Grandma and Grandpa came to town for the Haymore Family Reunion (Grandma's side of the family), along with Uncle Curtis, Aunt Courtney, Cousin Nathan and Uncle Dusty. Andy's mom is from a family of 14 children, 12 of whom attended the reunion along with large portions of their families. Andy and I have been married almost seven years and I hadn't met half of his mom's siblings, until this weekend. Ava and Jax were thrilled with all the kids running around, especially Cousin Nathan. Nate is just about a year younger than Ava. He is definitely all boy and I'm pretty sure he's Jax's new favorite person. The little mancub just couldn't get enough of his big boy cousin, following him around whenever he had the chance. Thursday, after the reunion kick-off, we all mosied back to our house so the kids could cool off on the Slip 'n' Slide. Jax was down for his nap, Andy was at work, so Ava and Nate had the whole thing to themselves... so we thought.
Uncle Dusty and Uncle Curtis just couldn't resist. I'm actually surprised it took them as long as it did to trade in their street duds for swim trunks. To be honest, I'm surprised they didn't just slide in their clothes. Ava and Nathan just loved having the big kids on the Slip 'n' Slide and took advantage of Uncle Dusty's and used him as a surf board.
Day Two of the reunion was mostly outdoors -- water games and slides, a giant swingset and exploring in the woods. But their favorite part of all? The pedal Go-Karts! Jax, as many know, has a slight car obsession (I can't imagine where he got that from... haha) and screeched with excitement, yelling "Car, car! Me! Me!" as he watched the bigger kids racing around. Eventually, Daddy took him on a ride. When it was time to give someone else a turn, it took all of Andy's might to pry Jax's hands from the steering wheel. Ava and I took a spin. While I'm not as good a driver as Daddy (so my three-year-old tells me), I do more fun things on the Go-Kart (take that, Daddy). I'm not exactly sure what those fun things are, but as long as Ava had a great time, I'll take it! The evening ended with a luau dinner, during which our tiny dancer got on stage and dance the Huki Lau with the professional hula dancers. Her face just beamed and even this morning she was "practicing" her "hula hoop dancing" (as she calls it) in our kitchen. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera, but Andy's mom took plenty of pictures which I'll post as soon as she sends them.
Obviously, it was a busy weekend. Fun! But busy. The best part was having Grandma and Grandpa here for a few days. Ava woke up every morning asking if they were still here. She loved reading with Grandma and showing her around our home. Jax even said "Papa," which I know made Ralphie's day. Now that both of Andy's parents are retired we hope to see them again soon. I'll sugar detox my kids any day if it means they get to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa.
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