This was our first summer in five years gathering together in a new location. My parents sold their beloved beautiful lakehouse in Bonney Lake, WA and bought a bigger, more centrally-located house in Denver, CO, trading the backyard lake for a backyard pool. We went there for Christmas, but this was the first summer family time in Denver. I missed the beauty of the lake, but enjoyed the ease and endless kid water entertainment at the pool. Thankfully, family time is family time no matter where we meet up, and we enjoyed quality time together in the new location just fine.
In fact, this was the lowest-key family get-together that we've had in a long time. If I had to sum our trip up in 3 words, it would be: POOL, SNACKS, and COUSINS. (with a side of shopping)
Annual posterity picture: my parents have 11.3 grandchildren, ages 1-11 (my brother Kyle's wife is pregnant).
Amber, AJ, and Derek: the 4 year old trifecta. Well, Derek is a month shy of four, but close enough.
The pool has a bunch of decorative rocks and two water slides that provided endless fun for the kids.
We had to confiscate the water shooters because all the kids did was shoot each other in the face and get mad about it.
Amber took a little convincing to jump off the rocks at first, but by the end of the week she enjoyed it.
Jesse, tossing hiss daughter AJ up, up, up.
The two oldest: Jay and Steve.
These two were inseparable. Amber is not quite social/gentle enough to hang with them full time, so she did a lot of solo wandering and playing (and iPad sneaking--grr).
A view from the rocks. Yes, that's a tennis court--we kept trying to think of a name for this house, since it's not a lakehouse. We've been calling it the Denver house or The Complex, but it's so fancy I suggested we call it The Villa or The Resort. I kind of like the Villa Resort...
The kids regularly sunned themselves on the rocks like lizards between swims in the cold pool water.
We ended up turning off the heater in the hot tub, because all the kids wanted to do was bask in the hot water. But it was 90+ degrees outside and that seemed inadvisable so my dad turned off the heater.
Rose and Dan could not possibly have been comfortable head-down on those rocks.
The lifeguards. Us boring parents did get in the pool every now and then to cool off (that sun was HOT) but mostly we lounged and talked and hid from the burning hot sun.
Fudgesicles! Grama Meri periodically prolonged the pooltime by bringing out snacks: watermelon, fudgesicles, etc. A few days, Em and I made a stack of PBJs and brought them down to the pool for lunch. The kids were so tired at the end of the week from all of the swimming and late night sleepovers.
Jeff, throwing Rose.
I took a few time lapse and slow motion videos of the kids jumping off the rocks into the pool, and every time I finished one, they clustered their dripping wet bodies around me to watch the video.
The pool has a shallow ledge running longways across one side and it was so nice for kids of all ages, myself included.
Now, onto the non-pool pictures. AJ and Amber shared a bed every night. We put them to bed at 7pm every night and they actually slept really well. I think they got the most sleep out of all of the big kids (and adults).
Rose and Chase thought it would be fun to sleep in this narrow closet on the same tiny mattress, but they moved out by the second night because it was too crowded.
Jay and Steve called each other almost daily in the weeks leading up to this trip, planning out an elaborate Dungeons and Dragons world to play.
Bless Grandmas and their abundant patience.
Twister! [Dan, Rose, and Chase]
The rising generation: Christine and Conner the twins are one year old, and Ezra is two.
Citiblocks
Grama Meri has all kinds of cool games, and she's not afraid to play them with the kids.
Amby and AJ, puzzling. This puzzle was too hard for them and it mostly got scattered on the floor.
Dinner on the porch with the non-high-chair cousins.
Church on Sunday: we were rather surprised to see Elder Christofferson walk in and sit up front. We soon learned that his grandson is in the war and was baptized the day before, so Elder Christofferson was there visiting. He bore his testimony at the end of sacrament meeting and it was neat. Moral of the story: go to church on vacation! Haha...we left after sacrament meeting...
Em provided free professional photo shoots for all of her siblings. She's not afraid to do what it takes for a good picture. This roadside scene had the perfect background and lighting, so I stood there and watched for cars while she crouched in the middle of the road taking pictures of my brother Brad, his wife Dani, and Derek and the twins.
Hanging out in the car with AJ on Sunday afternoon while Em took pictures. On Sunday we also got to visit Brad and Dani's new house in Erie, CO--they moved there a month ago from Arizona. Brad is just starting his residency in family medicine.
My Dad is getting into good shape, running and biking in the mile high city. We did a short track workout/time trial together on Monday. Altitude is no joke!
Christine is such a sweetie.
These two were extra fussy one evening, so we busted out the stroller and went on a walk. I did a lot more walking than running while we were in Denver this time. I twisted my foot dodging Amber's wobbly bike riding 10 days ago and I've been trying to heal the sore strain with non-running activities.
Basking in the red glow of Netflix after a long hard day of swimming. There is currently only this one chair in the basement, and the cousins aren't afraid to share it.
Derek and Amber, picking strawberries with Grama one morning. The house came complete with a modest strawberry garden.
The yard also has a large red white and blue playhouse, which the kids filled with pine cones and loud echoing squeals and giggles.
We taped paper cow spots to ourselves to get free chicken at Chick-fil-a on cow appreciation day. (dress up as a cow to get free chicken)
Chick-fil-a was surprisingly not crowded when we went at 11am.
At my suggestion, Jeff twisted four hair ties to his pink polo shirt to create an udder. He poofed up his stomach to accentuate the udders for the picture. Em and I taped paper ears to our glasses.
Our crew leaving Chick-fil-a
Barricading the babies!
Ezra
Trampoline time
Amber, living her best life.
Mom made delicious waffles.
On July 11th (7/11) we got free slurpies at 7 Eleven. This was my first ever slurpy and after two tentative sips, I tossed it in the trash. It tasted like Windex.
These were taken on two separate Target trips for the twins: Dani stocked up on an excellent diaper sale, and another day we got one of those baby corrals to contain the tiny explorers in the massive house.
Steve wrote this newsletter. Murcy!
Did I mention the putting green in the backyard? There's a putting green with five holes.
Sister lunch at Cafe Rio. Dani patiently walked me through the menu and helped me choose something I'd actually enjoy eating. I have only been to Cafe Rio once or twice, so I always feel overwhelmed at everyone's dish dogma and it's hard to know what to get.
I'll end with an early morning mother-daughter selfie. My mom and I went on a walk together on the day we flew home. Tranquility is found in good company.
No comments:
Post a Comment