Long [but Not] Lost Cousins

The same weekend we moved to Asia five years ago, my sister, Kristen, moved to the East Coast.  I want to say we saw each other twice in those five years, the last time being when she surprised me a couple summers ago.  I had not seen her kids in person since our oldest sister got married back in March 2009!!  That was before her son, Perry, was even born!  If you put that together—I’d never met my 3-year-old nephew.  Needless to say it had been waaaay too long since we had all been together! 

Now she’s living in Maryland and we’re in New Jersey.  About a 4-5 hour drive.  To say we were anxious to get down to see them is an understatement.  Cody had a business trip during July, so we opted to drive down to Kristen’s and he would fly out from the Reagan airport.  This was great on so many counts: 1. we got to see my sister and her family, 2. we escaped the hotel for a week. 

We were all set for the long drive with the latest electronics: GPS and DVDs.  A little different from road trips when we were kids!  It worked out lovely. 

  

Our car fit our five children and us two moms perfectly. 

 

After dropping Cody off at the airport, we stopped off at the nearby Smithsonian National Zoological Park (aka the D.C. Zoo).  Our kids played beautifully together.  The whole week I couldn’t help but snap about a gazillion pictures of them together.  It was just too much fun!

 

One of my dearest friends, Shannon, lives really close to D.C., so she met up with us at the zoo as well.  I swear we got a picture of us together, but I can’t seem to find it. Things get a little crazy keeping track of eight children at the zoo!  Two of her handsome boys are in the pictures below.  

  

It doesn’t get much cuter than impromptu hand holding!

  

The girls were thrilled to have a sleepover in the same bed every night.

We had to hit up Wal-Mart one day, which gave us a taste of what having five kids would be like…

We had some nice days lounging around and getting some much needed down time.

One day we got the kids ready first thing in the morning to head to the local swimming pool just to find out it didn’t open until after lunch!  We opted to stop at the school playground until it opened to get some wiggles out. 

Then after lunch we swam for a couple hours. 

 

On Friday the dads were back with us, so we headed to Annapolis for the afternoon.  What a darling, little town it is! 

 

 S

 

  

 

We made it into the US Naval Museum for, oh, about a minute before it closed for the day. 

 

   

Our day ended at a kid-friendly restaurant where we could try the local fare: crab cakes!  A kid is never so happy as when they receive a balloon and never so sad as when they lose it/it pops. 

 

On Saturday we headed to the Nationals Stadium for a Major League Baseball game! 

  

  

   

 

With only a couple innings left in the game, it started to pour rain and the game was put on hold for a rain delay.  Apparently, these things can last for hours, so most of the spectators left.  I think we waited for an hour or so.  Doing what any respectable person would do, we took advantage of all the empty seats in the front rows and made our way down to the front. 

 

 

On Sunday, the girls attended primary together, the boys were in nursery together, and the moms went to Relief Society together!  The girls all shed some tears after we said goodbye. 

  

I think we were on the road for about five minutes before the zzzzz’s set in. 

Unlucky for us, a fun week ended with a flash flood and we were stuck in traffic and flooded roads for about 8-9 hours before we finally made it back to the hotel in NJ. 

I’d still say it was worth the trip though!  We are so grateful to the Staley's for hosting us for a whole week!!  Looking forward to next time…