Memorial Day Weekend: Part 1

We went to my parents' house (Yellow Grandma & Grandpa) for Memorial Day weekend, and the whole family was there! We had so much fun, and took so many pictures, that I'm breaking this up into more than one post so I don't overwhelm anyone or myself either. We had good weather, mostly, and were able to enjoy a lot of outdoor fun. Courtney brought a water table for the kids to play with on the deck, and Owen particularly loved it. He liked splashing in the water and chewing the little floaty toys. I think we've discovered what we'll be getting him for his birthday!

Aubrey, Jozie and Sophie had a good time playing together and got along with each other pretty well most of the time. Jozie and Owen didn't always hit it off really well, as he upset her by getting into her stuff and she knocked him over frequently. Unfortunately, we awoke Saturday morning to Aubrey's retching noises, which turned out to be the beginning of strep for her. I think the toughest part of that ordeal (once she quite puking and got meds in her) was that she was a quarantined for a day so the other kids wouldn't get sick. Otherwise, we only had to pay attention to Sophie long enough to feed her or clean her because she was busy playing with her cousins.


We visited the lake once to check for fish and to bring bread to the ducks, but I don't really think we found either while we were down there. The kids (and Uncle Gerrit) enjoyed the big swing, though.

Owen had a great time crawling all over the house and the deck, and he even ventured to take some steps while we were there. Unaided!! We could hardly believe it!! He also got his first sliver from the deck, which he didn't even notice. Owen was highly upset at being held down so Greg could extract it, but he didn't even notice the actual extracting. Thank goodness!

My family had a little surprise birthday celebration for me by singing "Happy Birthday" over a candle in a cheesecake.

We had a major fish fry on Saturday night when family friends brought over fish to fry in a big, outdoor frier. First we had fried bread, and then Marty fried blue gill, northern, walleye, grouper and some other seafood fish that I can't remember the name of. Good stuff! Except for the coconut covered fish, which was an experiment. It tasted like vomit.

All the adults played a new game that Cassie and Gerrit suggested, "Pictionary Telephone." Each person gets a stack of papers equivalent to the number of players of the game. You start by putting a well-known phrase on the first sheet (eg. "You are my sunshine"). Then you pass the stack to the next person. They draw a picture to represent the phrase. Pass the stack. The next person writes the phrase they think the picture represents. Pass the stack...and so on until it gets back to the original person. Then you read through and show the pictures to the group. It's hilarious!! We were crying from laughing so hard.