Vaca-muh-cation!

Ok, more like a weekend getaway. But it was totally worth it! McKay and I one night, after a call from my Grandma Esplin, decided to do something crazy. Take our two children, stuff them in our 14 year old car and drive 4-hours up to Burley, Idaho; *furiously clicking* Population... 9,105. And by the time all of our relatives arrived. 9,122... or more. I could be off by a bit. And then we thought it would be a good idea to stuff all 17 relatives... don't forget- possibly more, into a somewhat small house. It would be considered only accomodating because we forced it to be. Luckily, McKay and I arrived the night before everyone else and because we have two little children, we actually got a room. If you're curious like me and you don't know the whole story, you may be wondering why in the heck a call from my Grandma would make three families and a few college strays drive up to Burley. Don't get too excited the answer isn't going to shock you- it was my grandpa's 71st birthday and we all just happened to live close enough to come up or down or sideways to be there!

 If you didn't get it by my emphasis before on how small Burley is, let me remind you again. Burley is really small and there really isn't much to do there. So all of the kids went to a local park to play. Holy crud it was freezing! By the way, Of the 17 people 12 were kids.

This photo here is of Ayden getting very excited about the doggy in the background.

Anyway, my boys got all bundled up and we drove to the park with Aunt Lissa, Melissa for those of you that have trouble translating, and her friend-boyfriend-something friend and played around until fingers started to turn blue.

 Ethan was the first to suffer the purple fingers. You can see them turning red here. And don't worry- that pant leg got pulled down right after this shot!! Brrrr! Poor guy! Although, of everyone there, my kids were bundled up the most. I even forgot to bring my own sweater. What was I thinking?! Lets just stop there and assume that I really wasn't. Because if I actually was thinking that would imply that my thoughts are not all that intelligent.

 After about 20 minutes of playing on the actual play structure, this is where most everyone ended up- the Merry-Go-Round *said in a deep despising voice* Its not exactly a thing that Ethan and Ayden can play on with the big kids. You remember being a kid right?? You try to go as fast as you can on those things and see if anyone flies off or pukes. So, IF my two year old were to participate, he would be the first to fly off and then probably the first to hurle. I'm not even going to address the issue with little Ethan!

Ayden waiting patiently for his turn and all the big kids were nice about letting it go slow when he got on. Two of them even stuck their feet out like a wall where he was sitting so if he slid toward the outside he'd bump into their legs. I was convinced of the soundness of the leg-wall. NoThInG was getting through the leg-wall! *nervous laughter*

After Ayden's turn was finished he chilled with Lissa some more. He definitely likes her. She's kinda of a sucker for his standing in front of her and begging 'det up. Det up. Please.'

We also managed to get a photo with all of us there. See that shirt I'm wearing. SHORT SLEEVE!! And see how bright it is outside! If you really can't tell if its 2pm or 7pm. Let me give you a hint. The sun is gone and I'm pretty sure it was close to my kids' bedtime. Ethan has already gone into a survival mode in this photo. He knows that if he smiles he might lose some heat out of his mouth. *wonders if anyone bought that, shrug- oh well* He was clearly ready to go home.

But what's the purpose of going outside if its not to play in a leaf pile you found! He certainly enjoyed this for about as long as this video ran. It didn't help much that Ayden was doing what Ayden does best. After he was very clear to me that he had had enough of this thing called 'play', we went and hid in the car.

Oh sweet sweet nectar of the heater!

While we were in Burley, we did more than just played at the park. We gorged ourselves on a delicious ham, ptotato and veggie dinner in honor of the birthday Grandpa! We played games likes Stop Thief, Mancala, Apples to Apples, Pictionary and Ticket to Ride. My Grandma had a system set up. It can't be just play games and choose what you want. It had to be every 25 minutes you switch to a new game with new people. And if you tried to add a game to her set up you couldn't. BUT it was still fun, even with a slighty controlling/OCD Grandma.

We ended up driving home Sunday afternoon and have realized that our car just can't really hack 4-hour drives. Dang thing. Luckily we're buying a new car soon! Woo hoo!