My mom's family does a big get-together every other year on this holiday. We take the whole weekend and really get to enjoy each other's company. This year we stayed in the same lodge on the Elk River as last year and everyone got to come for at least a little while. We had a lot of fun! Andrew & the boys & I went up on Friday afternoon and got there in time to go eat with some of the family at a "steakhouse" in a little town down the road from our lodge. Food was good, service wasn't great. But they took their big-group-gratuity out on us, so I don't feel too bad about the mess we left. :) Saturday is our boat day. We rented a pontoon and took turns going out and letting the kids (not mine) get in the water. The pontoon doesn't come all the way in to our dock because of shallow water, so our cousins ferry us back and forth on their speedboat. We only took the boys out for about 30 minutes because it was stinkin' hot and I don't get in water that isn't crystal clear. Andrew got in and tried to hand him Aidan, but he sank under the "little" guy's weight! I managed to pull Aidan back on the boat before Andrew went too far under. :) But Aidan was so hot that he fell asleep on Grandpa very soon after that. Jordan got hot and drank some of Mimi's Crystal Light and perked right up. We grilled out that night and boys were in bed shortly after. Sunday we had a little worship service complete with singing, sermon, and communion. I'm very blessed to have a Godly family that is able to enjoy worshipping together. It just makes the relationships so much stronger and more special. Sunday after lunch, we got the boys in the baby pools. They had so much fun! The little pool only had a couple of inches of water in it and they kept leaning over to play in the "big" pool that had about a foot of water in it. So we got them in it and they just wanted to walk - they thought it was so funny! That lasted a good while, but the rain came and we had to move the party inside. Thankfully, it didn't last long - the big kids got restless pretty quick. But overall, they were all really well-behaved. Our boys only had trouble getting to sleep that first night and first nap on Saturday. After that, they adjusted and slept just fine. We were able to put both their pack-n-plays in a separate room from where we slept the second and third night and that helped me sleep. The lodge is one big long hallway of rooms with a kitchen in the middle and a living room on one end. They loved walking up and down the hall holding someone's (anyone's) hands and pushing their walk-along toys. I was glad they enjoyed the trip, but I didn't get many pictures because I was always helping someone walk! Ok, I say I didn't get many... I got 235 pictures. But they're all from the boat and the pool. The only issues we had were with supper Saturday and Sunday night. The food wasn't ready until much later than we're used to eating, which Andrew and I can adjust to. But the boys had to eat earlier than everyone else, so neither of us got to eat with everyone else at the dinner table because we were watching the boys play while we ate. But if that's the biggest complaint, I think we did good! It was a fun weekend, but not as vacation-like as we'd hoped. We were worn out and ready to come home when we left Monday morning. Ok, no more words... only pictures! (But by the way, that is my brother in the top photo holding his daughter high enough to get her head cut off in the photo!)
My brother's little girl (left) is 19 months old and she did not like the boat.
The pontoon party
Aidan and Josie with Grandpa
Aidan (in a different lifevest) playing pattycake with Grandpa - new favorite game.
That's actually a smile... poor guy.
Jordan playing with Mimi's camera.
"sharing" ... or fighting, whatever.
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