My Epic Vacation Part 3: Denver/Welcome Home Hannah

My little sister Hannah finally got home from her mission 2 weeks before school started.  As per tradition, we all got together to celebrate her safe return.

We had to meet in Denver because Amber is (notice how I said "is" not was?  She's still pregnant, we still could have gone to Yellowstone as was the original plan before Amber had to go get pregnant with twins)pregnant and needed to be close to her hospital in Cheyenne.  We also needed to be close to an airport so the lucky 2 who flew didn't have to drive very far...not that anyone was worried about how far we had to drive or anything.

Not to worry, even without going to Yellowstone, we had plenty to do.  Dad rented a house for the long weekend and really, my mom outdid herself.  I, however, still am not so good at taking pictures so I can't fully document everything we did.  Not to worry, Evan took over 800 pictures.

Tuesday, we arrived last.  Said hi to everyone, ate dinner, Mom had a few games for us to play, then bedtime for kiddos and chit chat for the adults.  Hannah fell asleep and I almost got her back for McKay from a few years ago, but she woke up just before I drew her a lovely mustache.

Wednesday, Grandma Pattie woke up with the kids and before I had time to brush my teeth, they were all outside playing.

Slowly the adults woke up and got read for a candy factory tour.  The smell was a bit much for me--lots and lots of sugar.

We got home just in time for naps, but since my kids don't nap, they got to join the adults for some archery in the back yard.

 Then while the cousins were still napping, Noah set up the slack line my mom brought and Rex gave it a try.

Then we went to a Rockies Game.  And there was even a Grand Slam.  But I was staring off into space and missed it.  I'm really good at paying attention to sporting events.  That's not to say I didn't have fun, because I did--it's fun to be with a bunch of people yelling and cheering even if I only know half the rules and none of the players. Also it rained.

Thursday was family picture day.  That was my thing--the only thing I semi-coordinated.  I just forgot to pick a place to take pictures.  Oops.  But I like the homey feeling of just doing it in the front yard.  Too bad it's not the front yard of the house we actually grew up in/live in.  The three little girl cousins gave us a run for our money...or lack of money since this photo shoot was free a la Greg.

The rest of the day was holiday day.  As in we celebrated all the holidays that we normally miss with my parents.  While the kids slept, we made Christmas ornaments.  After naps, we had an Easter egg hunt, 

 dyed Easter eggs,

 carved pumpkins (soap as pumpkins are a little hard to find in August)

We also played Bingo (Christmas) and drank 7*UP/sherbet floats (St. Patrick's Day).  This was also the day, Henry took a 5 hour nap so that's why he's absent from the pictures.

Friday was birthday day.  We spent the morning at a reservoir.  It was freezing.  And it rained.  But the kids got in the water anyway.  And the rest of us tried out the slack line again.

That, by the way, is not me.  It's my brother's girlfriend, Racher...ok Rachel, but we all call her Racher. And she takes it.  Keeper.

During naps, we made t-shirts.  After naps the party started.  Mom had a pinata, the balloon game, the cotton ball game, pin the tail on the donkey, and cupcake decorating (basically a bunch of Robins' family birthday traditions).  We also played Thump-thump that night, and Rachel held her own, until she crossed Greg.  The made up during the second game, no worries.

Like I said, my mom super outdid herself.  I didn't even have time for my daily nap.  And my kids didn't watch TV or whine--also too busy for that.  I guess that's the key to good parenting--endless energy and creativity.  Ummm, maybe my kids should just go live with my mom.

Saturday we cleaned up, packed up, and started the 3 day drive back.