Family Weekend

I come from a family of 5 kids.  We’re all married with kids of our own now, and it’s tricky to get everyone together.  We used to do a weekend getaway as a family – camping or staying in a condo at a waterpark hotel - but for the past couple of years we’ve done something on a smaller scale. 

We had an extended family reunion with my mom’s relatives on Saturday evening, then on Sunday everyone came to our church for Max’s birthday party/Jensyn’s dedication, and Monday was our family day. 

We started out with breakfast for 20ish people at Cracker Barrel.  See what Alex is holding?  He was sitting next to me; I wasn’t paying much attention to him as he ate his pancakes.  Next thing I know, he’s saying, “Look, Mom!  They have little jello cups!”  Yep.  He was eating the jelly packets.

 

From there, we went to spend the middle of the day at a fun center.  Dad gave everyone a handful of tokens and some tickets for mini-golf and go-carts.  My boys LOVE to try out the arcade games.  Thankfully, they’re still young enough that they don’t care if they are pretending to play the games without using tokens!

This was one of their favorites.  I love to play this game the “real” way.  The boys love to reach up inside, pull out the balls, and try to thrown them into the correct buckets.  It doesn’t harm the game – you just don’t get a countdown or win any prize tickets.

Alex enjoyed sitting in this car while we waited to ride the go-carts.

The go-carts are for ages 3 and up, but Alex got away with it last year at 2.5 years old.  I asked my dad if he’d be willing to try getting Max on the go-carts, since Max has looked longingly at these while his big brother rides.  My dad asked, and the guys let Max go…probably because EVERY car on the track was part of our family! :)

 

Max took it very seriously, just sitting there looking very solemn. 
He said he liked it and he had fun, so we’ll have to believe him.

We split into smaller groups while golfing.  I golfed with Keith, my sisters Deb & Diane, and my nephew Justin.  My parents golfed with Max and Alex, which was definitely an interesting experience!  I don’t think either of my boys has played putt-putt before, and they certainly weren’t interested in following any rules!  Thanks, Mom & Dad, for being so patient with our goofy little boys!

 

By this point, it was well past naptime.  We were going to hang out at my parents’ house for a while before going out for supper.  Max couldn’t take it any more, and he conked out in the car!

We finished off the night with pizza at a family favorite – Aurelio’s.  The original one in Homewood is the best, and they have plenty of room for our giant crew!

This year, we split up into a kids table, a guy’s table, and a lady’s table.   Yes, Jensyn is at the “wrong” table, but she was getting to know her Uncle Tony.  This weekend was Tony’s first time to see her!  As I look at these pictures, I’m realizing that my nephew Justin is at the mens’ table, and my nieces Danielle & Alyssa are at the lady’s table.  Wow!  Who let my nephew and nieces turn into ADULTS?!

 

(don’t look for me…I’m behind the camera!)

Thanks, Mom & Dad, for spoiling us with this fun day!

We love & appreciate you!