Still trying to get caught up

I think we were gone more of July than we were actually home. It was a very fun and crazy month and we are stilling trying to get all caught up.

First we went to WA to visit Kurt's cousins - see last post.

We got home from WA on a Tuesday evening and that Thursday-Saturday the kids attended Cousins Camp at Auntie Margo's. While the kids were away, Kurt and I decided to play. So we went to San Fran for Friday night. It was nice for just the two of us to get away!

But that only left us Monday and Tuesday to do all the laundry and get caught up from our last journey and to prepare for our next one. Oh, ya and get all caught up and organize the business for us to be gone again. Crazy days! But totally worth it!

On Wednesday we started our next journey - this time back east to Virginia - thanks to miles we have earned on a business credit card over the last 5 years ALL 5 tickets were FREE! SWEET! Wednesday went like this;

2 hours waiting in the Sac airport

2 hour flight to Seattle WA

5 hour lay over

5 hour flight to DC

2 hour drive to Richmond, VA area

Ya, that's a 16 hour day of traveling. We were TIRED! But the kids did GREAT! Oh, and what do you do with 3 kids for 5 hours in an airport? Well, this is what we did:

We rode the tram round and round and round again!

Then we found this great play area:

A lot of the time we spent in the main eating area where they have this HUGE wall of glass that looks out on the runways and you can watch planes take off and land. I have to say, the Seattle Airport was a lot of fun! 5 hours actually passed rather pleasantly.

We arrived at Jared's house at 1:30 in the morning and let's just say that we slept in a bit the next day! Plus we were still on CA time so our time was all messed up.

Thursday we had a very relaxing day and went swimming. That afternoon Jenny arrived with her kids. With all of us in the house, the count was: 5 adults, 14 kids! Yep, 19 people living in 1 house. It was a lot of fun!

Meal time was a bit crazy but all went really good. The kids all lined up on the wall and went through the line to get their food. Like this:

And it was no fun being at the end of the line!

Here is the view from above of dessert one night:

Friday we relaxed, swam and let the kids run, play and enjoy their cousins.

Saturday we had a kick ball tournament - girls against boys. Ya, the boys walloped the girls but all had fun. Oh, and just for the record, Kurt kicked a fly ball and I caught it, getting him out! (Kurt beats me at anything athletic so it was nice to get him just once!)

Then we went to Belle Isle to enjoy the river. The water was so warm! I loved it!

This was the walking bridge that you have to cross to get to the island. It was really cool!

Here is a picture of all 14 kids and 3 adults. The most of us in any one picture.

Here is Kurt and Jared testing out the new couch for it's napping qualities. It passed!

How they could nap in a house with 14 kids running around was beyond me.

I guess it's because they are men and men can sleep through anything! Here's the proof:

Girls being girls and doing hair:

Evan holding his newest cousin, Braden:

Sunday we went to Church and made cookies - mmmmmm!

Monday we went to Maymont Zoo and Gardens.

First we went to the zoo part.

Walking with a group this big . . .

you are constantly counting kids.

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13

Oh, we are missing one

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15

Oh, we have an extra

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14

Perfect!

Katie and Megan sitting in a big nest. Pretty cool!

The Girls

The boys

Then we went into the Gardens. Oh, they were so pretty! I loved it! My favorite by far!

Kayla and the waterfall

Stepping pads

With 14 kids, we thought someone was bound to end up "falling in" but all made it with no problem!

The bridge

Buddies:

Oh, so romantic. A long time ago, some guy proposed to some girl here. There is a plaque but I can't remember the names or the dates but so romantic!

13 out of 14, not bad

Only missing Braden who was with Aunt Jenny

Since our flight out Wednesday morning was at 8 am and we had to be there 2 hours before the flight which meant we would have to leave Jared's house at 4 am, we decided to spend Tuesday night in D.C. near the airport. So Tuesday we went to D.C.with Jared and his family. Jenny had to start her 5 hour drive south back to North Carolina.

Jefferson monument

Washington Monument

American History Museum:

Buying produce from the grocery man

Evan and a train

The boy LOVES his trains!

Riding the pretend train:

Natural History Museum

The Capital

Air and Space Museum

All of us in front of the Native American building.

Kurt really like the water feature that went the whole length of the building.

Me and my girls.

Megan and the girls.

This is the monument they put up for the plane that crashed into the Pentagon.

And here we are back at the Seattle airport. We only had a 3 hour layover on the way home. Here is us in front of that wall of glass looking out over the runways.

The kids were amazing travelers! We were so proud of them!

We had a great time with our East Coast families and wish there wasn't so much country between us!

Thanks for a great trip!

We love all of you!