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This last weekend, my cousin got married in Oklahoma on the same day that Jon's grandfather turned 80 and they had a little family reunion in California.
So, after weeks of debating what we should do, we ended up just splitting up. Which actually worked out well because Jon ended up not getting very much time off and was only able to be in California for about 36 hours all together - a trip that would have just been tough on the boys (though we MISSED everyone - especially Jon - very much!!) and it gave him lots of visiting time that is just hard to have when you are also trying to work around kids and their naps and bedtimes and needs and energy levels. ;)
The boys and I left Thursday afternoon and flew to Dallas with my parents and sister, where we stayed the night with my aunt and uncle, Julie and Clay who live in Wylie. Nathan was in heaven. HEAVEN. They have a big, grassy property with dogs and chickens and a pond and tons of "awesome toys" (i.e. army guys and G.I. Joe and knights in shining armor) and Nathan was just pretty much ready to move in. Especially after Uncle Clay (who morphed into "Grandpa Clay" by the end of the week) took him out every day to get the eggs from the chickens. Which was just incredibly amazing, apparently. ;)
Here's Nathan after a successful egg hunt. ;) I think he wore his camo vest every time he went out there. We spent Thursday night visiting with more aunts and uncles and cousins in town. So wonderful to see everyone!
Friday we all piled everything up and drove to Tulsa, which is about four hours away, to go to my cousin Kari's wedding. After dinner that night, Aunt Julie rented out a couple of lanes at a bowling alley for everyone. The little cousins all played and it was so funny to see their reactions.
Here's how one child reacted to a good bowl:
And here's how the other one did:
He's just so mellow and unreactive. Ha! ;)
Saturday morning dawned way too early for my boys so we got up and semi-dressed and we went down to the hotel lobby for breakfast and then just wasted time around the hotel so that my sister could sleep a little more since we were sharing a room with her. We ate, we watched cartoons, we took the elevator up and down and eventually found a little meeting room that wasn't being used where they could crawl around and play. Little stinkers. ;)
After everyone got up and moving, me, the boys, my cousin Christi and her boys and my cousin's wife, Aryn, and her two kids went to hands down the COOLEST children's museum that we've ever been to. It was totally made for exactly my sons. Ha! It had a gigantic play structure and a good sized dinosaur exhibit. There were tunnels through the whole play structure and a huge slide made out of six layers of packing tape. So fun!! Nathan could have stayed there all day.
He's "sliding like a penguin". ;)
Me and my littlest. :) I hauled him through the short and steep tunnels and he just laughed the entire time. It was so cute. So we had to do it several more times.
Cousins! Getting a good picture of a bunch of little kids proved to be basically impossible this weekend. ;)
Me and my littles sliding on the big slide. :)
Someone was all worn out at lunch time. Poor baby. ;)
We went back to the hotel and both of the boys took fantastic naps. So fantastic that I had to wake them up for the wedding which just meant a certain big boy was a huge grouch until he finally woke all the way up when we were in the car on the way to the church.
All dressed up!
My beautiful cousin Kari and her new husband Jordan!! Such a gorgeous, God-honoring ceremony. It was perfect.
Trying yet again for a decent picture. Hadley Kate and Everett are missing from the picture and the rest weren't too happy to be forced there. ;) Mission failed.
Nathan spent 50% of the time at the reception dancing with Hadley Kate and 50% of the time dancing with Carsen. And he got a gigantic blister on his toe, so we had to go barefoot the rest of the evening.
Us and the beautiful bride!! Love, LOVE this girl so much!!
We got back super late to the hotel and the boys were asleep in record time. ;) They were worn out!! The next morning, we had a brunch at my Aunt Jill's house and we all hung out there before heading back to Dallas.
Nathan and his bestest buddy Carsen and sweet Hadley Kate. Beautiful girls. We just adore them.
Time to drive back! This drive did not go so smoothly. Parker screamed for a majority of it and it took two hours longer than the drive up because the weather was SO bad. It made for a looong afternoon. And because of the weather, we got stuck in Dallas an extra day and had to change our flights to Tuesday. It was good - we spent the majority of Monday sitting by the fire at Aunt Julie's house and Nathan was overjoyed that we got to stay an extra day at the best house ever. ;)
Heading home!! We were so thankful to come home and see Daddy!!
And speaking of Jon, he had a great, great time as well! I love this picture of him and his grandfather - such an unspeakable honor to be a part of this wonderful legacy of faith he has given his family! Happy birthday, Grandpa H! :)
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