Our latest family adventure... Part 2

Day 3: Friday. We had another relaxing day. The older cousins were at school. Oh wait. I forgot something from Thursday. Chris' brother, Nate, flew in from Chicago late Thursday night. So we woke up on Friday with Woody's family, Trevor, Nate, and all of us in one house. Nate bought doughnuts for breakfast. This has no relevance other than the fact that there were doughnuts. I didn't eat one. I'm not one for sweets first thing in the morning.

Nate and Trevor left to pick up another cousin, Justin, who came in from Utah. He could have driven with us, but he chose to fly. Chris spent the morning exercising and running in the rain. It was a day of errands for Michelle, so I stayed home with the kids and sometimes with the baby. I like that baby. She's so pretty and very sweet.

Friday night, we had Michelle's family over for dinner. (Really, Michelle had them over. She was having us over, too.) Then we all went to the church for Elle's baptism. This was the reason for the visit. Elle was radiant. I used to wonder if children understood enough by the time they were eight-years-old to decide for themselves if they wanted to make the covenant of baptism. Then I had an eight-year-old. They know what they're doing. And Elle knew what she was doing. It was a beautiful, perfect evening. I am understanding more and more the importance of baptism.

That night, after everyone finally went home, we attempted to send the kids to bed. The boys went to bed pretty well, but the girls. Oh, the girls! They stayed up past midnight. Elle and Sarah talked late into the night. But they weren't silly. They were singing primary songs about baptism. Then they quoted Articles of Faith together. They read all the little notes Elle got at her baptism. They were having a very sweet, spirit-filled evening together. It was hard to tell them to be quiet and go to sleep. Eventually they slept.

Day 4: Saturday. We got up, cleaned up, and packed up. We drove down to Lodi to Chris' sister's house. Michelle came, too. So then we had a big group. We went to lunch and then went over to a little science museum. We stayed there for hours. It was Nate's idea. He said he had always wanted to go there, but needed a bunch of kids to take with him. Well, Michelle and I provided the kids. The museum was small, but entertaining. Everything was very hands-on and the kids could have stayed even longer. We actually took some pictures. So finally, we start the promised slideshow.

Ammon building a marble maze 

Sarah and Elle build a huge tower using every one of these magnet blocks 

Justin helping, or watching, Sarah and Elle 

LEGOS!  

 I hope this makes up for us not going to Legoland.

 

 Conjuring a tornado

 

 Building patterns with pattern blocks

Cute kid. 

 Sending smoke signals

 

 Nate building something cool.

 

Trevor helping the girls finish their castle 

The finished product. 

 More tornado. Isn't my Bethie cute?

 

 Beth in the cockpit. Ready to blast off!

 Beth loved this thing. It's supposed to show you how everything would sound different if your left ear was your right ear and your right ear was your left ear. When I tried it, everything just sounded muffled.

 

 Chris thoroughly enjoyed the museum.

After the museum, we headed back to Tammy's to relax and have some fun. Then up to Chris' dad's and step-mom's for dinner and more family fun. Chris' step-sister, Tara, came over with her family and his step-brother, Michael, introduced us to his fiance. It rained. A lot.

Chris' new best friend. :)

I love my in-laws.