Things have been a bit crazy in our family the past three weeks. The first week we spent a lot of time trying to plan and prepare for our family vacation. The second week we were on our vacation. And the third week we spent trying to unpack and get caught up on laundry and housework. We realized that planning a trip with three little ones takes a lot more work than it did for just the two of us.
On Tuesday morning we loaded the children into our packed van and took a 10 hour drive to get to Timothy's parent's house.
The children had never been on a road trip before and fussed a lot, but we managed to make it.
We mostly just played and visited at their house on Wednesday and Thursday. It was sure nice to see Gram-Gram, Grandpa, and Aunt Brindy. Uncle Ben also showed up on Thursday evening. Grandpa and Uncle Ben hadn't met the children before then, so it was nice for them to meet.
Wednesday night we went to see the city fireworks. We were worried that the children would be scared from the loud noises, but they weren't- they loved watching the fireworks, even Hyrum was engrossed in the show.
Friday morning we packed the children in the van again and took off for another long drive to Lava Hot Springs.
My family was meeting there for a family reunion. It was great to see my family again, and have them meet some more of their aunts, uncles, and cousins.
My family: Brigham, Andrew, Katherine, Rebekah, Timothy, Chase ( hiding behind me), Jessica holding Hyrum, Marjie, Jason, Mom (Konnie), Tasha, Brett, in front of Tasha and Brett is Kaitlyn and Faith.
We rented a tube and life jackets for Brigham and Rebekah and floated down the river. On our first trip we took a spill in one of the rapids, but we managed to keep the children safe and get back on our tube with the help of my sister, Katherine, and her husband, Andrew.
Brigham loved riding the river, but Rebekah didn't. Hyrum spent some time with Grandma the first trip we took and with Aunt Katherine the second trip. Timothy and Brigham also went a third time. These pictures are small, but we're in there.
That night we camped together and had a great time.
Brigham and Rebekah got to try their first roasted marshmallows and got covered in sticky white stuff. It got really windy before dinner, and after dinner it rained pretty hard. Luckily our tent stayed mostly dry and didn't blow away. This was the children's first time camping too (as far as we know.) They seemed to really enjoy it.
Saturday was the 4th of July and we traveled back to Timothy's parents and celebrated with them.
We had a barbecue at Uncle Eric's (Timothy's brother) and Aunt Deserae's house which was nice, then we took the children to the park across the street from their house.
Sunday we took the children to church with Gram Gram and Grandpa, but they weren't feeling too well and all had runny noses so we didn't want them in the nursery. We took them home after the first hour and got them down for naps. It was a peaceful day as we visited with family.
Monday we started the 10 hour trek back home. (It's only supposed to take 8 1/2 hours, but with children everything takes longer.) We made it back safe with no big incidents for which we are grateful.
Timothy and I learned a lot on this trip as it was our first with our three children. We learned that it pays to be prepared, we learned patience as the children screamed because they were sick of car seats, and we learned a little more about planning things to take longer when accompanied by little ones. It was a good experience for us all, and we hope our family appreciated seeing us, because we sure enjoyed seeing them.
Five of us had a great time and got a little or a lot wet depending on the person.
One person, the main questioner of the questions above, was not happy to be at the beach. He decided he was scared of the beach. We've taken him to the beach before and he was just fine- no problems. But this time was different for some reason and we can't figure out why. But, the rest of us had a good time.
