Round Two!

Less than a week after we got home from the beach with my family, we left for vacay with James's family.  Us, James's sister's fam, and his mom and dad met James's aunt and uncle and their two daughters (and their families) in Arkansas for a little reunion.  James's Aunt, Uncle and cousins live in Mississippi and Tennessee, so Arkansas was a good middle ground for us.

 

Once again, I worked the morning we left, so James was alone to finish packing and load the car.  Grey did pretty well on the ride over, but not as good as he did on the drive to the beach (which is longer!).  I think that loooong drive was just too recent in his memory for him to tolerate another one;)

The bigs were excited to hit the road for more cousin time!

We stayed in a condo with James's parents and the Thayers (his sister's family), while the rest of his family stayed in another condo right next to ours.  There was a bunk room with six bunks that the kids had fun sleeping in...

The first full day there, we headed to the lake.  Here's what Grey thinks of lake water...

He shares his mom's sentiment.

But here's how he felt about not having to get in the lake...

As David, James's cousin (in law?  do you even use the "in law" in reference to cousins?) said, the sensible people sat in the shade while the others swam.  I am definitely a sensible person when it comes to outdoorsy swimming in non-chlorinated water:)

But I am so thankful to have a husband that will brave it for the sake of our kids!

These two are ready for Kindergarten in a few weeks!!

There were 3 girls and 6 boys, so these three spent much of the weekend together...

James's cousin, Maggie and her two kiddos, Jenna and  Jonathan...

All the kiddos except for the two babies...

Charlotte, Hunter, Brooke, Jenna, Ethan, Carson, Jonathan

Here's those girls again!

Our sweet babies, Noah and Grey...

We got some good photos of the whole family.  Here are all the kids...

And the 4 that started it all!

James's Uncle Robert, Aunt Judy, Mom and Dad

Finally, the whole crew...

I found this bean bag chair in the closet, and the kids had fun playing with it all weekend.  Grey was having a blast with it one afternoon and for once, I had my camera (most of the other pictures in the post are thanks to my sis in law, Melanie)...

Pure joy!

We also went to feed some fish at the dock...

James's other cousin, Rebecca, feeding Noah at dinner one night...

Poor Charlotte fell on the way back from the pool our last night there.  Her eye is terribly bruised.  It went from swollen and slightly discolored to black and blue and now it's green and orangey.  Here are pics the morning after...

 

Even with the injury, we had a fun, relaxing weekend.  Hopefully it won't be four more years in between meetings next time! 

Beach Time!

We went to Mom and Rich's beach house on our first family trip of the summer a couple of weeks ago.  Charlotte and Vanesa went a week early for a girls week with Nana, and Hunter headed down with Katie and Zack Sunday.  Mom texted me a couple of pictures of the kids before we got there...

They were already having a blast and ready for us to join them!  Grey, James and I headed down after I left work that Monday.  Grey did awesome in the car.  Here's our one pit stop for lunch...

We arrived late Monday night and went quickly to bed.  The next day Courtney, Nathan and Keira arrived.  The kids were so excited to meet Keira for the first time!  Until they got there, we just hung out around the house in our pjs.  Grey loved pushing chairs around the kitchen the whole week...

He had just started walking, so I think he liked to have the chairs as a sort of safety net.

 

There was some trouble with Courtney and Nathan's connecting flight and then with their luggage, so by the time they got to the house, they just wanted to relax until dinner.  The Brooks were getting cabin fever, though, and had to get out, so we headed into Port Aransas with Mom for a little bit...

Then we came back to the beach house to pick up the rest of the fam and we all went to dinner at Doc's for Mom's (belated) birthday...

The next day, the girls went shopping while the boys hung out at the house.  We had such a fun time!

Char almost got her ears pierced at Claire's in the mall.  She's been asking for months and when she saw an older girl in line to get her cartilage pierced, she wanted to go next.  We waited forever to watch, but after Charlotte saw her getting pierced, she changed her mind:)  Fine with me!

After shopping, we all headed out to the beach...

LOVE this picture...

We came home tired and dirty, so we cleaned up and had dinner...

Then played board games!  A family favorite for sure:)  It was probably my favorite thing of the trip.

The next day we headed back to the beach, but it was SO windy, that the Smiths headed back home immediately because sand kept blowing in sweet Keira's face.

That night, everyone was a little sunburned and beat!

Look at all those tired kiddos!

The last day we were all together, we took pictures in our matching JABS t-shirts that mom made.  JABS stands for Johnson, Anson, Brooks, Smith...Rich came up with it:)  Each family got a different colored shirt...

Poor Zack was so sick with a fever that morning, but sat for the grandkid picture anyway.  He was a trooper!

Sadly, it was time to head back home, so the Smiths, Johnsons, and Brooks went for lunch at the Italian restaurant on the island...

The next day, the rest of us were home, but the Ansons were still there with Mom and Rich.  Zack was much better, so they went back to the beach...

And got a smiling pic of Zack in his JABS shirt...

 

Excited for our next reunion!