we took a couple of days to enjoy our christmas stuff at home and then packed up to go down to thatcher. beth's family and annie were going to be down for a few days, so we went down to get some grandparent time and then cousin time.
we got an arizona state parks pass from grandma and grandpa bishop so we went to dankworth pond for a picnic and some exploring. i walked all the way around the pond with the boys and the three oldest went exploring with grandma while ryan cooked the hot dogs.
we got to celebrate ryan's birthday down there. we surprised him with a little sphero bb-8. its so cute and fun to drive around. hopefully it works well enough on our uneven floors at home.
grandpa and ryan had a tea party with the kids while mom and i got some other things done.
ryan had his favorite 'mud pie' for his birthday treat.
beth's family got into town in time for bed, so we didn't really get to see them much until morning. caitlin was quick to volunteer to hold tyler.
at pretty much any opportunity.
molly adopted bonnie as her little pet and buddy. at one point molly and ashlee were arguing over who got bonnie. she loved having so many mothers to look after her.
she and molly had so much fun all day long playing dress-ups, making elaborate meals,
and collecting acorns in the yard.
tyler loved hanging out with grandpa
who is the only person who can really get tyler laughing.
i got some foam gingerbread houses for the kids to make. we made them years ago before there were many kids and had so much fun decorating them
annie and tracy got into thatcher just in time to play a round of harry potter hogwarts battle before
our date night - we pretty much played every spare moment.
we went to the gila escape room and totally killed it. they'd never had anyone beat it so fast with no clues at all.
afterward we went to sodalicious. we talked about what to do with the cranberry sauce chris needed to give back to mom. i suggested putting it in a soda. chris and ryan always get coke in a bottle when they're together and mom told them she liked coke too, so we got a large cherry coke to act as a peace offering. chris snuck the can in and cut off the straw. she just sipped at it slowly and then finally realized the straw was short. we all thought she figured the whole thing out, but she thought chris cutting the straw was the big joke. when she tried to put in another straw and couldn't, she discovered the can. we all about died laughing. its been such a funny tradition.
chris and ryan were so good at including tracy in all their 'boy stuff' and traditions - like jalapeno poppers and chicken wings.
saturday morning, i went walking with annie and beth. its so nice to be able to just get out and not have to worry about who will watch the kids!
the cousins had a great time playing dress-ups and running around outside all day.
bonnie woke up from her nap with a little fever and only wanted to snuggle with uncle chris. luckily it was just a short lived thing and she was back to herself quickly without anyone else getting anything.
chris had a bertie botts every flavor beans game that he played with people all afternoon. you have to pick a jelly bean that could taste good or really nasty.
even bonnie got in on the action, but didn't think it was as funny as the rest of us.
it ended up being easiest to have a kids table squeezed in the kitchen. i guess having so many of us is good practice for when david's family joins us for dad's retirement in april.
we got one picture of the whole group before our family took off for home.
it was so fun to see everyone. we feel pretty lucky to be in arizona where we can catch bits of other people's visits to grandma and grandpa.
we got back in time for bed to be home for church and then had some of our neighborhood friends come over for snacks and games - which we never end up playing - for new years!
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