July 2015

It's raining on the 4th of July!

Luckily it stopped in time for the parade.  A lot of people skipped the parade because of it, but not us!

Being a true Oregonian, I don't usually let a little rain scare me away from an activity.

David parked our stuff under some big trees - and although they provided some sun protection (which really wasn't an issue this morning) we kept getting dripped on from the wet branches.  Oh well.

Neither David nor I could convince each other to be in the parade with Easton and the boy scouts.  I had been at camp all week and just wanted to sit.  I guess David just wanted to sit too.

There's our Easton on a scooter.  By the time I waved to him, he was gone before I could get a picture!

 

Any kid who can sport these socks pretty much rules.

Since we went to a large firework display on the 3rd of July, we stayed home for the 4th.
By the way, the fireworks on the 3rd were awesome.  We went to the Lansdowne country club (a free event).  Had really close parking, really great seating, and the fireworks were some of the best I've seen.  I also liked being able to stay home for the 4th since it gets so crazy around town.

On the way home from Rhode Island we stopped in Pennsylvania for some good (aka illegal) fireworks.

Claire and I decided to take turns visiting each other each summer.  Due to the fact we each have 4 kids and need a car while we are visiting, we decided driving is really the only way to do it.

Claire visited last summer and quite honestly, I've been dreading the trip to Texas since then.  

David agreed to fly to Texas a day before our return trip and help.  That way if I don't think I can make it home...he can get us there.

After the first day of driving (12.5 hours in transit and covering 12 hours of distance!) we stopped to rest at our Marriott hotel....the only hotel I enjoy staying at.  I had to laugh after we swam and saw the workout room.  See the tv in the corner behind the post?  Seriously, who could even see that?!

The boys did awesome on day 1 thanks to technology.  The roads were pretty easy and we got in a grove pretty quick.  I had high hopes for day 2.

Our second day on the road was also customer appreciation day at Chick fila.  I brought 2 outfits and the boys took turns changing and getting free food.  It made our rest stops take longer, but we enjoyed 3 complete meals of Chick fila throughout the day.  Were we sick of it by the end of the day?

Of course, but that's not the point.  We did it and it was free :)

The big boys were less than thrilled about putting on the twins halloween puppy costumes.  But I love that they did it anyway.  I told them, 'no costume, no food.'  I was serious and they knew it!

I couldn't believe this SUV approaching the drive through.  It came from the complete wrong angle and had to adjust 5 times until it could make it into the drive through.  I just sat and watched shaking my head. 

Trains in Texas.  After having to deal with hundreds of annoying and stupid semi-trucks along the way, I was so grateful for all the semi-trucks this train took off the road!

We made it to Claire's house!  Grandma was also there waiting for us.  We spiced up our cow outfits for dinner and went all together.  

Overall, the road trip went great.  I was pleasantly surprised by everyone and everything and grateful for no issues.

Claire cleared out 2 of her kid rooms for us to sleep in, but someone we all ended up in 1 room.  That meant 3 on the queen air mattress and 1 on each of the twin air mattresses and twin bed.

For Claire's birthday we tried to go on a hike, but due to flooding in Texas, the area was closed.  We decided the next closest thing to do with the outdoors in Texas was Outdoor World.  Fortunately, they had all sorts of activities for the kids to do - they loved it and it was all free.

Cache shooting down wooden ducks with a bow and arrow toy.

Xander shooting a target with a BB gun.

Xander shooting a compound bow at a target.

During our visit, my niece (the boys' cousin) Julia got married in the Dallas Temple.  She requested the boys wear bow ties and suspenders.  I had to try everything on them the night before to make sure we were ready.

The gang.  Claire has 3 girls and one boy Cache's age.

My sister, Marcy (the kids Aunt) brought some fun crafts to keep the gang busy.

Today's craft was tops made from CD's and marbles.  They loved it.

Hannah and her guinea pig.

Cache bowling down the hallway.  It was REALLY HOT in Texas so when we weren't at the pool, we had to find things to do inside.

Marcy gave me this great book called, 'The Ultimate Indoor Games Book' by Veronica Alice Gunter.  It has all sorts of game ideas that are easy to understand and quite fun.  We tried out different games all throughout the week.  It was good to try to keep them off their ipads/wii/tv!

This was called the Belly Laugh and was hilarious.

This was called Bumper Cars.  

You had to hold your hands under your bottom and try to bump the other person down.

We left to go help set up for the reception.  We only had 1 sitter so we let them have Ipad time. 

Looks pretty manageable, right?!

Seeing these pants brings back the anger.  On the way to the wedding, Easton sat on a fruit snack.  

I get that it wasn't on purpose, but seriously!!! We baby-wiped his bum and legs and he was presentable, but I wasn't very happy about it.

Hannah and Lindsay were cute about playing the piano.  I had to encourage Easton to practice while we were out of town, so Lindsay was a good motivational helper.

For our grand finale, we made tye dye shirts.  It was quite the production, but they turned out awesome.  I especially loved Lindsay's heart shirt.