Let me tell you about it...

Let me tell you a little bit about the trip we just took.

-With day trips here and there we spent 25 + hours in the car with our 2 littles.



Do not be fooled.  This did not happen all that often (only after a 11 am-4 pm zoo trip, therfore it was the hottest part of the day and skipped naps)


-26 people (11 of them kids), 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 2 living rooms, 1 kitchen, 2 Refrigerators, 1 "bonus room", 1 fenced in backyard, 1 awesome pool with 1 busy patio, 1 snake, 3-5 black widow spiders, 6 full coolers and 6 (maybe more) cars.

-You gotta roll with it.  You arrive, you unpack, you bump into people.  You wait for the bathroom, you put your towel down, you use someone elses's goggles, you bump into people.  You ask when we are leaving, you watch other people just wake up, you bump in to people.  You eat, you cook, you clean up, you bump in to eachother.  You swim, you play, you bump in to eachother.  You shower, you put on your matching family shirt, you bump into eachother.

-There is no leader.  Everyone knows nothing of what is going on.  There is rarely a plan.  And then we all pull it off.

-Someone is always competing, followed by rubbing it in the opponents face and then re-challenging.  Boys are always competing, playing hard and then laughing.



Even the littles!



-Kids are up from 5:30 am until 11:30 pm at night.  Adults are awake from 5:30 am until 4 am (No lie).  Some kids sleep in and get woken up by their excited cousins.

-Everyone wants to be together.  I try to steal a moment to read here and there but usually happens when the boys are sleeping.

-Music is blasted loud and long.  All different genres. 

-We went through 4 gallons of milk a day.  Gobs and gobs and gobs and GOBS of sunscreen.  Multiple pounds of cheese and fruit!

-The Big boys (Andy and his brothers) are always "rigging" something up-planning, buying and putting it together. All. Week. Long.   A pool shade tarp.  A net to catch the homerun derby balls.  An outdoor movie theatre.  Various spicy dips to eat late at night.  Yard games etc.

-There are 5 moms in the group.  (1 of them is the original mom who is also considered a grandma)  We all have different parenting styles and try are hardest to help and respect eachother.

-Hugh was definitly louder than Adelia.  I don't think anyone would question that. 

-Eli was in his true element. He left me alone the whole trip.  His behavior was a 10/10.  I am so proud of him.  He blossomed in the water and I am so proud of him.

-I'm happy to be home and in my own bed.  Was I ready to leave? No.  And I'm ready to go back.  More to come with more pictures of our outings. 
So many more pictures to share with a recap of some of the really neat things we did together, plus what is on those green tshirts?...you think you've seen it all.