Summer vacation, part 2

We were only at the cabin for a few days before we had to pack up and head down south for just so many weddings. The kids buckled in to the car and were promptly horrified to learn that the drive was going to be SEVEN HOURS LONG.

You guys. That is just too long to be in a car. Marty screamed his head off every moment he wasn't asleep, and Edie learned the strange magic of the phrase, "Are we there yet?" I didn't get to deploy the classic dad response of "we get there when we get there!", but next year, I'll be ready. (We will never take another trip as long as I live.)

For the first wedding, we stayed at a little lavender farm in southern Utah. The kids had a great time running around with their cousins, and we had a great time letting them run around so we could do literally anything else. Here's Marty running around through some corn.

And here's Marty gorging himself at the reception.

Edie sniffed out the fact that we were all going to play games after the reception ended and everyone cleared out, so she kept reminding us all night how excited she was to play games after the reception was over. Like, all night. She sits down at the table, says, "I'm excited for games after the reception." She gets her snacks, says, "I'm excited for games after the reception." They cut the cake, she whispers, "I'm not going to go to bed because we're playing games at night."

At night, we all gathered in the living room to play games, and she was beyond excited to play. We didn't get started until about 10:00, though, so before long, she was flagging. She laid down next to me on the couch and said, "Maybe I'll just watch for a little bit." She was asleep in seconds.

She had the right idea, because we had to be up really early the next day to clear out from the farmhouse and head up to the second (!!) wedding, which was a little more than an hour away. We made it, but some of us were more cheerful than others when we got there.

Edie was probably the most cheerful, because she got to be a FLOWER GIRL OH MY GOODNESS

She didn't particularly know what she was doing, but fortunately, the groom's daughter acted as the Senior Flower Girl, so Edie could just follow her around and scatter the petals. She had a great time.

Marty wasn't doing quite as well. He was pretty tired from the night before, and it was hot, and all he wanted to do was run around and play in the creek next to the venue. We didn't let him, since it would have completely ruined the ceremony, so he sat in his stroller, getting angrier and angrier. His older, but somehow shrimpier cousin, decided to try pushing him around.

It, uh, didn't work like they hoped?

The reception was much more fun than your typical wait in line to congratulate the happy couple-type reception. We ate burritos and played bingo, and let me just say, I am seriously considering getting married all over again so I can do something like this.

Edie had a blast with the bingo cards, although she wasn't really bothered with the numbers that were being called out.

(I think she's winking in this picture? It could also just be that she's gigantically unphotogenic.)

After lunch and everything were over, we were all exhausted from sitting in the heat for so long. Marty was going crazy and desperately needed to go to sleep. So as much as we love our family, we picked everything up and took off for the day. If you're just reading this now and wondering where we went at the reception, sorry?

Summer vacation, part 1

As challenging as it is to travel with two smallish children in tow, we decided to go ahead and take a two-week trip earlier this month. We were excited to see family, see two weddings, and generally have a change of pace for a while. We were reminded, shortly into the trip, that being squeezed into a row of airplane seats with a toddler is less of a joy and more of a burden.

The boy was weighty as he fidgeted on our laps, but despite a series of delays putting us in Utah well after midnight, we made it to our destination and started the first leg of our journey. We got up to our family's cabin on Saturday, just in time to ride on the teeter-totter and see a slew of cousins. Edie was thrilled to get a chance to show off her toys to all the girls.

Marty was thrilled to see, well, stuff he could cram in his mouth.

All eight of the grandkids on my side were at the cabin this year, which was hilarious, since they're all five and under. My mom put together a bunch of games for them to play, and while a couple of the older ones valiantly tried, most of them just ran around the park and screamed at each other, which was pretty great.

We had an egg hunt, we splashed each other with water, and generally had a fun time running around outside.

The cabin is a lot of fun for the little kids, and not just because there are plenty of fragile items on the shelves to grab and destroy. There's the aforementioned teeter-totter, which everyone loved.

You can bake in the kitchen.

If you get lucky, you can see wildlife, like these two moose that are definitely in this picture. (They're far away, and we didn't care to get too much closer.)

There's Yellowstone, which not only features spectacular natural beauty, but also a gift shop with a stuffed bear.

And there's a big couch which is perfect for naps.

We got to spend four days here with family, and everyone had a wonderful time. Sure wish we got to see cousins more often.