Our Fun-Filled Weekend

Not that I want to spend 7 hours in a car with a sleep-deprived, I-want-out-of-my-carseat-NOW one-year-old every day, but it was worth it to see all of my family over the July 4th weekend. My kind brother

willingly hosted the whole shindig, and we packed a lot of fun into just two days together.

The most popular point of interest was the pool.

It included a slide, and some of the kids proved their bravery by going down it again and again.

Some people enjoyed the pool more than others (these two cuties are sisters).

Don't forget the hot tub!

One night we had a luau

where we ate lots of yummy food.

Here are all the cousins (minus Ben who was having an "I-don't-know-these-people-and-I-haven't-slept-much-in-the-past-two-days" meltdown).

A pretty good-looking bunch, I'd say.

Some other obvious Fourth of July festivities included:

singing with Uncle Matt,

playing with our new homemade weapons,

reading Shannon's latest book,

failed attempts at a nice family photo,

modeling the latest in tie-dyeing fashionwear,


and having an Extreme Ice Cream Sundae free-for-all.

All in all, a great time!

It was so fun to see everyone, many of whom I hadn't seen in an entire year. That is waaaaaaay too long. I'll have to make sure that doesn't happen again. Hopefully that means I can look forward to spending 7 hours in a car with a sleep-deprived, I-want-out-of-my-carseat-NOW one-and-a-half-year-old! Lucky me....