A Crazy Fun Filled Week

Last Sunday Bryan, Kati, Nicole, Karlie, Mason, and LynDee arrived and Grandma and Grandpa's house where they'd be staying for the week. As always, we were very excited to see them. We all gathered for dinner that evening and holy moly, can you say chaos? It seems that 8 adults, 7 kids, and 1 crazy dog is just too much for the beautiful Sunday dinner Grandma had played out in her head. Grandma was so excited she couldn't even count so she thought she had plenty of room for everyone. A quick rearrange and addition to the dinner table and we all were able to squeeze in and enjoy Kelsea's birthday dinner of hamburger gravy. We didn't last long after dinner before we all jumped at the opportunity to take all the kids to the park rather than try to wrangle them all in the house for another second. The park was great with plenty of room for everyone to stretch their legs and run around.
I had to work Monday and Wednesday nights, but Jason was still able to spend the time with everyone. He even got brave and took both boys to the movie with everyone to see Rio 2.
Tuesday night was the free swim night at the Aquatic Center.  For some reason going swimming with he kids always sounds so exhausting to me, but once we get there I really do enjoy it. Jake was all in with the water this year. Last year he liked it but didn't want his head to get wet. This year he was running a million miles an hour under and through all the different things on the splash pad end. He even enjoyed a ride down the big waterslide with Daddy. Cooper is a water lover too. He loves his little baby float and would gladly kick around in it all day, only stopping to eat of course.

Hangin' with "PaPa"

Right off the slide, loved it!

Kati had told me her kiddos love it there because they don't have anything like it up by their house. Nicole and Karlie are like little fish and just swam all over the place. Mason was a little angry to not be able to go and do his own thing and Lyndee I think will be very much like her sisters one day. I got to hang with her for a bit while Kati ran for her camera in the car and we had a blast running through the splash pad side.

LynDee taking her turn on Grandpa's lap

He was actually swatting at me because he was mad
Bryan wouldn't let him down. Almost kind of looks like
a smile though, so I'll take it.

Maddison for sure is the big water lover of the bunch, always has been. She is too funny in the water and not afraid of anything!

After the pool everyone came over to our house for Grandma's surprise birthday party. Grandma loves her birthday, and had tried to hide her disappointment that there was no cake at her house or any real celebration happening. Imagine her delight when we started singing and presented her with her Tinkerbell cake that Grandpa had brought over earlier in the day. After cake and ice cream we all went out to the backyard and watched Frozen on the back of the house with the projector. There were few survivors by the end, but I think everyone really enjoyed it.

Thursday after the zoo and pictures, we had dinner at Carl's Jr., mostly because it had a play place. Afterward, I rode back to get the truck I had left at Dee and Julie's with Bryan and Kati. This resulted in Kati and I sitting in the back seat of her car until about 3 am gabbing, and gabbing, and gabbing some more. Bryan came out a couple times to remind Kati they had a long drive ahead of them the next day. It was great to get to know Kati better than I think I ever have. We discovered that she and I have maybe too much in common, and that's a great thing to have in a sister-in-law if you ask me!
They had to leave on Friday to get back to their lives in WA. We were sad as always to see them go. From Friday night until Sunday night, aside from Jake's party on Saturday, we were in recovery mode from the crazy week we'd had. Definitely looking forward to the next visit with them here or hopefully us there, and even more so to the day they are finally able to move back.