I was so excited to see these little ones after being away for the weekend in SLC. It was very strange going to the airport and getting on a different terminal than my family. I walked Chase and the kiddos to their plane and bawled my little eyes out when I said goodbye. I was ok afterwards sitting on my plane with my book and silence to drink. Don't mind if I do. Chase on the other hand is my superhero!! What dad do you know of that can fly across the country with three kids all by himself? I bet it was rough. I wouldn't know seeing I'm too much of a chicken to fly with all three by myself. I don't even want to fly alone with just George. He's NOT fun on an airplane. You might as well put me in a torture chamber.
He's pretty cute though. It was fun seeing his face light up when he saw me after his "mom free" weekend. He loved the beach! He of course played in the sand, tried to eat it, spit it out, and ran into the water with us.
I can hardly stand how ridiculous he looks in this wet suit. His little belly, bum and thighs are KILLING me!! I want to jump through my screen and just squeeze him!!
He looks a lot like Chase in this picture.
We didn't have the best weather. In fact, I didn't get into the ocean once this trip. It was too cold! I wish I had brought my wetsuit because these Texas bones aren't doing 70 degree water folks.
Sadie and Jack were there too but most of the pictures I attempted to take of them were blurry because they won't stand still! I guess that's a good thing. They had a great time!!
After a chilly swim in the ocean, the warm hot tub was at the house to greet us. It's safe to say the kids might have spent more time in that hot tub than they did at the beach!
The sun came out a few times when we were there and we took advantage of every minute!!
Do we love that I force my kids to wear unisuits? Do we also love that they wear eachother's suits. They're getting close to being the same height these days. I'm proud to say the ONLY day they got burned was the morning I was driving from the airport to the beach house (it would never happen under my watch ;-) Just a little on Sadie's face. Those suits are amazing. We went back to SLC just as pasty as we were in Texas.
Here's the two that made the trip all possible. Thanks Jim and Connie! I married into such a fantastic family!
George didn't cooperate as much as Sadie and Jack did at falling asleep on the beach. When they were little, all I had to do was walk up and down the beach and the sounds of the waves lulled them to sleep. It took FOREVER to get G to sleep in the Bob and then he only slept for 20 minutes at a time. He was REALLY tired at the end of the day. I think he had a hard time sleeping because there were lots of fun doggies to see.
It took a lot of coaxing to get Sadie to wear one of Jack's suits. Not only was it Jack's but it was also blue which to a girl is "sooooo not cool." Her pink suit is ridiculously stretched out and after seeing her crotch down at her ankles one day, I forced the blue suit on her. I wish she liked it. She looks so cute!
She might have been too scared/cold to go totally into the ocean too, so she sat on her boogie board hoping to "catch a wave" while sitting on the beach. That's one way to do it, I guess.
Jack was VERY worried that someone would take the red shovel away from him if he put it down, so he took it EVERYWHERE. There weren't many times throughout day that the red shovel wasn't near. He helped the bigger kids dig and make a pretty awesome sand castle.
Jim and Connie surprised everyone with Cannon t-shirts for family pictures. Each family was color coded and had a number posted on the back according to which grandchild you were. George was #13. It was HARD getting him to stand in that line for the picture!
One of the best parts about family vacations are all the built in babysitters. While G napped one afternoon, Chase and I went to the grocery store ALL BY OURSELVES and it was fantastic!! We had to buy ingredients for our meal we were cooking the Cannons that evening and had such a great time just "taking our time." Chase snagged this funny picture while I was browsing Pinterest for recipes. I don't think I've ever looked so relaxed in a store since before Sadie was born!
We were given assignments before the trip to research a Cannon ancestor for the "genealogy reports" we would be doing together. I have to admit, this sounded sooooooooo boring when I first heard about it. I was secretly hoping that they would do all their reports the Sunday I was at Jane's farewell. Then I wouldn't have to be subjected to such boredom. Well, it turns out I really enjoyed the reports. Genealogy is fascinating! I loved hearing about all these amazing family members and what they sacrificed for the gospel. I began looking forward to the few reports every evening because I knew I would be feeling the spirit and hearing such wonderful stories.
Even the kids were pretty engaged. We only had to tell Sadie to stop doing somersaults off the couch one time.
The kids played hard and crashed even harder at night. Jack sometimes couldn't make it until bedtime. Once he's gone, there's no waking him up either. It's nearly impossible.
We all got a few naps in. After the kids were asleep at night we'd stay up talking or watching funny YouTube videos. The late nights caught up with me (maybe the red eye too) and I wasn't able to make it until bedtime either.
There were a few days it rained so we were inside which didn't seem to bother the kids one bit. There were enough iPads, iPhones and laptops to keep the whole clan entertained.
CC also brought beads to make jewelry. Sadie asked for a "Sadie Mommy date" so after her bracelet and necklace were made, we headed down to the beach and collected sea shells in the rain. She is such a little lady. She ran, skipped and danced down the whole beach. I love her soooo much!!
We had a friendly fox frequent our abode about everyday looking for food. I always knew when he was around because George would get a big grin on his face and start giggling through his two fingers.
We had a dance party too....of course!!
Jack was pretty much a spazz the first few songs and then collapsed in my arms. My little narcoleptic Jack.
The Cannon brothers played basketball the whole week too.
They had some pretty cute spectators:-)
The pool was also a hit! So glad we packed a life jacket for Jack. He's pretty comfortable in the water, but not swimming on his own just yet. Sadie showed of her cannonballs!!
Then it was time to go. BOOOO! We loaded up the cars and drove to the "Todd hotel" before our flight from BWI the next afternoon. The drive home was so terrible it was funny after a while. Sadie decided she would ride with Pops and CC. When I went to the car to make sure she had her seat belt on, I noticed she had 2 Fruit by the Foots, 2 juice boxes, and a pack of M&M's. I told her if she ate all that junk, she would probably throw up. There was WAY too much junk food on this trip and sometimes my kids just didn't know how to handle it!! She said Chase told her she could have all the crap so I told her it was her choice. She said she would be fine. One hour into the trip after eating it all, she threw up. Poor Pops and CC had to clean it all up! We stopped at Chick fil-a for lunch and while I was getting a change of clothing for Sadie from the trunk, I locked the keys in the car. We had a loooooong lunch at Chick fil-a until triple A finally showed up. The rest of the drive was pretty uneventful. Sadie learned her lesson (the hard way) and there was no more vomit. We had a little extra time so we drove by our old town house in Oakton. I loved that little house. So many fun memories!
We also had to stop by my favorite thrift store where I purchased yet another swim unisuit for George. We also ate at Artie's just so we could have the cinnamon sugar Ozzy balls and Brioche French toast. Yummers!!
Then we entered the torture chamber for three hours on our flight to SLC. George decided it was WAY more fun walking up and down the aisles than sitting in his seat. He met a lot of friends from BWI to SLC.
He finally gave up and slept right as we were landing. Thanks George!
