Roadtrip

We don't have any big summer vacation plans this year. My one small roadtrip is over and the rest of the summer will be filled with the crazy "routine" of more swim lessons, camps, afternoons at the pool, and the rest.

This weekend, though, we spent day after day partying with my family. It was great fun! My wonderful, beautiful, sweet cousin Cari, who is ten years my junior, married her sweetheart, a gentleman from Nebraska (which I happen to think is a pretty great place to find a husband). All of my dad's side of the family was in Kansas for the event, all staying at the same little Holiday Inn Express near Wichita, and all of us getting in trouble for being too loud and cantankerous in the lobby into the late hours of the night. One of my uncles and his progeny - who I refer to as the Phoenix family, although one of my cousins now lives in Seattle - hadn't been back to Kansas in nearly four years, and have recently adopted three children from Haiti, so there were even NEW cousins to meet and lots of catching up to do.

The wedding itself was beautiful. Solemn, joyful, faith-filled, deep. I loved it. Rachel was so excited by it all that she couldn't keep from singing (a little hymn reference joke for you there), so we spent a little time in the cry room, but at least they had a nice one. Here are the couple pictures I took of the ceremony:

Sara was a bridesmaid, and a beautiful one at that!

The happy bride with her dad.

Rachel, all jazzed up!

Cari is a grade school teacher for the parish where she was married. She invited her students to the wedding and the first part of the party, during which some of her friends ran games for the kids, and there was a popcorn and candy bar, as well as cupcakes. Later, after the students were "dismissed" and the wedding party finished some photos, there was a dinner and dance. The kids had so much fun!

Doing some activities before the games began. This may be the only time our family was
all in one place at one time for the rest of the evening.

This puzzle that Peter "won" in the games was probably his favorite part of the whole weekend.

Rachel, dancing the night away with Meg (in headbands that she won in the games - I did not style her hair like that).

The reception was in the school gym, which had been beautifully decorated by Cari and her crew of friends and family. There was more delicious food than we could eat, and (crazy strong) drinks flowing freely. It was a great night, all around. We didn't manage to make it till the end of the party, as the nap-less children began to melt into puddles of crazy, but we enjoyed it all.

Back at the hotel, I intended to meet up with family to hang out longer in the lobby, as we'd done the night before, but once kids were all settled into bed, I couldn't keep my eyes open. Apparently there was midnight pizza and all sorts of fun that I missed out on. Oh well.

We did create one last opportunity to visit, by meeting up with the Phoenix family after mass for lunch at a nearby park. I hope it's not another four years before we get to see this crew again. (Most of my kids must have all been at the playground or catching tiny frogs by the lake, because they're conspicuously missing from the photo).

To stretch out the fun, we spent a couple nights with my folks before heading home. We had intended to visit Schlitterbahn and try out the crazy new "world's largest" water slide there (Dad and Nathaniel would have ridden it while the rest of watched and crossed our fingers that they'd survive), but it turns out they haven't been able to open the crazy slide because they're still testing it. Well then. Monday was forecasted to be temperate (70s) and Dad had the day off work, so my mom suggested we go to Worlds of Fun instead. That suggestion went over very, very well!

I was surprised to discover how many rides the big girls would be able to ride! They went on the Prowler roller coaster immediately, and then Marianne, without seeing what it would do, declared she wanted to ride the Bamboozler (shown above). There were hardly any lines all day, but she had to wait just long enough to see it run once and second guess her choice. Nathaniel talked her into giving a shot, and she loved it!

Marianne, Ruth and Elizabeth loved that they were able to ride most of the rides alone.

Peter and Meg got their fill of thrills as well. Meg was even tall enough for one of the bigger roller coasters, the Spinning Dragons.

Rachel was starting to feel left out till we went on the carousel. She would happily have stayed on those horses all day. But the kiddie rides beckoned!

The one disappointment for Marianne and Elizabeth was discovering they are now officially TOO TALL for the kid rides. They couldn't even ride along with the littles. They didn't mind once they realized they could ride one of the coolest roller coasters, the Patriot, though. Ruth walked the line between big rides and little; she could ride most of the roller coasters (not the Patriot, sadly) and still ride the kid stuff if she felt like it.

Rachel was fearless both on rides, and with giant costumed characters. She happily hugged all the Peanuts gang.

I realize most of the pictures are of Rachel. Her rides were slower, making it easier to catch happy faces like this one. Loving every minute!

We spent a long, full day at the park and the kids pretty much just crawled into their beds when we got back to my parents' house. On Tuesday we took it easy and spent the day playing in the pool out back. Marci and her crew all came over to play with us till we had to head out that afternoon. We tacked on a brief stop for pizza with Sam, Mary and Francis on the drive home, and rolled into our driveway late Tuesday night.

Yesterday we had Henry's birthday party across the street to look forward to - good times with dry ice! And now there's a weekend camping trip for Nathaniel and the oldest two girls, and the 4th of July is on the horizon, getting nearer. The fun doesn't stop around here, folks!