The annual Morris family reunion at Possum Kingdom Lake was the weekend of June 26th. This reunion is Dallas' mothers side of the family. I have been going with Dallas and his family for over 6 or 7 years (the debate continues). We have always had a wonderful time visiting with family, swimming and making memories.
The past few years have been more work than play it seems like. The year they were babies we had to haul play pens, high chairs, bouncers, toys, bottles, etc. It looked like we were moving in for a year. Last year we still had play pens, high chairs, toys and much more but this year we were hoping to get there with a little less stuff. Apparently that just isn't going to be a possibility ever again. With kids comes kids crap and that is just all there is to it! This year we had to have Linda and Michael (Dallas' parents) come by our house and put the remaining stuff in the back of their truck. Thank goodness for them and the truck or we would have been in trouble.
I have also learned over the past years that taking off early on Friday and returning to work on Monday just is not enough time to get everything done. I took off Friday and Monday this year! Dallas was supposed to be off on Friday and was scheduled for training down town Dallas that morning. I really was not very upset about his training because I had been packing and planning for a week now. I had made arrangements with D's parents to bring certain things and we would bring certain things. I had a game plan and I was ready to get it done. I started that Thursday evening and once again when I dropped the kids off at daycare Friday morning. Honestly without Dallas 'helping' I seemed to get things accomplished much quicker and with less arguing. I was almost done and had everything ready to go on the kitchen table. I had mistakenly bought huge jumbo zip locks to pack with and I loved them. I had them lined up in the suitcase. Everyone had a zip lock with clothes then a swimming zip lock, etc. Organization is a fine art that I have mastered. Dallas of course could never find his zip lock and was constantly griping about the master suitcase. He instructed me next time that he is to receive a map of his belongings in the suitcase to avoid future problems. He said he needs his copy a week ahead of the vacation so he can study up. Men! Just can't appreciate my skills! It would have taken a master of some skills to pack all that stuff in the back of my Exterra and it did. I really don't even know how I got it all in the car! We headed to go pick up the kids and hit the road!
We were held up just a little bit by the daycare instructing us that Paige had been bitten. I was so exhausted and ready to go I did not even want to talk to them. Ethan has been bitten once really badly then he was given a hickey by the same kid a week later. The kid literally sucked on Ethan's arm. What! He gave my son a hickey at age two! Then about a week and a half later the same kid bit Paige. I was getting pissed off now! I told the director we would talk Monday but she stood by the car pleading her case. That is another blog so I will get back to the reunion.
We arrived at around 6 pm safely and happily thanks to Mickey Mouse playing in the back seat. No, we are not rich. We do not have built in TV/DVD players in my car. We do however have a DVD player Dallas got for his birthday years ago that we duck taped to a box for them to watch. You might be a redneck if... you tape a portable TV to a box to keep your kids quiet for a trip! Yes and it worked wonderfully!
We unpacked and started trying to get everything ready to go. The kids were running wild and people were coming over to see them. It is always such a mad house when you first arrive. Family members know you have to get settled in but they have waited an entire year to see the kids. I totally understand and do the same thing to them. Ha! Linda and Michael were running behind and didn't arrive until 8:45pm. We could not put the kids down until they arrived and unloaded their stuff. We ended up getting the kids in bed around 10:00pm which is extremely too late for my children! What followed could only be described as the night from hell!
By the time they got in bed Ethan was screaming and crying for no reason other than being tired. I put the bed rail on the open side of the bed next to the wall. I had planned to put them both in that bed so they wouldn't fall off. We laid them down and I sat with them for a while. They were both playing at first then Ethan started crying cause Paige's arm touched his arm. Then he started kicking her and screaming. I separated them and we started over. I tried to walk out of the room eventually and they were both crying by this point. Dallas offered to take over for a while and I ran over to Lori's cabin to say hi to some of the family. I was hoping to walk into a silent cabin when I returned but that was not the case. Dallas was completely frustrated and the kids were upset to say the least. I told him I would take over and I jumped in bed between them. The kids instantly fell asleep partly from pure exhaustion and because Ethan was finally happy Paige could not accidentally touch him. Are you kidding me! I was so afraid to move at this point I decided to just stay and go to sleep. I knew they were so tired we would all get a good nights sleep now.
I woke up about an hour later to Ethan screaming for no reason. Immediately Paige woke up screaming. This went on all night. Ethan would wake up out of a dead sleep screaming and wake up everyone. Paige even did it a couple of times. Paige kept hitting me in the face with her arms, legs, head you name it and that girl hit me with it that night. By 2am I was literally in tears myself and all I could do was pat them and get them to calm down and go back to sleep. I had by this point put pillows down the middle of the bed and was sleeping across the foot of the bed in the fetal position. Linda ask me several times if I needed help but I never heard her. By morning I swore we were all going home by lunch.
Apparently Dallas' night wasn't much better in the living room. He did not have a blanket and was freezing because he went to bed after everyone else. He couldn't find anything in the dark room we were all sleeping in. He was sleeping on a futon like couch that was extremely too small for him. The couch just pulled out a little and was not very supportive. He rolled over three times and dumped himself out of the floor! He even rolled up under the adjacent kitchen table once that night! I laughed so hard when I found this out considering the night I had. We managed to shake off the horrible night and get the day started.
The kids spent the day playing outside and inside...
Playing Tee Ball
Paige wanted nothing more than to color!
Aw! Coloring with Nana.
Resting inside out of the heat for a little while.
Doing the Barney book with Grand Daddy.
Puzzle time!
Ethan has an obsession with Toby's dog cage.
We even took them on their first boat ride. I swore they would not get on a boat this year because they are too young. Then Steve, Dallas' cousin, offered to let us take the kids out on their boat with him and his kids. He has two little boys that are 2 and 3 years old. I figured if he was taking his own small children then he would drive safely enough for my two children as well. Linda was not thrilled with the idea but she never loved for her own children to ride on the boats. She said she thought the kids would all just sleep anyway. I thought how in the world could you sleep on a loud boat? She was right! Within the first two minutes on the boat Paige had covered her ears, buried her head in my chest and was sound asleep. By the end of the boat ride three out of the four kids were fast asleep. Ethan was the only kid who actually enjoyed the boat ride. He did not want anyone to hold him. He wanted to sit like a big boy and look around. Him and I eventually ended up sitting in the very front of the boat so he could see everything better. He would smile and put his hands in the air. It was adorable. He really enjoyed his first boat ride. Paige enjoyed her nap.
When we got back on land, we fed the kids lunch and put them down for a nap. I was seriously nervous about nap time considering the night we had. Ethan fell right to sleep but Paige had enough rest on the boat and was not the slightest bit tired. We ended up letting Paige go swim while Ethan slept for 3 hours! She went swimming with Mommy, Grand Daddy, Daddy and even Nana by the time she was done. That child stayed in the water for almost four hours. I made her come in the shade several times but she protested every time. She was not only swimming but also throwing rocks. She walked along the bank choosing every rock very carefully. As Michael said that evening, "Possum Kingdom Lake rose a foot from all the rocks Paige threw in today!" She had such a great time! Ethan joined us in the lake when he woke up from his nap. He was in a much better mood and enjoyed Nana pulling him around on a big green float. Paige is definitely our water baby.
Dallas grilling lunch. Grand Daddy floating the lake, barely.
Paige diving off the float... fear less and terrifying!
Throwing rocks and swimming with Daddy. I think only Nana got a picture of Ethan swimming.
Ethan mowing around the cabin.
After the big family dinner we took the kids back to the cabin and got them ready for bed. I wasn't about to let them get that over tired again. We gave them showers which Paige HATES! She screams and cries when she hears it running. I don't understand how a girl that likes water that much can hate being sprayed with water. We put the kids to bed in separate beds this night and surrounded Ethan with pillows since I did not have any other bed rails. They both crashed immediately and slept all night. Thank goodness!
Evening sky at Possum Kingdom.We spend Sunday morning playing and visiting before packing to head home. We were almost done packing when commotion started. I was standing out back picking up swimming gear when Christy yells fire. I look to my right and see a huge cloud of black smoke by the front office. Before long we see a boat engulfed in flames! They hook the boat and trailer to the truck and take off towards the pier. The owner of the boat had been having issues all weekend with the boat and was obviously not very experienced. He had almost lost his truck the night before trying to pull the boat out of the water. He drags the burning boat motor and all down the road through all the trees and luckily none catch fire. He backs up the boat so far into the water that he now can't get the truck back up. A cousin of ours races over with his huge truck and they try to get the truck loose from the trailer. The tailgate of the truck has now caught on fire and I am watching thinking please don't let that thing blow up. Eventually the fire department showed up and extinguished the boat. We tried to finish getting everything and headed out to the office to check out. I then find out the idiot that owned the boat was trying to get gas out of the boat with a shop vac! Are you kidding me! The moron ended up badly burning his friend who had to be care flighted to the metroplex. What a crazy end to the weekend! I found out that the boat fire started very close to the 500 gal above ground gasoline reservor and we could have all been blown up. Thank God he was looking out for us all!
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