Fun with Friends

We've always liked the idea of vacationing with friends. Jaime and I have gone on a few trips with Jeremy and Carina however, we've talked about how it'd be fun to get a few families together...kids an all! Finally, we pulled it off. Let me tell you, the short weekend of July 19-21 was worth it.

We stayed at a rental house on VRBO. ;)  Tyler was being patient and played well with cars while he waited for his playmates to get there. 

Anderson's got there around 7 or so. We took a walk with them to the community beach.

I love that Olivia and Alex hung back walking and talking together. It is hard for him being the only boy his age. Aidan is the next boy in line so Alex really only has girls to play with when we're together. I'm glad Olivia treats him well. They have a good friendship. 

Kids wanted to get wet so bad! There were a few who had wet shorts by the end of the evening.

I tried to keep Craig some company while his mommy was busy.

Potter's made it to the house about 9 p.m. It felt like a family reunion!

We had 7 girls sleeping in this room together. Talk about a sleepover!

Everyone is trying to get situated...

for "family" scripture/spiritual thought and prayer. It was kind of chaotic trying to get 14 kids to sit still and quiet. Tyler loves to sing Book of Mormon Stories and started that on the second night. It did a pretty good job getting the kids' attention. Our family always gives a big group hug after family prayer. During this weekend we learned that we weren't the only ones who did.

Needless to say, we had a HUGE group hug here!

Breakfast! Ben and Corinne made breakfast with the works. Eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes with caramel syrup and apple pie filling! Awesome! (The recipe was exchanged. lol)

We all took a turn at preparing a meal. I'd say we ate well.

Saturday we went to the city beach.

Tyler

Carson, Aidan, and Tyler

Craig, Carina, Carson

Tyler and Carson getting on the "Death Biscuit."

These two played well. I loved watching them and Caleb play together. 

This was a short ride for Tyler and Carson. They fell off the tube and then Tyler was done.

So Jeremy rode with Carson

and I rode with Tyler...again a short ride. But I was impressed that he did try and get back on. He wasn't a fan of being pulled behind the boat. He favorite was just riding in the boat.

Cap'n Jaime

That's me!

I wouldn't consider myself a wakeboarder but I do think it's fun and this was my best run.

Karilee, Olivia, Eliza, Corinne

Alex

I tried getting this cute shot of Eliza smiling during the boat ride but Camilla thought Eliza was just as cute as me and kept getting in front of my camera shot. You can still see Eliza's smile. 

Corinne's is just as cute! I think that's where Eliza got hers!

Karilee, Alex, and Olivia rode a couple times. They had a blast!

Karilee, Alex, Olivia

Camilla, Caleb, Natalie

Natalie was so nervous to ride but once she got going she was telling the boat to go faster! She even got up on her knees. 

Olivia playing in the sand.

Karilee and Lindsey

Camilla, Craig, Carina

I love this shot of Caleb. Muscle man!

The Potter Family

The Anderson Family

The Morales Family

It was said we should call ourselves Club PAM. Another suggestion was the AMPs. After all, we do like to amp up the fun! We enjoyed our adult time in the evenings to chat and play games. I wish I got a picture of Ben, Jaime and Jeremy all on Apple devices playing Risk together. They played that game a few times! But if we're going to get together we ought to stay up late and get the most time out of it right? The only problem with that, however, was when kids woke up early the next morning and us parents were tired from being up so late. Worth it!

After the beach the kids were so tuckered out. We let the kiddos watch a movie while the kids rotated getting showered. We put them to bed earlier, not that they went to sleep much earlier, but it gave the parents more "quiet" time. Not that our last game was all too quiet. We had some good laughs during it.

Sunday we went to church together. Our party of 20 took up almost the entire back row of the overflow. The day did come to an end as we said our goodbyes. Our last hurrah was eating fudgsicles outside then piling in the vans to head home.

Thanks for the weekend Potters and Andersons!