Being the oldest, I was the first to get married, the first to have kids, the first to have several kids, the first to move away and only come home on occasion, and the list goes on. For a lot of years it was really difficult because my other siblings were not at the same place in life and they had a hard time dealing with my chaos. But the beautiful thing about life is that what goes around comes around. If you don't understand someone and think you know how they could do it better--just wait, life might just give you an opportunity put your theories into action. And you'll probably realize it's a lot harder than it looks.
So here we are at that point in life with my younger siblings all have a lot of young children with mass chaos all the time, just like me. They have experienced deployments and geographical single parenthood, just like me. They've experience of feeling like Grandma and Grandpa are only slightly excited to have all your kids at their house, just like me. Well, anyway, you get the point. Now all that the judgment is gone and what is left is a free for all of mass confusion and indecipherable chattering of high-pitched voices. It's beautiful. . . except for maybe Grandma and Grandpa who can only take so much.
So knowing all that, it's a little crazy to contemplate the idea of my family going for a three day family vacation altogether and staying in the same condo. Janey, had just had a baby a week later and she even came. The only people missing were Justin who is patrolling for pirates on a Navy ship somewhere in the Indian ocean and Mike who was working in Boise. While my family cannot completely escape some moments of high anxiety--overall, I would say it was a smashing success.
Aunt Katie is known for hair, make-up and all forms of self-beautifcation. The girls love it!
We had Family Home Evening in the park and did a scavenger hunt for different things to complete a bible quiz. Grandma led the evening and I think Grandma and Grandpa were very happy to have everyone together, happy, laughing and singing songs. I think that the older we all get, the more we understand that those happy family moments are the things that make life beautiful.
Aunt Tiffany and Aunt Katie came without their husbands, so they agreed to sleep in the giant loft with all of the younger cousins. As it turned out, they didn't actually get any sleep. But that is called true charity right there! Notice I didn't volunteer--my family love is huge and abounding, but it does come with some restrictions.
The second day, after breakfast, we headed out for a day at Deer Creek. This is a favorite family pasttime. I actually am very particular when it comes to my own willingness to get in mountain lakes. It needs to be a perfectly beautiful day in the 90s with no wind and late in the summer after the snow runoff has warmed up. So, to get to the point, I wouldn't get in because it was June, it was only 87 degrees and the wind was horrendous. But everyone else was up for the fun.
The wind was so bad that our food, our day tent, our towels, our hats and even our wave runners kept blowing away. We spent a lot of time running after things--in case swimming and wake boarding weren't tiring enough. Yeah, the kids slept a lot better the second night.
One of the most critical Top family traditions is ending the evenings with dance contests. The music gets pumped up and all the Aunts, Uncles, cousins and Grandma and Grandpa break out their best moves. No family party is complete without some MJ and LMFAO to get the crowds rocking.
Happy families make for happy lives. My children love to be surrounded by all their fun family. It has been very difficult for my children to move so often and to always be so far away. When people ask my children where they're "from" they get a little confused. It was a very expensive choice for us to fly nine people home to the states--but we just felt it was so important to them. It wasn't so much the fun things we did (although we did do a lot), but it was the love, the laughter and the craziness that reminded my kids that they really do have a place to call "home."
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