California, knows how to party....and so do we!

So this post is long past overdue, but there were SO many pictures to go through after we made a compilation of everyone's pictures, the idea of going through them overwhelmed me....hence, putting this off. We had our family reunion in Southern California last month. It was fun, but let me just say....vacations are no longer vacations anymore, when you have little ones. It is SO much work! Melissa and I drove down there with our 4 kids--two 2 year olds, and two 10 month olds! That was a fun (sarcasm intended) drive. Thank goodness for DVD players! It may have taken a little longer than the drive normally takes, but we made it. We stayed in a less than stellar hotel (thanks Priceline!) where we had several run-ins with an employee. It's hard enough to get the kids to go down when you take them out of their routine, but try putting them all together and it was interesting.
The first day we were there, we debated whether or not to go to Disneyland with some of the other family (it was a free day to choose what you wanted) but we decided after getting in after midnight and really struggling with the kids sleeping (or lack of sleeping) we didn't want to get up early and try to get ready. It took Melissa and me until 1:00 to get ourselves and all 4 kids ready and out the door! Remind me not to ever be a single parent! Or have twins! We had a nice relaxing day and took the kids to a really cute splash park down the street. They really enjoyed it. This is my cousin's sweet little girl Mattison!
Thursday, we all went to the beach! That was a fun, fun day! It's interesting to me, how when you have little kids, you end up packing more stuff for them, just for a few hours, than you would for yourself on a week long vacation! We spent the whole day there. Kyah played for a little bit, then laid down on a blanket and slept a few hours. Very unusual for my non-napper. But when she finally woke up, she really seemed to enjoy herself.
My aunt let us bring her (not so) easy-up tent. We tried and tried to get it up so we'd have shelter for all the little kids. It ended up completely breaking, so Melissa made it a makeshift shelter. Thank goodness for it. Each of the kids ended up taking a nap under it at some point.
Kyle flew in this evening in time for dinner. We stayed until late night and had a BBQ in the fire pit on the sand. Good times!
Friday we went to the train museum and LA Zoo. It was SO hot and humid! This is a picture of all of us huddling in the only spot we could find shade! I have to admit....I wasn't the happiest camper there! It was pretty miserable. I was ready to go home! After we'd been a the zoo for a few hours, we had a little discussion between all our family to see who wanted to stay and who wanted to go home. I had a car load, so even though I wanted to leave, I didn't have much choice. 10 minutes after some of the family left, I got my first bee sting. There were thousands of bees swarming everywhere! Let me just say how thrilled I was about that!












Saturday was our last play day. We spent the day at the park. It was an enjoyable day, just sitting around talking and being able to find shade when it was too hot! We were able to get a whole lot of pictures!
The first one is a redo of the picture we took at our last family reunion 2 years ago (minus Elizabeth.) Youngest to oldest, only a 4 month difference--Memphis, Amy, Kyah, Kennedy. It was fun to see them all play together. I sure wish Emily and Jill were closer so these girls could grow up together!
This is the next group of babies all born within around 6 months of each other. Youngest to Oldest--Lydia, KayLee, Spencer, Mattison, Damien.
And finally, our whole group!








At the end of the day we all went back to Aunt Jeanine's house to watch a movie in her back yard with the projector. It really was a lot of fun and I can't wait for the next one in 2 years!