High School, Pre-School, & Diapers: Memorial Day Weekend

I know, it's been over a week since Memorial Day Weekend. What can I say? It's been a busy time! At any rate...we went camping down South for my mom's annual family reunion.

This weekend closed a long month of Jeff working nights, so we had almost everything packed when Jeff woke up. We thought we'd have to take 2 cars, due to our growing kids and all of our stuff...but thanks to our roof top carrier and my amazing packing skills...we did it ;)

One car. Barely.

Where are the kids?!?!

Oh there they are...!

The car ride...

Yes, those are ketchup packets! Who needs toys?

I am notoriously a fast driver. My husband. Not so much.

That's a bus passing us on a 2-lane-highway! Love you honey:)

We arrived pretty late in the day, so we immediately started setting up camp.
We got a new tent this year from Costco. LOVE IT! So does Emma Kate.

The reunion is getting smaller every year. This year was the first since my grandfather passed away. He was one of 6 children. And it was his parents wish that the family get together yearly to reconnect and not lose touch. These reunions used to be huge! Some of you may have accompanied us on a couple of these trips as teenagers:) Now there are only 2 left of the original children and very few family members attend. This year we had 27 all together. Sad.

Emma Kate and Gram (her Great-Grandmother.) She lives only a few miles away and we see her often. We are so blessed to still have her in our lives.

Connor and Papa.

Emma Kate has a new-found-love for corn on the cob.

And for water bottles.

It rained all night Saturday night. Thank God for the new tent..it kept everything dry. As I said, Emma Kate loves the tent...as long as she doesn't have to sleep in it. She woke up half way through the night and ended up sleeping with us the rest of the night. Rough in sleeping bags!

As for the morning...it's tricky when your kids wake up at 5:45 am and EVERYONE else in the campground is still asleep!

Once everyone was awake...

We played football.

And golf. (I think that's what it's called.)

Connor perfected his 2-wheel-riding. During one bike ride, we found this...

A huge pile of gravel. Connor must have played for 20 minutes on it.

This campground is full of wild bunnies, which we occasionally see during the day, but they mostly come out at night. So Sunday night we got our flashlights and went on a "Bunny Hunt." We only found one bunny, but we did find a gigantic toad. The biggest one I've ever seen. Yuck! Connor and Dom thought it was AWESOME!

Sleeping Sunday night in the tent only got worse. Emma woke up screaming and there was nothing we could do to calm her down. So at 1am Jeff got her in the car and drove her around for an hour. (He did find the bunnies though! As he was driving, what seemed like hundreds of bunnies scattered through the field.) I couldn't sleep the whole time. I kept thinking, "What if something happens to them?" Yes, I am a worrier! They finally got back safely and Jeff crept back in the tent with a wide awake Emma Kate. Fortunately she snuggled right into our sleeping bag and fell asleep.

Back up at 6am. One of the greatest things about this campground is that there is a Starbucks not even 5 minutes down the road. So all in our jammies, we filed in the van and headed for warmth. And caffeine. And scones for the kiddos.

All the while Dom. Fast alseep. In his own tent. Must be nice to be a teenager!

Time to pack up and head home.

Emma Kate was having fun.

Connor got put on timeout. Outside Casa de Dom.

As we were putting the tent away, we found the instructions to the new tent that we couldn't find Saturday when we were trying to set it up! Nicely sewn into the inside of the bag.

Dominic stayed an extra day with my parents. He is very thankful for the furlough days the school district is having.

The Littles though...VERY tired!

I know I went a little overboard with the sleeping pictures. But not only do I LOVE me some sleeping children, these were too priceless to not include. Of course they got to catch up on their sleep. It's only fitting. They get sleep. We get caffeine. And lots of it!