I really do love time with my siblings. Truth is, I wasn't super close to them when I lived at home. My brother and I were very different, and my sisters were 6 and 9 years younger than me. (this is still true.) We didn't have a ton of common ground, and I went off to college and then got married. But as the years have passed, and our life stages have caught up, I've found out that my siblings are some of my very favorite people. It doesn't hurt that they all picked fantastic spouses, so our time together is truly filled with lots of laughter and rich conversation. (Mom and Wes are also super awesome.)
I blogged about the first half of our trip here. We took things slower on Saturday morning, and John took our kiddos for a walk on the trails around campus while I slept. 😴🙌🏻
When he got back, John explained that he saw a buck with several deer around it down on the rugby field, which seemed pretty amazing. Then he spotted a bear, and then a mountain lion and a big-horned sheep and wondered what in the world was going on. That is when he realized that the entire field was full of decoys for a hunting and fishing expo. 😂🤣
We spent some of the morning at a playground, since there were 10 children who needed to expend some energy. Truth be told, I spent very little time actually at the playground, because we had to make a bathroom run to a nearby gas station for a twin and a different twin wanted to throw a fit in the car. Ahh, the joys of parenthood.
For our afternoon entertainment, we chose the Siloam Aquatic Park, which is sort of nostalgic for John and I, because we went there every orientation week of college, and it has views of the church where we were married. Naturally. We all enjoyed our afternoon in the sun with plenty of cousins and aunts/uncles and Nana/Papa to play with.
That night, my sis had arranged sitters to stay with all of the children once we put them to bed, and we adults set out for a night on the town. 28 Springs was calling, and we all gladly answered the summons.
Being able to finish sentences and complete thoughts was such a delight! We all reveled in this novel form of fun.
The next morning, we were back to business as usual with the other, louder half of our party, and we finished out our family fun at Cathy's Corner with a gigantic breakfast.
Instagram filters kept us entertained while waiting for food.
Saying goodbye to cousins was hard, and William was especially crushed to not take Max home with us. Max is a year older - I just have some tall children.
And since we were in Siloam, we went ahead and knocked out this year's family pictures, which had extreme highs and lows. One of our darling four year olds did not want to smile, though, as you can clearly see in the picture above, he knows how to do so.
But, as usual, Luke was awesome and patient, and I am sure he will dazzle us with whatever he got!
Until, Thanksgiving, fam! We love you all - thanks so much for family tripping with us!
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