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. 

Sneak Peek

Sneak peek into our trip these last few days.  Much more to come.

Surprise

I'm traveling so I pre-posted this.  I didn't want to forget.

What is surprising about this picture?

Yes, that is an ice-cold beer in MY hand.

My smile doesn't even do it justice.  It was just SO hot at Summerfest that day and I was in my glory that I found  a gluten free beer instead of my norm (glass of wine).


Who would blame me if I said I had two?

Where we are going...

We are about to venture out of Wisconsin with the kiddos to hang with Andy's whole family.  We have been getting more and more excited each day that goes by.

Here's a peek at our last trip to Tennessee (2 years ago):

The group has grown-physically all the kids are much bigger (the oldest grandchild is taller than me now!) and there are 2 more kiddos to add to the bunch (plus Max was missing in the group shot).  We are all arriving at different times but are glad that we will all at one point or another be under one roof.

What I'm looking forward to:
-pool and sun time
-catch up with all of my sister in laws
-watch Mama Julie in action with 3 kiddos this year!
-Eli and his cousin time
-snacking and grazing all day
-games at night
-watching the smiles on Andy's parents face while all 8 of their kids, the daughters and sons-in-laws and grandchildren bond together

What I'm not super stoked about:
-sleeping in the same room with Hugh and Eli
-the long car ride

Eli doesn't seem to remember Uncle Chris's house or Tennessee but I know after this year he will.  But look at this little peanut...

When we return we have about 1.5 days to unpack, do the laundry, grocery shop and repack for a trip up north with my family.  Therefore, there may not be a ton of blogging going on.  I guess it's no different than the frequency of my posts lately.  Computer time is a luxury to me, whether I'm here, there or anywhere.  If I'm lucky I'll boot it up and show you what's going on!

What we are listening to

If you come over...(listen and pump it up!)



You'll be dancing to the above song with these 2 (well 3 if you count Andy) cuties:

(I love how Hugh is photo bombing this picture)




Here is another amazing version of this tune.  Love it.

Cousin Time

This summer is going to be rich with cousin time.  The boys have already been lucky enough to see so many of them.  We are about to embark on 2 straight weeks of cousins-cousins-cousins.  I'm totally excited to have Eli busy with all of his cousins.  But part of me fears his little body becoming exhausted from all the fun.

After Eli's birthday party he was gifted a sleepover with his cousins from 2 hours north.  After cake and icecream and all the birthday shenanigans the kiddos all napped.  Andy suggested the beach.  It was spur of the moment and lets all be honest-we know that I'm not so good with that on-the-spot outings.  But I did it.  We packed as light as we could when you are bringing 5 kids to the beach.  The smiles and splashes were so worth it. 
We're getting good at this whole beach thing, which makes me so happy because you know I love to be by the water.

Anddddd we all know what happens after an afternoon at the beach!

Red White and Blue

It's been an interesting and different Fourth of July for us this year. 
I'm blogging so ya'll know I'm not at the fireworks.  Instead Hugh is fast asleep in his crib and Bailee is shaking in her boots next to me (She hates the booms). 
As my sister would say-this is our season.  I'm glad Eli and Andy have smiles on their faces right now.  The weather is perfect.

Andy had to work this morning and so it sort of felt like any other day of the week.  But I did attempt to put the boys in Red, White and Blue.

It's hard to instill the feelings of patriotism into the young kiddos.  But I still try and always feel patriotic, proud and grateful.

So no matter what your tradition is, a parade, the fireworks, the sizzle of a cook out, a cold beer or a root beer float, icecream in a waffle cone, cotton candy, sparklers or listening to the booms on the couch with your dog and your littlest not even knowing what he is missing, even if you are like us and have no yearly tradition (yet)-enjoy the holiday-red white and blue style.