never able to really were able to learn anything.

Swimming Lesson Pictures

I was worried I may never get my kids comfortable with water and willing to get their faces is in it. I had even bought a mask and snorkel hoping that would help and they weren't really even willing to try. This past weekend, Leah decided that she would try the mask a try and she found out that she actually liked going underwater. We spent our first swimming day trying to convince her that going underwater and swimming made it more fun, but she was scared to death, but by day 2 she and the mask were having a blast in the water. Caleb never really did decide that going under water was ok even if he has a mask, but watching Leah is making him more willing.

Alissa had a blast too at the pool. All she wants to do is climb the ladder and jump in and she would do that all day. She doesn't mind to get water in her face or if she goes under during a jump. She doesn't love it, but doesn't cry and is ready to go again.

We tried it all on Alissa, but then just ended up with arm floaters.


I'm trying to convince Caleb to jump in with his tube. Leah was loving jumping in with the tube even without a mask because it wouldn't let her go under. Caleb finally did jump, but still didn't like it.

Alissa and Pappy

Alissa climbing her favorite ladder!

Mammaw trying to get Caleb to try a boogie board. He wasn't a fan!

Alissa couldn't get enough of jumping in!

The campground had a huge water slide to help celebrate the Holiday and add some fun. The both loved it, but Leah played a lot longer than Caleb. He wears out quick.

Leah and her mask!

Leah was swimming under water. She was also jumping off the side of the pool and letting her head go under.

We went to the great grandparents for a visit. Caleb has been wanting to ride the tractor and he and all the kids got their chance.

On Saturday night we went to see Fireworks. It was a special time since a friend of Rod's family was putting on the display. He has been doing it for years and it was a very impressive display. It was his last year so I am glad that we had the opportunity to see them.

Waiting for the show to begin.

Sparklers!


Enjoying the show!

Waterpark Fun

Last summer during VBS Caleb won the grand prize in a drawing which was an over night stay and 4 passes to CoCo Keys water resort. My original plan was to go in the winter months when we all had cabin fever, but after reading the gift certificate further I realized that it was for weekdays and no non-school days. This made going during the school year impossible so we made reservations for Monday night. The kids were so excited to go. We had driven past the water park every day that we had swim lessons and I told them that we were going there soon. They were really excited to stay in a hotel. This was the first time in a hotel for both Caleb and Alissa so Leah was too young to remember the experience.

We were able to check in any time after 4:00 on Monday. We got there a little before 5 and the kids wanted to go to the water park right away. We went to our room the kids ran around like crazy exploring everything and then we changed and headed to the water park. We also had a pass to swim in the waterpark the second day. We could stay until close which was 8:00, but the kids only made it until about 2:00 and they were ready to go home. Regardless we were at the water park for several hours each day.

At first Caleb loved the water slides. He was going down all the ones that Leah was, but the big he twisted on the big blue one and hit his eye and so he refused to go on the one that hurt him. The one in this picture made him get water in his nose so he didn't want to go on it either.

Alissa love the water slides! Rod would put her on and then I would catch her at the bottom. She had a lot of fun.

Leah rode all the water slides except the ones that she wasn't tall enough to go on. She loved them all and even got a lot of water in her face and sometimes up her nose. It didn't stop her. She kept riding.

I got this picture because I begged Caleb to go down the slide one more time for a picture. I thought if he tried it again and didn't get water in his nose that he would decide that it was fun, but no such luck. This was his last time down.

This is the only slide that Caleb continued to go down the whole time we were there.

Alissa liked it too!

This is the big twisted blue slide. It was one of the biggest slides that Leah was tall enough to go on. She loved it.

Caleb's favorite part of the entire water park was the lazy river. He really enjoyed riding around on the tube! Leah did like it too, but not as much as the slides!

Our hotel room. I did want all the kids to sleep in the same bed, but that was wishful thinking. Alissa ended up in our bed and we had to let Leah watch TV until Caleb fell asleep and then let her go to sleep., When they were in bed at the same time all the wanted to do was play.

We had a nice interior hotel room. There was a sliding glass door that went out to a small patio and then you could walk out to this nice pond and gazebo. The kids enjoyed looking at the fish in the pond (Rod too) and the liked all the ducks.

Overall it was a very fun family experience. The kids continue to talk about it and like to pretend they are there again. It was a great prize to win.