That evening the whole family (all of my brothers and sisters and their families-except the Woods in Germany) went up to Tony Grove Lake. All of the kids loved taking turns on the canoe. It was so gorgeous up there on the mountainside. The wildflowers were especially beautiful. We all enjoyed a big picnic then watched all of the kids exploring together all over. I felt like repeating “We’re going on a Bear Hunt.” A few times they came back to us just long enough for Daniel to say, “Hey guys, let’s go on an adventure…” then they’d wander off again. My boys love all of their cousins so much. It was fun to see the line of cousins trailing behind their leader. Caleb loved sitting in (and picking—oops) the wildflowers. He was just begging for some room to stretch his legs out of the car. Just being left alone was worth smiling about! We tried to get a happy picture of all the grandkids on a huge fallen tree—which is a near impossibility with 11 kids. But I have to admit I thought it was great, mostly because this may be the first time none of my three were the criers! Hooray!
On Sunday we went to church with Andrea and Paul and Jonas. (We decided not to totally disrupt the silent single-student ward, especially since it’s been 3 weeks since Caleb has allowed us to sit through an entire sacrament meeting. We wouldn’t want to be responsible for changing anyone’s future-family plans.) I couldn’t bring myself to go to relief society so I went with Andrea to her primary. I figure it’s OK to try to get ideas from other primary music leaders while on vacation. We had family dinner on Sunday and enjoyed being together. That night we attempted a sleepover with my sister Emily’s kids. Who invented sleepovers? Who are we kidding? Actually they didn’t do too bad considering, but a few shuffles had to be made in the night. Conner woke up and thought that Liam wet the bed. Luckily Liam was just sweaty—nothing new. The next morning Liam got up and climbed into bed with Grandma while Grandpa got ready for work. Grandpa told me that Liam said to him, “Papa, Grandma is snoring!” Grandpa replied, “She does that sometimes, but she sure is cute.” So Liam said, “OK Papa,” and rolled over and went to sleep. 
That day we remade much of Daniel’s Star Wars birthday ideas so we could have a Star Wars night with the cousins. Grandma made additional Jedi uniforms for the boys. Mikayla was the cutest Princess Leia I’ve ever seen, complete with hair twists on the side of her head! Nothing beats light saber fights, hunting down and shooting bad guys with squirt guns, water balloon bombing bad guys, fishing treasures out of the Pit of Carkoon, and taking a whack at a candy-filled 
Darth Vader. 
We decided to take the boys bowling at Logan’s Fun Center one day. Andrea and Jonas played too. I thought we’d do bumper bowling (for the boys of course). But I was disappointed to find out that the bumpers are on hydraulics and only come up for the kids then go back down so I can get a nice gutter ball. Bumpers should be a fringe benefit to parenting. (Like a mother of 3 little boys has the time or money to invest in improving her bowling game!) I planned on using the boys as my excuse for bumpers for the rest of my life! The boys also used some great ramps that help so you don’t have to wait for a year for their ball to make it down the lane to the pins. So I think I came in dead last! Nathan was first, then Daniel, Liam, and Andrea. I have to hand it to Andrea. She said Jonas was her lucky charm and she held him in one arm and bowled with the other more than once. After the bowling Nathan, Liam, and Daniel played air hockey. Daniel loves it. He even got cocky. I totally laughed when I heard him say “You’re going down!” to Nathan (you know he learned it from Nate). When he scored a point he jumped up and down and said, “Oh yeah! Oh yeah!” Jonas and Caleb kept happy pretending to drive one of the car games (they were totally entertained 
without putting any m
oney in). 
The boys had had so much fun in the little pool at Grandma and Papa Brady’s that Nathan set one up at Grandma and Grandpa Bohman’s. When he showed it to me I was surprised at how big a pool he’d picked. I asked why he got one so big. His comment was he got the one my dad would have picked. I couldn’t argue with that! I always said I wanted to marry someone like my Dad. Little did I know all that that entailed. Conner, Mikayla, Daniel and Liam put it to good use. They spent much
of the 
next t
wo days playing in it. 
That night we had a bon fire in the back yard. We roasted hot dogs, ate baked beans, watermelon and (of course) made smores. My pyro husband had fun keeping the fire going. I love bon fires. Caleb enjoyed his first taste of baked beans and wore his marshmallows well. I didn’t torture him with the stickiness for very long. 
It was hot the next day, but we decided to take the boys mini golfing. We paused for a drink and popsicles in the middle. It was pretty fun and although I didn’t win, I did get a hole in one! Daniel got one too. Not bad for no bumpers! ;) 
That evening we left Grandma with the boys and went with Grandpa and most of the family to see Harry Potter! Wow! You still have to read the book to get the full story, but they did a great job. It was so nice to go out and not have to triple the cost of the date for the best babysitter ever! Thanks Grandma!
1 comment:
MISS YOU!!! Come back so we can have more grand adventures! I was spoiled getting to see you in CA in June and then getting you in UT in July... I think I'm going through withdrawals now :)
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