Tahoe Family Reunion-Day 2

Thursday was the official start to the family reunion since we were missing the Henshaw's on Wednesday. That morning we all bummed around in our jammies for awhile. Talia felt left out since we were all wearing our glasses so she had to go put on her sunglasses. Haha!

Ian and Rick took the kids on a little nature walk/hike while I showered and got ready for the day. They had fun even though they didn't really know where they were going. When they got back it was time for lunch. Then the Henshaw's arrived! Yay! They got to meet baby Wilson and got some real time with baby Dean.

That afternoon Dad helped us all put together balsa wood gliders and we had to fly them through a course he set up in the "woods" out behind the house. It was super fun. The boys got a little crazy with throwing their gliders around trees and had to rescue one from the roof of the house. It was a perfect all-ages activity. The prize for completing the course was a pack of sour strips candy. The kids all loved that. Talia got the sour sugar all over the place and somehow all over her entire face. She was a mess! :)

Dinner that night was a BBQ. Dad grilled burgers and hot dogs and brats. Yum! After dinner we had game night. Mom put together some really fun games. I think my favorite was family bingo. We filled in the bingo sheets with all of the names of our family (including Chloe and a couple repeats). We also played a game that involved lots of yelling, laughing and sitting on each others' laps. I can't explain it succinctly, but it was pretty fun. The noise kind of freaked Beckett out, so I sat most of that one out, but Dean loved all the noise and snoozed happily the whole time.

After we got the kids all to bed that night we finished watching Red and started Red 2. The boys spent many hours playing FIFA. Kicking back and hanging out was the best. :) I love my family!

Tahoe Family Reunion-Day 1

On Wednesday August 6th all of my siblings and my parents left our homes and started driving towards Lake Tahoe for our Olson Family Reunion. It was fun to keep track of each other as we drove. Brad and Mel left close to the same time as us and we randomly ran into each other at the same gas station stop just outside of Wendover. It was so fun to see them and it felt like it kicked off the party.

The drive felt very slow and long even though it was only 8ish hours. We had never driven the way we went though so there were no landmarks we knew to help us feel like we were getting closer. We kept trucking along though. The kids did great in the car hooked up to their screens. :) We stopped to play at McDonald's in Winnemucca and ran into Brad and Mel again. Yay! That was our last stop and then we made it to the awesome house we were all staying at in Truckee, CA.

Mom and Dad and Jules and Rick were already there. Brad and Mel got there just a little bit later. We had fun meeting baby Dean, catching up, and exploring the house. The kids loved snuggling another new baby cousin. Jules hammed it up and showed off the swing in the upstairs master bedroom. The kids got to hang out in the super cool upstairs loft playroom. There were tons of toys to keep them busy, which was good because it was rainy that day.

Dad and Jules and Rick hadn't met baby Wilson yet, so they got baby snuggles too. We had some good sister chatting and snuggle time too. That night Mom and Dad made taco salad for dinner. The kids got settled in their beds in the loft and went to sleep while the adults watched a movie and hung out. It was a good first day.

Swimming Lessons

I am so sad to say that at the beginning of the summer I had 4 non-independent swimmers! Weston and Davin both took swimming lessons years ago in Kearns, but since then nothing. It was time. I decided to bypass the five sessions of rec center group lessons it would take to get them to be independent and went with private lessons. We used O'Neal Aquatics. They are in the process of building their own warehouse pool, but for this summer they taught lessons in a private residence in Cedar Hills, about a 20 minute drive straight East from us. 

Weston did great and progressed really quickly through back floating, deep water safety, and on to learning strokes. He had fun and was proud of being able to do it quickly. I had expected him to pick it up fast. By the end of his 8 private lessons he could swim freestyle and backstroke across the long way of the pool. One independent. Check.

Davin took awhile to feel comfortable in the water. The first few lessons he cried a lot. I finally bribed him to be brave and calm and get his 60 second back float. He was so proud of himself when he finally got there. We went out to eat at McDonald's that day to celebrate! Once he got his back float he was much happier about the whole process and did great learning deep water safety and strokes. He has two more lessons left and is getting better at swimming all the way across the pool. I wouldn't feel comfortable with him in the pool by himself, but he is much more independent.

Talia. What can I say? She has been SO stubborn about the whole thing. When she's not learning anything she's fine and loves blowing bubbles and picking up rings off the steps, but ask her to float on her back or jump in the pool? Not so much. She has cried and screamed through most of her lessons. She has floated on her back by herself for 20 seconds, but she is far from independent in the water. I guess there's always next summer and she's only three.

Weston finished up his 8 lessons the Friday before school started, but I added another two weeks of lessons for Talia and Davin hoping they could progress a little further while it still feels summery. I have been really happy with the results of the O'Neal program. I got lessons on a 4th of July sale, so it wasn't too terribly expensive. I paid $10 per 20 minute private lesson. It still adds up pretty fast with three kids in lessons. My goal is to take the kids to the indoor rec center pool at least once a month through the winter so they don't forget everything they learned this summer.

Kearns BBQ

We had so much fun getting together with our Kearns family for a BBQ a couple of weeks ago. We don't get together nearly often enough, but when we do it's always good to catch up and laugh. :) The Wilson's hosted this summer's bbq. The kids ran in the sprinklers and filled up buckets and played with the chickens. We ate good food and talked. 

That morning I sliced up a watermelon to take with us to the bbq and gave the kids each a big slice. They loved eating it by the slice and made a big juicy mess.

It was an exciting food day for Beckett. He got his first slice of watermelon to eat by himself in the morning and then that night he got his first ice cream cone to eat by himself. He loved it so much. Fun treat Bayles'! I'm glad that we are able to party!