Family Reunion 2014

I will give a disclaimer at the very beginning...this is an extremely long post with lots and lots of pictures.  There are just too many good ones to not share!

My mom's side of the family all got together at Mom and Dad's and my aunt and uncle's a few weekends ago to have our annual family reunion.  As always, it was such a great time getting together and seeing my cousins, their kiddos, and my aunts and uncles.  We weren't all able to make it, but with families growing every year, that's to be expected.  The highlight of the weekend was Jace!  Jace is my cousin's son and he has been battling cancer all summer and received fantastic news at the end of his treatment...clear scans!  The entire family had been praying for Jace and his family since we found out, so having him celebrate the family reunion with us was such a blessing and a glorious answer to many prayers!  It was so nice to see him out and about and having fun with the kids!  It was just a fantastic weekend all the way around!

Brace yourselves for a barrage of pictures...there are tons, but with so many cute subjects, it's just too easy to keep clicking away!

 The cousins waiting with bated breath for the bouncy house to be inflated!

 Hurry, hurry, hurry!!!

Woohoo...it's up!

 Sweet Lucy!

 The oldest and the youngest...just as handsome and cute as can be!

 Proof that the kiddos did take a break from jumping long enough to eat

 And....we're back to bouncing!  Now there are even more kiddos to play with!

 Jace taking a turn driving the Mule.  Between the Mule and bounce house, the kids were thoroughly entertained all weekend!

 Even the BIG kids got in on the action...this big kid is 30, but he'll always be a kid at heart!

 We were so lucky to have great weather the entire weekend...perfect for a campfire.

 Whitney is awesome, as always...she's the queen of the "minute to win it" games, even serving as the demo person!

 We ended the weekend with an impromptu kickball game...not sure who had more fun, the kids or the dads?

 Just one more picture of sweet Lucy!

Kyran wasn't able to join us at the beginning, because he was home with a fever.  He made his appearance on Sunday...just in time to get in on the game, too!  Not sure he understood the rules of kickball, but he tried!



Labor Day Weekend

This post is a bit overdue, but really, what post do I ever get on here on time, lol???!!!  We were able to get away over the Labor Day weekend and head down to Mammoth Cave.  We had never been before, so we were all excited to go.  We were lucky to get to travel with my sister and her family, Andy's sister and family, and our great friends and their family.  It was quite a caravan of trucks and campers, but it was such a fun time!

The caves were awesome!  I was a little concerned that Kyran would not cooperate on a two hour tour (which, by the way, had no exit strategy) but, he did fantastic!  We took our Moby wrap and he just hung out, literally, in it the entire time.  Ben was a real trooper and did a great job, even on the 200+ steps! 

When we weren't touring the caves, we had a blast at the pools and water slide at the campground.  However, I think the highlight of the trip was our cabin.  We didn't take a camper, and instead rented the "Bear Den".  This lovely little cabin had 10 bunk beds in it and a loft!  You can imagine that Ben and Kyran were in heaven with the endless supply of ladders to climb and mattresses to jump on!  I think Ben slept in a different bunk each night.

While I think the term vacation is a bit deceiving (when you travel with kids, there is really no such thing as rest) we still had a wonderful time.  It was fun to explore someplace new, spend time with our friends and family, and make memories with the boys!