Cousin Chaos

My mom had shirts made for her 13 grandkids. Each family in a different color, and each kid's printed with their birth order. Riley is 3, Asher 5, and Tyson 8. You can't imagine the chaos of getting 4 kids, 5 preschoolers, and toddler, and three babies to sit still and look in the same direction long enough to get one decent photo. Unless you are crazy enough to have attempted something similar yourself. In that case, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

We got some really cute photos last reunion, and I think my expectations were a little high this time. Oh well, the kids liked their shirts, and we have photo documentation of what the reality of 13 young children in the same cabin was like.

It took much less time to get some good photos of the ladies in the family.

Fun & Games

There were a few planned activities for the kids to fill some of the downtime. My mom did a "treasure hunt" for the kids that we happened to do on Asher's half-birthday. Jess pointed it out while the kids were eating their last treasure: pudding cups. We all sang "Happy Half-Birthday" to him, and he thought it was the greatest thing ever. In fact, he just asked me today, "Mom, remember when Grandma brought pudding on my half-birthday? That was fun."

Jess did a music time for the little ones. At eight-and-a-half, Cole is the oldest grandkid in the group. He was definitely too old for the songs, but he was a good sport and helped some of the little ones. The kids had a great time rolling down the grassy hill, playing ring-around-the-rosies, and pretending they were airplanes. But it's no surprise that the best photos were taken during Tootie-Ta.

I brought supplies for a cheese-ball toss. I paired all the kids up, bigs with littles, then gave one person on each team a shower cap to wear, topped it with shaving cream, and then gave their teammate a pile of cheese-ball snacks. Technically it was supposed to be timed, and the team with the most cheese-ball on the cap won. We, however, had teams with "tossers" who were more interested in eating the snacks than throwing them, and a fairly hefty disparity in ages and abilities. So we just let them play until they were bored, or until they wanted to stop to eat cheese-balls.

On Bear Lake

It wouldn't be a trip to a lake for me if it didn't include waterskiing. We got on the water fairly early, but unfortunately it was not a good morning, weather-wise. When you only ski once every three years, you take what you get.

After a couple of hours on the boat our kids played on the rocky beach and ate lunch while other cousins took their turn out on the water. This day definitely qualified as Adventure Day #5.

Tree Rock

We were home for our Albuquerque trip for two days before loading up the car again and heading to a family reunion in Bear Lake. We had time to spare, so we stopped somewhere in Wyoming to check out a tree that is growing out of a rock. It wasn't the most exciting stop we've made on a road trip, but it was nice to stretch our legs, and the kids always have fun climbing rocks.

Water Fun

With all her grandkids in town at the same time, Scot's mom was determined that they have a fun time. And how do you inexpensively entertain a group of 10 kids, from 11-year-old to a few months, in Albuquerque, during July? If you didn't answer "a slip & slide" you must have had a sad childhood.

These kids, on the other hand, had a ball!

Oh, and so did their Dad/Uncle Scot!

Explora

We had heard a lot about Explora, Albuquerque's Science and Children's Museum. After we visited this trip, Scot and I were asking each other why we've never been before. There were a lot of stations to learn about light, air, water, color, movement, etc. and nearly all of them were interactive.

I can honestly say it's probably the most fun my kids have had at a museum. Even the elevator was unique.

But the fun wasn't just for the kids. All the adults in our group got in on the fun by riding a bicycle back and forth across a tight rope.

We would recommend this museum to families with kids of any age, and will definitely be returning next time we're in town.

El Rancho de las Golondrinas

We spent a few hours on Friday at El Rancho de las Golondrinas, a living history museum near Santa Fe. It was once a prosperous ranch and an important stopping place on the Camino Real, and dates back to the early 1700's. Now they have volunteers dressed in styles of the time teach about the daily living of the Spanish settlers. Thanks to Aunt Tami for discovering this place. Even the three family members who grew up in New Mexico had never heard of it. As Scot said to his sisters, "How did we never come on a field trip here?" 

The kids were able to card wool from sheep that are raised on the Rancho, see how the looms worked, and grind corn.

We were given a tour of the kitchen and were able to see the ovens.

We learned how the wool yarn was dyed, how hides were tanned, and how they made molasses.

Scot, Granddaddy, and Uncle Paul all served missions in South and Central America, where women still do laundry on washboards in streams and metal basins. They were happy to demonstrate the process for the kids.

The two engineers in our group were more interested in the water wheel and mill house than anything else there.

The kids played along in the schoolhouse as Scot read the school rules. Boys and girls were not allowed to play with each other, the kids were not allowed to give each other nicknames, and they were expected to stand and bow to guests and strangers. All were punished with lashes.

The kids were alternately fascinated by and afraid of the large goats on the property. Tyson and Carly were walking quickly away from two in the pen behind them.

We had such a fun time there and look forward to going back sometime when they're doing a weekend festival, such as ¡Viva Mexico! or Fiesta de los Niños.