Family Vacation Leg 4: Georgia!

We spent a wonderful, hectic, crazy, magical week in Georgia. We got to see my sister Amber and her family for a day before they headed back to New Jersey. Rebecca (Ohio) and Shauna's (Georgia) families were staying at Mom and Dad's house. That plus us=2 parents, 8 kids/spouses and 9 grandchildren, the oldest of whom is our seven year old Addison. All of us stayed there the whole time. Also, we saw lots of Jenna, Russell and Emilee, plus visits from Granma and others. All the siblings got to be there except Megan and fam and Brianna, all of whom we missed terribly. There was of insanity, but here and there the clouds of chaos would part and a golden moment would happen.

Jet lag was a beast for Nate and I. We had to keep reminding each other "we didn't come here to sleep!" So we lived as though we were young and wild and free and loved/hated ourselves for it.

Definite keepers for next time:

1. Double dates with Mom and Dad. Beck and Ben took our kids during lunch one day and Nate and I and Mom and Dad went to lunch together. Then we swapped the next day. It was so great.

2. Grandkid dates. Gramps and Grammie did one family at a time and took all the oldish kids out. Addison and Bryn went on a walk in the woods and found cool stuff with them. They asked them questions about things they like and about life in general and they all had a chance to get to know each other a little better.

3. Night swim with the big kids/adults. It was toward the end of the trip, and we were all pretty exhausted, but we hit the pool one night after 10:00. We turned on the colored lights and raced, played "challenge," kept a continuous string of cannonballs going for several minutes, and all lined up on one side and kicked as hard as we could for a really long time. It was so liberating. Pretty sure Mom and Dad had to refill the pool after that night. Probably one of my top three "best times" from this trip.

I'll let the pictures do most of the storytelling.

The pool was awesome as always. Bryn and Addison were fearless in the water and swimming all over with no floaties.

Addison is the cannonball king!

Asa liked the water pretty well too.

Asa really liked the boogie board.

Leah enjoyed wearing about four flotation devices at a time and playing with the pool toys.

Definitely a magic moment. This butterfly really liked Leah's hair. It landed on her head over and over!

Ryan decided we needed a watermelon in the pool. No one disagreed.

Shauna, Lucy and Doug

Doug is going to need a chiropractic adjustment after this reunion, I think. He'd launch the kids so high in the air off his head over and over and over. It was really fun to watch.

A variation.

The honeybees love the pool too!

Trevor got very brave by the end!

Taking the trash up.

The boys loved their video game time.

The cousins colored a whole lot!

All the 2014 babies and their mamas. L-R Amber and Lane, Michelle and Asa, Rebecca and Alexa, Shauna and Lucy.

 In ascending age order: Lucy, Lex, Asa, Lane

Look at all these babies with Gramps and Grammie! All the grandkids are there except for Natalie, Olivia, and the bun in Megan's oven.

Ryan is a goofball. Also a skilled dancer.

A morning in the blueberry patch.

On the car ride to and from the blueberry patch, the kids in the back of the car were treated to a rap by Uncle Ryan.

Bryn and Juliann really got along well this time around. Here they are having lunch in the fort with Kaylyn.

Gramps covered in cicada shells.

Kaylyn had a birthday! 

And surprise! She got her ears pierced two whole years before the rest of us! I'm pretty sure that Walmart lady had never had such an audience.

So fabulous.

A game of twister on the animal blanket that Mom made a long time ago. We used to play on this as kids! 

What could be more fun than a giant parachute?

Why, making ice cream in a giant parachute, of course!

Juliann and Kaylyn

Bryn and Kaylyn

There were some intense basketball games.

Sparklers and fireworks were lots of fun on the fourth of July.

The menfolk had a very appreciative audience.

Jackson with his sticky marshmallow fingers.

One night I was totally exhausted and overwhelmed about all sorts of things, so I snuck outside to the porch swing and had a little pity party for myself. Then Jenna came and it was truly a party. We laughed and cried and opened up to each other in a way that I really needed. Then Mom came out and told us to sneak around front so we didn't have to look anyone in the eye, and come in and play games and eat ice cream. So I blew my nose in a leaf and that's what we did.

 Look at these babes! It was great to see lots of Russ and Emilee.

Holding Asa and Lucy.

Jenna LOVES all the nieces and nephews! And the feeling is definitely mutual.

We visited Olivia's grave on a Sunday afternoon. It was the first time Nate and the kids have seen it. It is beautiful.

 Families are forever.

Ha. This picture is funny. Related much?

We had a piano recital.

Amber and Camden's boys: Miles, Jarett and Lane.

Camden and Lane

A lesson in Georgia wildlife.

  

This made my list of top three favorite moments. We'd been swimming, but then came up to the front to blow some bubbles. All of a sudden it started pouring! A real live afternoon thunderstorm. Mom and I pulled up some camp chairs in the garage and watched Leah, Kaylyn and Asa play in the rain.

It was fun to get to know all the cousins a little better, now that they're getting older. Trevor is very good at communicating about things.

Bryn let Grammie know that we needed to paint some birdhouses. Tradition!

Cousin lunch.

 

Playing in the garage.

Another of my top three personal favorite experiences on this trip: One evening the kids were ready for bed, and we were just about to put them down, but instead we took the big kids outside to show them the lightning bugs. We don't have them in Utah. It was magical. It was just getting dark and they were everywhere. The kids were giddy! They ran around and pointed them out to us and were thrilled when they got to catch them and then let them fly away. It brought back so many memories of doing the same thing as a kid. I'll treasure that one forever.

I really enjoyed it when Mom and Dad could spend one-on-one (or two or three) time with my kids. Mom and Leah built many chicken coops out of magnets while we were there.

They also enjoyed the princess book.

 More magnet fun with Gramps and the cousins.

It was a blast to go out shopping and Dairy Queening with Mom and a bunch of sisters. We'd be way more broke and way more fat if we lived closer, I think.

We laughed our heads off at Dairy Queen. It was drowned out by the freight train 20 feet away.

The dads enjoyed riding the kids up and down the driveway on the electric scooters. I usually tried not to watch. They went so fast!

 We enjoyed some good grilling. The kebabs were my favorite.

Play doh party!

Nate and Asa had to get in their tickle time.

I'm pretty sure this is how Ryan was feeling most of the time. He's a celebrity among the grandkids.

Four generations from the back.

 

Kaylyn, Beck, Mom and Granma.

Possibly my favorite time of these vacations is after the kids are in bed. Not that I don't love them. It is simply so fun to play games, chat, eat ridiculous amounts of ice cream, tell stories from our dark pasts, and just laugh our heads off together with my parents, siblings, and siblings-in-law. I just love that bunch!

Late night insanity.

Brynny enjoying a quiet moment in our room.

We laid waste to a 1000 piece puzzle.

Lex

  

We went on some walks. Really sweaty ones.

So great to see Beck and Ben.

We found a hole full of baby toads while we were in the woods playing Kick the Can one day. Look how cute!

We trekked into Athens with Kaylyn one day and hit up Cookout. Any place that lists chicken nuggets and bacon wraps as sides definitely has our vote.

We had a nice visit with Grandma M.

We had to take a picture of the eight siblings that were there. (This makes me miss the two that were not.) Fitting all those buns on a couch was a feat of willpower and engineering. Someday, when it's all of us, the couch will definitely explode.

That said and done, in each of the five billion pictures that was taken, at least one of us looks like a doofus. Sorry everyone, I think we each look beautiful in at least one of these.

And one with Mom and Dad.

Ryan, this was truly the best I could do.