Sunday, March 9, 2014

Birthday Road Trip

My great-aunt was turning 90 and her family was having a big celebration for her.  My parents were going and Gaga, Kevin, Nancy and Michael were going. So, we decided to have a road trip and take part in the celebration.

We loaded up the car with toys, books and of course the ipads.  The boys did great and we didn't have to break out the ipads for movies until three hours until the trip.


We read some books to pass the time.  Karsten even read this book to me.


This toy (the arm) is a lifesaver on road trips - it is no longer Karsten's toy, it's mommies toy.  When Liam drops his blankies on the floor by the door - no problem, the arm can reach it.  When there is a tragic moment because the power ranger fell off his plane - no problem, the arm can reach it.  The arm keeps the peace.


We were excited to see Gaga - it had been a while since we've seen her!


We snapped a few pictures before many people got to the party.  Gaga and Shannon had lots of people to catch up with that they hadn't seen in a long time!




The boys were excited to be out of the car and have a wide open area to run and play in.  There were lots of other kids there, and they took over the dance floor running around and playing with each other.


All of us with Aunt Nita - the birthday girl!  We had hoped for Gaga to be in this picture; however, she was off chatting with someone else when we got the chance for the picture!


Karsten and Liam had fun with Uncle Kevin.  He's quite the joker and had a good time teasing Karsten.


Gaga and her neice Colleen.


The boys were getting antsy after being at the party for a while, but luckily Grandma had planned ahead and brought some coloring and activity books that kept the boys busy.




And when they were tired of coloring, Uncle Kevin was fun to play with.


He started to pick up one of the boys; however, they quickly realized if they held onto each other, he would pick up both of them.  They laughed and laughed.


When all of the people arrived at the party, the room got a bit warm, so we took a break and walked around the church.


The boys had fun going up and down this hallway.


We made it a fun game - each time they came down the hallway towards us, they had to do something different.  This time they were 'sneaking' on us.


They ran, jumped, marched, sneaked, walked, then we suggested walking backwards.  That one threw Liam a bit and his feet got tangled up.  No fear - Karsten was there to help him up.


Gaga had fun catching up with Uncle Jim, her late sister Pat's husband.


When we came back from walking the hallways, 'someone' had 'enhanced' his new activity book.


I told them to smile - they BOTH said 'we ARE smiling'.


Karsten showed Gaga around the iPad.


Karsten playing a game while Gaga and Nancy watch.


Before people started to leave, they wanted to get some family pictures.  This is Gaga late sister's family.


You could tell the birthday girl was a special lady!


We wanted to get some pictures of Aunt Nita and Gaga.  During a break in pictures, I snapped this one.  This is one of my favorites from the whole day!


Look!  I think we figured out who 'enhanced' the activity book.  It was like a hidden pictures activity trying to find all of the 'Go Big Red' and 'Ns' that Kevin wrote in Karsten's book.


Just hanging out!


Before we left, Uncle Kevin told Liam he was going to dunk him in the sink.  This was Karsten's reaction - me too, me too!  When I was a little girl, he told me he was going to dunk me, then held me upside down and walked toward the bathroom.  LOL - glad to see the tradition continue.


Chatting with Uncle Kevin before we hit the road again.


Karsten had fun playing with Nancy. Just when we were getting ready for a meltdown, Nancy swooped in and saved the day and got him laughing with this game where he would 'drive' her aound and screetch to a stop.



Then it was time to say goodbye and head to Lincoln for dinner with Dave, Peg, Cami, Brett and Michael.


It didn't even take five minutes after we got on the road for it to be silent in the backseat.  Both boys were worn out after a long, fun day!




Good news - I figured out that the Auto White Balaence was turned off on my camera phone which was causing this blue tint.  I fixed it and going forward we should have better pictures!

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