Road Trip!

The weekend after Gammy's visit, we packed up the minivan and hit the road for a trip to Memphis. Wow! What a difference 6 months can make in the ability for four children to be amused while traveling! In other words, my sincerest thanks to whoever invented the portable DVD player and to my children for actually watching it this time! What a lifesaver! Not that we didn't have a few meltdowns, but at least there were no marathon screaming fits like we have endured in trips past.

Friday evening found us safely in Memphis where we didn't have to wait long for the cousins to show up. Kinley is enamored with "her cousins" and apparently talks abut them all the time despite having only been around them a handful of times. This was Kinley's birthday weekend, so I was really excited to actually be in town for her birthday, having missed birthdays 1 and 2 due to pregnancy and small children.

Birthday girl!

I was also excited about this trip because Kallen had just recently gotten her cast off, and I was looking forward to seeing her relish the return of her mobility. She was still holding her legs spread apart like they had been in the cast, but she was starting to get the hang of crawling and was pulling up on everything, the stairs seeming to be her favorite! And I have to admit, it was kind of cute to see her crawl across the room dragging one leg behind her. She hasn't yet really started using the leg that actually had the surgery. Or at least, she hadn't a couple of weeks ago when we were there. She's probably doing better now!

Little Kallen, what a cutie!

Reagan helps Kallen out at the bottom of the stairs

Kallen wasn't the only one enjoying the stairs. Since we don't have them at our house, stairs are a real treat. The kids love going up and down them, a skill we've been practicing at Michelle's house. It was nice nt to have to mess with the baby gate at the foot of the stairs this time, and we only had a couple of minor tumbles. Mostly, they are pretty good on stairs, as long as someone is there to watch them. Thomas prefers to descend sliding feetfirst on his belly. This is a pretty safe choice, as well as efficient. He zooms down past the other kids, but you have to watch him or he zooms down into the other kids and knocks them down. Not so safe or efficient.

Sat morning we took the kids to Kirby Pines to visit Uncle George and Aunt nancy. Here we are posed outside the grand front entrance.

Kirby Pines is a retirement community so you can imagine the attention we received from all the residents! We joined George and Nancy for lunch in the main dining hall, where the staff was very accommodating and helpful and even brought each of the kids a balloon, all of which we managed to lose before returning to the car.

Sat afternoon we attended Kinley's birthday party at a very nice but very crowded sprinkler park. The kids had a blast, except for one incident. There was a row of metal bars that curved to form a sort of sprinkling tunnel. The water was not coming out at the moment and Thomas ran through the tunnel cackling gleefully. Jonathan headed in to follow him, but the water kicked on then he got about halfway through. He ran forward into water, stopped, turned around to run the other way only to run into water again, found himself trapped by water and just hunkered down with his arms over his head. Jim swooped in the rescue him, but then stood up and brained himself on one of the metal bars, a hit which sent him to his knees. Eventually, both Jim and Jonathan made it out alive. Other than that, it was a pretty good time for the kids. If was much more stressful a time for the parents trying to keep up with four small, very active children in a sea of people. I'm glad we went, but it was a tremendous relief when we left.

Kinley was very nice about her youngest cousins wanting to "help" her with her presents.

Sun we all went to church and had plans to meet up with Jodie, Jeff, Kinley, and Kallen for lunch afterwards, the service ended with a couple of meltdowns, so we met them for lunch at home instead. We decided the kids were mostly just very tired after not sleeping much on the trip and having so much excitement the day before and being awakened early to go to church. They were kind of cranky even at the house, so I'm really glad we didn't decide that that would be a great day to take them to their first restaurant. Yikes! nightmare potential!

That afternoon we had a pool party and tried out Bud and KayKay's new Slip 'N Slide.

None of the kids understood the concept of running and sliding down the slope, so they had to be drug down the slide, but they had a good time! Daddy needed the exercise anyway, right?

Princess Reagan lounging in the pool

Reagan and Kallen splashing each other

Yeah, I know, I'm adorable!

At one point, the boys all sat down just like this. I swear they did it by themselves. So it was a no-brainer to stick Reagan in the empty spot and snap a pic of the four of them. Too cute!

Then it was party time! Kinley's birthday is early June, the quads is late June, and Kallen's is early July, so this was a perfect opportunity to celebrate all the birthdays together. Bud rigged up this little table for the kiddos KayKay gave them each a cupcake.

Then it was time for presents!!! Each of the kids got their own little folding chair, so perfect! Among other presents, JonZReaTom each got their own little Doodle Pad, a major hit! They played with them the rest of the evening and in the car the next day. They have also since been very well-used during church services and trips to the dr!

from the left: Thomas, Kallen, Zachary, Jonathan, Kinley, Reagan

Thank you so much Bud, KayKay, Aunt Jodie, Uncle Jeff, Kinley, and Kallen for all our presents and a really great weekend! We had a lot of fun!

And you, readers, can look forward to posts to come about the BIG present the kids got from Bud and KayKay, which they absolutely LOVE, and the kids' birthday shindig here at the house last weekend! Stay tuned!