Monday, August 20, 2007

Family Reunion

This past weekend, we went camping for our annual Gadd Family Reunion. It was actually a lot of fun. I personally enjoyed it much more than last year's (I was kind of a wreck with a 2-month old baby). I'm still kind of a stress-case when it comes to Parker's sleep, but I've definitely learned to let go a lot. Joe's parents bought a paddle boat for the occasion...it was great!
Parker was kind of attacking/wrestling Jacob. Parker was laughing, but I think Jacob was a little nervous.
Pictured below are all of the cousins (minus Baby Tate or Brian and Carrie's kids...). This was right before Jacob rolled off the bench onto the cement floor. It left a pretty good mark.
If you want more details, read on........

Thursday
4:00 pm--Joe gets off work
5:30 pm--We're finally on the road
7:00 pm--We realize that we left our air mattress home, but it's too late to turn back
7:00-9:00 pm--We set up camp, eat dinner, let Parker play for a bit
9:15 pm--Try to put Parker to bed...he looks REALLY tired, but the second I leave him in the tent by himself he FREAKS out. This continues for two hours.
11:00 pm--Joe and I take Parker for a drive...he falls immediately asleep. We put him in his pac 'n play and join everyone else for games and fun.
11:15 pm--Everyone else is already gamed out, so we all go to bed.

Friday
1:30 am--Parker wakes up SCREAMING hysterically.
2:00 am--He finally calms down and sleeps on the hard ground with us for the rest of the night.
7:00 am--Surprise! Parker is up for the day, so I guess we are too.
8:00 am-1:00 pm--Breakfast, fun on the beach, paddleboating, kids' games, lunch, etc.
1:15 pm--Put Parker in his stroller for a little nap...he falls right asleep and sleeps for 2 1/2 hours...yay!
1:30-7:00 pm--More games, kids' crafts, family pictures, etc.
7:00 pm--Parker is exhausted, so we decide to try the stroller method rather than the pac 'n play...he lays in the stroller for two hours looking really relaxed, but never falling asleep. SO, we keep him up.
10:00 pm--THUNDER, LIGHTNING, and RAIN!!!!! We all go to bed.
10:15 pm--Parker bounces around the tent for awhile before realizing he's tired. He sleeps in the middle of us (on the air mattress that Matt and Erin brought us...thank goodness) but gets really excited everytime the lightning lights up the tent.

Saturday
3:00 am--Joe wakes up along with his dad and brother to drive to Salt Lake to watch the Key Bank building implosion from his brother's office next door.
7:00 am--Parker's awake for the day (but he did sleep through the night...yay!)
8:00 am--Breakfast, the crazy boys return, we clean up our sopping wet camp.
10:00 am--We drive home...Parker and Joe sleep the day away while I enjoy a nice shower and flushing toilets, then go work out and learn how to become a Group Fit Instructor (Kimberly did too!)....more on that later....

Sunday
11:00 am--Go to church, then come home and sleep for two hours (all three of us)
8:00 pm--Michael arrives to pick up his car after his long drive from Tennessee (with a super cute girl....)

Monday
Pajama Day!!!!! Stay home, let Parker sleep lots while I start reading the first of the Harry Potter books...I've read books 1-4, but that was pre-mission, so I'm starting at the beginning again and am going to go straight through (thanks to my padre's for the box set for my Bday). If all goes as planned, I should finish in the next few weeks....I'm already done with #1!

The End

11 comments:

Annakaisa said...

I LOVED the pictures of Parker and Jacob! They both have such a blond hair! What a cuties. :)

Annakaisa said...

Grammar mistake.. I meant to say: 'what cuties'. Whooops.

Grandma Hand said...

What a FUN TIME CAMPING and sleeping on the ground and what cute pictures of the cousins. This is really fun to see all of the pictures. Parker really is a little blondie.

Pcrowther said...

Oh Robyn,
Isn't it great to travel with little ones? You have to go through this to appreciate it when they grow up. As for Harry Potter, we had the Crowther book club on the way to washington and back. Everyone is reading the book. I think is better to start now reading the series, because you don't have to wait to read the next one. You are such a cute mom! I loved your pictures! Patti just walked in and said to say you Hi
Love ya

Kimberly said...

Can you imagine what your Gadd family reunion will be like next year with Parker and a baby. Parker will probably still hang out awake while the baby sleeps through everything (hopefully, right?)!

Mandy said...

It lookes like so much fun! Don't worry about being overly cautious on sleep...I think most parents enjoy when their kids are asleep. I remember hearing a quote..."parents spend half of their time wondering how their kids will turn out and the other half wondering when they will turn in" SO TRUE!!!! I love the shirts...what a cute idea!

Maylene said...

That's so funny about vacations or reunions or whatever. I always look forward to all the fun part, but the problem is I am always exhausted from the lack of sleep because my kids are pretty much the same way. I don't know if I should dread that sort of stuff or love it!

Michael said...

nice blog. i'm not feeling very creative, so that is all i have to say.

Diane said...

I can't believe I haven't left a comment until now. That little Parker is such a character. I think it's so funny how he is looking at his cousin Jacob! The cousin picture is really cute!!! How fun to have all that family close to you. Looks like a nice place to camp.

Aimee said...

Hi Robyn,

What fun, having a toddler sleeping in a tent on a hard rocky ground being pregnant, and no flushing toilets, every womans dream! (smile) ha ha ha ha, I can't imagine camping with 1 child let alone my 3.........they are so hyper all the time, Id be afraid of them waking up in the middle of the night and wandering off. (smile) though I can't say I haven't wanted to go camping for the past 7 1/2 years, Todd doesn't care for it, and never has the time. I personally miss it, though I have never done it with kids. (smile) i don't really know what to expect. (smile) sounded like fun though. (smile)
Aimee

Susie said...

Kinda sounds like fun- I guess I'm just not the camping type!! So we've been up to Utah 3 times in August and we still haven't stopped to see you- we are bad!! We are coming back this weekend for the first game- maybe then?