Smith Family Reunion

In September, all my siblings were able to get together here in Texas. It had been a couple years since we were ALL in one place at the same time. Even GG and Yo Papa came down to join in the fun! Every day was a new adventure. We went swimming...

We went to the Children's Museum...

The boys missed out on some of the fun because they were in school, but they still got plenty of time to play with cousins. My dad even organized a "Kid Olympics" in the backyard with kickball...

Horse-apple races...

A balloon popping relay...

And a tug-of-war that turned into jumping rope...

Sadie was determined to to get in on the action, so I helped her out a little...

GG and Yo Papa were on the sidelines to referee all the games...

Later in the week, the adults managed to sneak in some time away from the kiddos. We went out to eat at a Brazilian churrascaria where we stuffed ourselves into meat comas...

And of course, a visit from family wouldn't be complete without some late night gaming...

All the fun was definitely worth the lost hours of sleep on top of my already sleep-deprived nights!

Thanksgiving Break

I have a confession to make... I was sort of dreading the boys having a week off of school for Thanksgiving.  I envisioned non-stop fighting and whining, and the house getting trashed. But it actually turned out to be a pretty nice week of fun for the whole family. It really helped that John only had to work Monday and Tuesday. I survived those days with outings for lunch where the boys could get a lot of their energy out on a playground. Then on Wednesday, we went to check out the Dallas Arboretum...

It was beautiful, of course, and there were lots of fun things for the kids to do. It was the last day of their fall exhibit - a Cinderella theme with awesome pumpkin displays. I hope this makes up for the fact that we never made it to a pumpkin patch for Halloween this year :)

 There was also a big castle to play in...

As part of their regular exhibits, they have a little Pioneer town for kids to explore. They loved it!

It was a great day, and there were only a few flower casualties (not bad for 3 kids on the loose!)...

Thanksgiving Day was spent at my parents' house. It was just our little family and Granny & Pops for dinner, but the boys made sure to keep us all on our toes. They were thrilled when their cousins arrived a little later. Apparently, us old folks are boring. They had a ball playing together and I was too stuffed from our feast to take any pictures.

The next day, John took the boys hiking at McGee Creek State Park in Oklahoma. Our boys LOVE the outdoors, so they were in heaven...

John said they hiked at least 4 miles that day...they came home good and tired!

While the boys were away, Sadie and I were busy decking the halls for Christmas - hooray!

  

The next day, our elf on the shelf, Kringle, arrived back at our house to report on the kids' behavior to Santa. He brought a letter and a little treat/toy for each of the kids, and a yummy breakfast from the North Pole...

The kids love to see where Kringle is perched each morning after he returns from the North Pole each night...

And mom and dad love to remind the kids that Kringle is watching whenever they start to fight or whine...it's like magic! Now it's back to our regular routine, but the countdown to Christmas is on!

Summer Vacation 2011: Part 3

Warning: Very long post ahead...just had to get it done!

The next day we went on a little hike up at Cascade Springs with John's brother, Mark, and his family.  It's a quick hike, which is good since it was pretty warm up there on the mountain, but so worth it for beautiful views like this...

It's perfect for young kids...the cousins had a great time together.

 

 

These guys were my picture posing pros...

Sadie had it made in the shade...

But, of course, she had to get down and do a little exploring on her own too...

The other explorers managed to find a few fish swimming around...

We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out at Mark and Candace's house - the kids played, the adults talked...it was great. We even got to help Emma celebrate her 3rd birthday that night (a fun little peek at what I'm in for as Sadie grows up - a whole lot of princess and pink!).


We met up with them again on Friday in Park City. John's mom (along with 6 more cousins...that's 12 total for this outing!) came too for some Alpine Slide fun.  Granny Sylvia watched Sadie for us while we took the boys up the chairlift...

The ride up was fun, but it's way better coming down! John managed to catch me and Matt Mo crossing the finish line...

Later, we met up with my brother, Josh, and his family for dinner. They happened to be driving down from Wyoming for the weekend - lucky for us! We ordered a pizza and let the kids run wild at a nearby park...

 Our kids are the same ages and they had lots of fun together. Sadie and cousin Zach are only 3 weeks apart...

 

It was fun catching up with them, we could've stayed all night chatting...especially the 2 lawyers discussing work (with a side of fishing/camping...yawn).

Our last day of fun before the LONG drive home was spent with cousins again...yay! This time, at Rock Canyon Park. There's a nice little river flowing through it from all the winter snow - perfect for the kids to go tubing down...

 

From what I was told, the water was FREEZING cold.  It obviously didn't phase the big kids, but Sadie was not having it...

She still had a good time though...

She was happy to chase the dog and run away from her crazy brothers...

Later that night, we met up with some of John's high school friends and their families. Sadly, I completely forgot to take any pictures! It was a great end to our week in Utah though. Definitely a summer vacation to remember. We're already missing the mountains and the cooler weather, but nothing beats home, sweet, home!