Family Reunion 2013

We had a great time in North Carolina.  We stayed a few days at my parents in Charlotte, then went to Topsail with the entire family for a week at the Lucky Leaf.  It was the first time we had all been together in about a year and a half!  Here is a link to Mel's video.

It was so fun.  Especially knowing that my parents are going to Chile for 2 years, and that it was our last time to soak it in.

Of course you know what we did (and in this order): 

beach, eat, beach, eat more, beach, games, eat again.

In the shuttle to the airport, they were BEYOND excited not to be in carseats, and kept putting their hands up in the air like it was a ride at Disneyland.

Weird dude in the airport.

The setup.  Such an easy flight...dare I remind you about the horrible stomach bug flight from 2008?  Yeah anything is easy compared to that!

You can't visit Charlotte without visiting the speedway :)

Kensington thought she was such a big girl.

Finally got to ride on the train at Schramma's mall.

Best buds, best buddies.

Baby #3 is a girl!

Fam Reunion Activities

We also were a lot more organized this year.  We had an activity every day for the kids and usually some kind of competition for the adults, and each family was in charge of dinner for that day and keeping the kitchen clean.  Being organized helps a lot in a big group (so does having 2 dishwashers!) and there was something to look forward to each day, but we weren't strict or scheduled, so it was the perfect middle ground.

Each family brought a $10 door prize, and then you had a chance to pick a door prize if you won some sort of competition...like here is part of the Schramm Olympics...yeah we're classy throwing blocks of wood on the beach.

Schramma is the best grandma with the kids.  One day they made invitations and put on a puppet show (lasted like 2 minutes).  I love how Amaryllis spelled it "popit show".  Cute.

They also did a Teddy Bear's Picnic and brought cupcakes and their stuffed animal to the park.

Here are the cousins during their scavanger hunt. I think the prize was a piece of candy, but they could care less, they liked the clues!

(with lame clues like "this is where we keep cold food" and they'd all race to the fridge like it was the most exciting thing in the world).

And they did a gift exchange.  We also did a Girls Night Out version of this, and all us sisters brought our favorite things to exchange, then hung out on mom's bed all night and talked.

Except each of the kids wanted to pick their own gifts that they brought to the gift exchange.

 Hanging Out

While we did our Girls Night Out gift exchange, the men tried to have fun without us.

A dropped Klondike bar shall not go to waste!

Smores and Fireworks on the last night.

Schrammpa seeing if they can be quiet for 15 minutes to earn a marshmellow.

Hard at work making invitations to the Popit Show.

Finally!  A fish big enough to eat!

It was Kensingtons first time sleeping out of her crib, she was a champ.  She slept on the floor in the big walk-in closet in our room.  My nephew Kyler was the only one to get shafted...literally.  He slept in the elevator, haha.  But I think everyone was so tired by the end of the day, that it didn't matter where we slept.

On the way home from the airport, after 2 weeks of fun. Keep in mind my kids NEVER sleep outside of their rooms so this is a shocker for me.

We're really going to miss my parents but we're so excited for their adventure in Chile.

Amaryllis is really going to miss them too.  This pretty much sums up her relationship with Pawshaw...it starts with him egging her on and then it's war :)