A two part post here because our trip was long and eventful and I have about 600 pictures to sort through! After many weeks of prep and a 10 day countdown chain, we were up very early on the day of our flight. 4am to be exact. We wanted to be out the door by 4:45 to drop off our car and make it to the airport in plenty of time. Of course it was raining that morning and we were a little scared of having a delayed flight because of the impending storms. We got our car dropped off and everything, 3 suitcases, one box with the pack n play in it, 2 carry on's for Josh and I, two carry on's for Jacob, two carry on's for grammy, one booster seat, one bag of toys, and 2 car seats, unloaded and packed up (carseats were coming with us so we had to put those in bags at the parking lot) and then reloaded onto the shuttle and got to the airport around 6:30. Of course the security checkpoint we were at had a long line and they made us take the carseats (and stuff we packed in the bag with them) out of the bags to put them through. Once we got through all of that and repacked up and reorganized we headed to our gate and only had about 20 min before our flight was to start boarding. The rain had stayed north so there was no rain or storms at the airport at that point so we got lucky there. They let us gate check our carseats early and the nice flight attendants took them down for us and then they preboarded so we could get settled. Jacob got to peek into the cockpit and then one of the pilots got up and put Jacob in his seat! Jacob thought that was really cool. The nice pilot even took a picture of Jacob for me. Once on the plane we got everyone settled in and ate some breakfast before we took off. The ride was pretty bumpy because right as we were leaving the rain and storm that was by us earlier had moved south towards the airport and it started raining there. We had to fly around some storms when we took off. The seat belt sign never turned off. Fortunately, both boys took about an hour long nap. Unfortunately, upon waking up, Jacob threw up his breakfast. That was fun. Being the prepared travelers that we are, we had backup outfits for all of us in the diaper bag. So he got a quick change of clothes and was fine after that. The boys watched Frozen and the rest of the flight was uneventful. Once we got to Detroit we had a hike to get to the baggage claim and then to the rental car shuttle so we gathered up all of our stuff and about 45 min later got to where we needed to be and an hour after that were in our rental car. It was a long morning so we spent the afternoon relaxing at Aunt Gini's.
Friday was spent again relaxing since we were all tired and the boys didn't sleep well, then Josh, Lindsay and I headed out to do grocery shopping for the family reunion on Saturday. We spent most of the afternoon doing that and the boys hung out and played at Aunt Gini's. Saturday we relaxed in the morning then ate lunch early so Owen could nap before the reunion. We let him sleep a while then eventually had to wake him up to go. We had a ton of people there. I think the final count was around 80. It was great. Jacob quickly made friends with all of his cousins around his age and ran off with them. We were at a big park in the woods so they had plenty of space to run and play. He didn't care that he had never met any of the kids, he just got right in there. After a while Josh took him to the playground and on the way back Jacob found a little frog and found a cup to put it in. After that he had an entire audience of kids followings him around trying to see the frog. He made great friends with his cousin Ainsley. Not surprising since she is about 18 months older than him and older girls are usually what he goes for! Owen wandered all around too looking at everything and trying to eat everything! By the end of the day he was more willing to let other people hold him. Jacob and the other kids gathered up a ton of sticks and wanted to make a bonfire, right in the middle of the park. It was great visiting with all of our family that could make it. It was much harder to visit this time around while chasing after Owen and at least having some idea of where Jacob had run off to! There were a ton of old photo albums out there so we got to look at old pictures (and take some of them too). We also got pictures of each siblings family, the cousins, 2nd cousins, and the growing group of 3rd cousins! We ended up being out there for 6 hours. The boys were exhausted by the time we got back to Aunt Gini's and thankfully went to bed much quicker than the night before. Of course Josh and I ended up staying up late playing cards, so we didn't catch up on sleep! I love having these family reunions and it is so much fun with the boys now since they get to see their cousins. I love that Jacob had so much fun playing with everyone and I can't wait until the next one when Owen will get to play with all the kids his age!
On Sunday we had yet another busy day planned. We headed to the Detroit area to have lunch and spend the afternoon with my dad's side of the family. We don't see them much, but it is nice to be able to see them and catch up when we do get up there. Unfortunately I was so busy talking I didn't even get my camera out to take pictures. But Jacob had a blast making everyone there pull him down the street in a wagon and they filled up a small kiddie pool for him to play in for a bit. It was a gorgeous day that day, warm but not so hot we couldn't sit outside and enjoy the breeze from the water. The boys both fell asleep on the way back to Aunt Gini's. The boys got to take a ride on Uncle Al's 4 wheeler and lawnmower. Jacob loved it and even got to drive! So of course Owen wanted a turn! We put Owen down early and let Jacob stay up for a bonfire, s'mores, and catching lightning bugs. He had a blast! He has never had real s'mores before and he caught a ton of lightning bugs and put them in a jar. He went to bed very quickly that night!
Part II coming soonish.
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