Ohio reunion!

Man, has this been a busy week. We flew to Cleveland last Tuesday to see my brother's wedding, and the best part was that all of my other brothers also arrived in town on last Tuesday. This marked the first time we had all 6 of us siblings in the same room since Christmas, 1995. Yes, that's right. 13 years. Since then we have had different sets of 5 together for events, but never gotten all 6. This meant that we had family pictures taken where everyone is in the picture- and I am not 13 years old. Hooray for that. So here we go, with another long blog post. But there are so many good pictures!!

Tuesday

The flight went . . . okay. Kaitlyn has gotten very very squirmy lately, and it was like holding a frantic monkey on my lap for 4 hours. Whee. Tyler was, of course, a perfect angel. Luv ya kid! He was a big boy with his own ticket this time.

Once we got there, it soon became obvious just how much Grandma was going to spoil Tyler while we are here. She had a little pile of tonka trucks that she picked up at garage sales waiting when we walked in, a brand new Cars toddler bed with matching sheets that she plans on craigslisting as soon as we leave, and (most loved of all), she had replaced her front room's coffee table with a train table. Tyler has spent almost a majority his time in the house walking around this table since we got here!

I am so jealous. They found this for $20 at a garage sale! Can you believe that? Unfortunatly, there is just no way to get that to Utah, so it will go the way of the Cars bed when we leave I think.

Meanwhile, Kaitlyn fell in love with my brother's cat, Socks. There are good cats and annoying brat cats in the world, and Socks is a great cat. He was very curious about this little being that was army crawling frantically toward him, but he learned quickly that if she caught him she didn't let go. So when she got close he would back up a few feet and sit down again to watch.

Wednesday

One of my brothers headed out to Kirtland that morning, and we were going to go, but the nap schedule just didn't line up. So we hung out in the backyard with everyone until it was time for the rehersal dinner that night. It was wonderful to see the cousins get to know each other, and see the inside jokes and quirks emerge from years past.

Then we all headed out to the Rehersal Dinner, which was great. My kids could have been better, but that is the theme for the week. Life is just rough for toddlers and younger when the nap schedules collide with activities all day long. Oh well.

Yeah, we're goof balls.

Oh, and Maya? She came up from Columbus with that cast on. The poor thing fell off a jungle gym the day before they came up. And then we noticed that Gary gave her two dollars that day. Here's where the story got good. It turns out that, as she explained to the emergency room staff in tears, "I was playing on the swingset and my Daddy bet me two dollars that I couldn't climb all the way over the monkey bars and then I fell down." Sorry, I am laughing as I type this still. I think Daddy learned something that day.

Thursday

Today we headed to the Great Lakes Science Center while the brothers went golfing. Tyler wasn't such a fan of the exhibits, because he often gets frustrated when we are trying to get him to do something specific (hit that button, turn that knob, etc) and he doesn't understand why. And then we discovered Polymer Playhouse. I have seriously never seen Tyler so happy in his little life. He was so excited that he was dancing as he ran around, and at one part started hugging the exhibit while he danced and shrieked for joy. He spend about a full hour in the ball pit, feeding balls into a tube that shot them up into the air.

He also enjoyed the water area outside where he could pick up the little animals and throw them back in with a splash.

And then we found the perfect slide - one he could get up to and go down without any help at all. They had a little mat for him to land on and everything.

We should have been the first to leave, with the youngest kids, but we were there for two hours on our own after the 7 year olds had exhausted meltdowns. We were in that play area for about 4 or 5 hours total.

Once the kids got naps, we had another great evening at the house with the family. The girls did crafts, the kids ran around the backyard, and my brothers once again had to stand back to back and see who is the tallest of them all (you could basically put a level on their heads). Great times.

Friday

Friday was my mom's big day. We had a huge family picnic in the metroparks, complete with family pictures, my brother 's horses, and every game and craft imaginable. Oh yeah, and food too. Of course, my Tyler decides to pick that day and wake up too early, so I missed the horses to drive my kids to the house and back for a MUCH needed nap. But once they had their sleep, they were awesome kids again. And my husband got hooked on a game called Corn Hole, which looked like a lot of fun. I don't have a lot of pictures of this day because we hired a photographer who stayed the entire time. I can't wait to see what she came up with!

Then we all went to the Indians game that night. Kaitlyn did great for innings 1-2, got cranky and tired 3-7, and on the fourth time that I fed her (which I thought was topping off before going home early), she perked up into a smiley, happy baby for the rest of the night.

Saturday

The big day. We had time to hit the Primary activity in the morning (where 6 of the grandkids won live goldfish for my mom to inherit), and a very quick stop at the park before getting dressed up for the wedding. The park bit was my idea, because Tyler once again had a rough time with us trying to tell him how to play all of the games at the church, and I thought he could use a good slide.

Oddly enough, this was the 5th time that one of my brothers got married, and only the second actual ceremony I have gone to. I was there for Scot's, but too young when Mike was married in the temple. Then Kevin basically eloped the first time to Vegas, and Gary eloped in Cleveland without even telling my parents, let alone me. The cermony was great, and they sure did go all out. Huge limo, dove release, the whole thing.

Then we left the 8 kids at home with 2 babysitters and went to the reception. We had so much fun! I bought Kaitlyn's dress before she was even born, when I found it on last year's clearance rack. And it looked just as beautiful on her as I had dreamed. :) My family had a blast dancing like fools all night.

And that was it! Sunday morning we had a quick breakfast, and then Scot caught his plane, Mike and family headed out for the open road home to Vegas, and Gary headed out for his flight home as well. I have to say that while the famly portion of the week was awesome, there was also something awesome about having the house to ourselves today. Now my actual vacation can begin, since I have one more week here and not a single thing scheduled yet. Whew!