Family Vacation 2012

One of my FAVORITE times of the whole year is getting together with my ENTIRE family for a few days of fun and fellowship!This year and last year, Eddie's parents were able to join us, too, which made it extra special for us!!  For some people, the idea of 20 people (yes 20!!) sleeping and just being together for a 4-day weekend might sound like a bit much, but we LOVE it!!

Normally, the only time we are ALL together at the SAME time, is for a single day during Christmas time.  One family is usually coming, while another is going, but we do overlap for several hours during a day.  Those hours are usually very filled with meals, gift-opening, etc.  Several years ago, we decided that that was just not enough time, so we started doing a summer family vacation.

This year, my precious sister-in-law Ashley, made all the grandkids matching t-shirts!!  

How awesome is she?!?

It was (obviously) very hard to get a decent picture of all 8 kids at the same time.

(mainly the difficulty was my 2 busy children)

Hmmmm...to try to put into words how special this time is and how much I LOVE it!

1.  I LOVE how EVERYONE pitches in and we all work together as a team to make the weekend a success!  This year a special shout out to my mother-in-law, Ms. Margaret (Gie-gie)!!

Because the dishwasher was broken, she stepped up and became our human dishwasher after nearly every meal!!  And remember, there were 20 of us!!  She was never asked to do this and never called any attention to herself.  Just quietly stepped into the kitchen and went to work!!  Thank you so much!! (and just an idea of how EVERYONE pitched in...notice my Dad beside her drying the dishes as she went!)

AND...

On our first day of boating, she and LOU went in early to prepare dinner for us so that when we were done with our boating adventure, we walked into the house and had a warm meal all ready to go.  How AWESOME is that?!?  I'm truly blessed with some of the greatest in-laws EVER!!

AND...

She was the MASTER of the shut-down operation on the last day when it was time to go.  I looked in the fridge knowing that it needed to be cleared out, divvied up and packed and was so overwhelmed, I decided to start elsewhere.  An hour later, I went back in to try to tackle it again and it was DONE. 

I'm telling you, everyone there did LOADS of work, but she really went above and beyond.

2.  I LOVE all of the cousin bonding that happens!!

 And again, just because it totally blesses my heart, notice my sweet mom in the background preparing breakfast for everyone.  She did this EVERY SINGLE MORNING, so the rest of us could enjoy sweet morning cuddles or sleeping in late.  Thanks, MOM!!

Below, all of the girl cousins (minus B) are having a morning tea party!!  I wish you could have heard them...so CUTE!!

 Sweet Cannon and Chandler are 2 peas in a pod!  If there is an accessory in SIGHT these 2 will have it on!!  

3.  I LOVE all of the delicious meals

4.  I LOVE how every night becomes HILARIOUS game night after the kids go to bed

I LOVE so many things about the weekend, but those are probably my 4 most favorite things.

Chandler's Highlight Reel... 

Chandler is a bit of a Momma's girl and is almost ALWAYS within an arms reach of me.   It's really sweet, but sometimes makes me sad because she is really smart, cuddly and funny and I feel like others don't get to see her personality or get any of those sweet cuddles.  I thought that that would be especially true for this trip in a house of 20, but I was wrong!!

 She bonded with EVERYONE!

She'd crawl up in laps

Share desserts (Thanks, Uncle Brady)

 She was little Miss Friendly!

Brooklyn's Highlight Reel:

Brooklyn LOVES a party and people, but hates getting her picture taken so her pictures are few and far between.

One night we went out on the boat and road over to the dam where the water is FREEZING cold!!  Crazy Uncle Brady and Eddie jumped in and came out unable to breathe or feel there legs.  Uncle Brady also dipped all the kids in just enough for their toes to feel the cold water.  Some of the kids were talking about jumping in and trying to work up the courage when we heard a splash!  B went in!!

Eddie and I, being the crazy parents we are, were soooo proud!!

 And very true to B's intense nature, she was very much - play hard, sleep harder!  She slept completely  face down on her nap mat!  How can she sleep like that?!?

How we spent our days and nights?

Well, we kicked the weekend off with our fiesta, of course

That concluded with the piñata

And Gender Reveal!!

Which was super-exciting!!

 (BTW - Think we've decided on a name, but I'll save for another post...you know I'm all about keeping the suspense!)

We spent a lot of time on boats in the water.

One night, on our sunset cruise, we saw this beautiful rainbow.

AWESOME!

And on one of the days, the guys all played golf while the rest of us stayed home and did crafts.

 My mom is a bit of a pinterest junkie and found these fabulous little crafts for them to do!!

 They made these super-cute caterpillars out of green grapes, with white icing and chocolate chips for the eyes...then they were delicious and mostly healthy to eat!

 The other craft was a printed picture of a rainbow and the kids sorted through the froot loops to make the different color stripes...then addd some cotton balls for the cloud.  So cute!!

So much fun!!  Can't wait until next year!!