1. Make Great-grandpa's famous apple fritters for breakfast. Grandpa has taken over the tradition--to the delighted stomachs of us all.
2. The boys/men play some competitive "Lightning" basketball. Neal, recently obsessed with basketball, holds his own.
3. We head into the fields, attempting to avoid cow pies, to fly kites. Grandma has bought several kites from the dollar store. Turns out the breeze is perfect for flying kites.
4. The horses are curious about the kites.
5. The girls are more curious about the horses. Grandpa has a bunch of horse girls for granddaughters. The boys stick with the kites. Left to his own devices, Grandpa has struggled to name his horses (Gray, Tubby, etc). Inspired by Disney, the girls help out by naming Grandpa's new horses Maximus and Bullseye.
6. The kids try to tame the stray cat that took up residence in the barn during the winter. They give it a moniker too - Midnight.
7. I turn on a movie and several of the small children, including Molly, fall asleep on the couch.
8. The kids take turns on the swing in the barn. Dizzy.
9. The boys chase the girls. The girls encourage it.
10. Uncles tickle-torture their nephews. (Now you know where the term "Cried Uncle" comes from).
11. Nephews explain to their uncles that "Laugh Crying" is a sign that the tickling should end.
12. Climbing on the tree house further wears out the children.
13. Moms take pictures of the activities and spend time kissing the skinned knees and scraped elbows.
14. Several of the adults join the napping children and take their own naps.
15. One of my brothers and his wife go do a surveying job--qualifying the trip as a tax write-off.
16. We have hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner.
17. We all gather to pick our prizes for the Family NCAA March Madness Bracket Competition, sponsored by my sister and her husband. Utah Dad came in first place and chooses the four Megaplex movie tickets. I picked the movie August Rush and Neal was delighted to end up with a package of Vanilla Creme Wafers.
18. While my parents have us in one place we have a short devotional about the true meaning of Easter. We share our gratitude for the Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. And my mom gives the children their own pictures of Jesus.
19. We have cupcakes to celebrate the recent birthdays of Amberly, a niece and two nephews.
20. We say farewell to one brother and his family because they must be home for church in their own ward on Sunday.
21. We debate giving children their baths before they go to bed and decide to give them all a "wipe down" in the morning before church.
22. I put my children to bed because, frankly, they're exhausted and driving me crazy. Neal stays up to watch basketball.
23. My sister Kim brings glow in the dark chalk. The children who are still awake head outside to draw glowing artwork on the basketball court.
24. All the children begrudgingly go to bed.
25. Utah Dad and I read scriptures with my parents while my siblings put their kids to bed.
26. Neal finally falls asleep watching the Thunder vs. Nuggets game on television.
27. My mom goes to bed. The other adults stay up snacking on Easter candy and playing Skip-bo. Utah Dad spills his orange soda all over the Skip-bo cards. I now owe my parents a new set of Skip-bo cards.
28. We play Farkle instead until we are too tired and too silly to stay up any longer. We fall into bed hoping for some rejuvenating sleep before Sunday.
The day goes down in our Family Lore as the second longest day ever.
If I were your daughters, I'd have INSISTED that we move closer to grandma and grandpa so I could play with the horses all the time. I was totally nuts about horses. I still think they're pretty awesome.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun day but it does sound like a tiring one as well.
ReplyDeleteIs it okay if I steal a couple of the kite flying pictures? I forgot to take my camera outside while we were doing that and you got some good ones!
ReplyDelete