Yep- Still trying to get caught up!!! Last November, a huge early snowstorm came through Connecticut and because of all the leaves still on the trees, tons of trees fell down, causing mass chaos and a power outage for their town for over a week. Sarena, Todd's sister, called and asked if instead of staying there in a cold house, if her and the kids could come and stay at our house for a few days. So her unfortunate situation for them initially ended up being a great opportunity for Elli and I to spend some quality time with family. Todd was sad to miss out, but he was out of town for work during their visit.
Robin, Diana's sister, Diana and her kids also joined in on most of the activities for the week and it was super fun for us all to be together.
We had an awesome time together and we even spent a fun filled day in D.C. We packed in a visit to the Holocaust museum (the kids and I went to the kid part), Washington Monument, the Natural History Museum, and then on another day we went to Mount Vernon. The kids espcially enjoyed Mount Vernon. It was home school day so there were a lot of extra activities available.
Above is some of the old timey games they had available for kids to try out on the lawn in front of the Mount Vernon house.
Elli loved chasing and being chased through the hay maze. Meredith, a great family friend of Sarena's family (and now ours), came from Connecticut too. Elli loved playing with Meredith too and I definitely enjoyed the extra help from everyone!
Here is a pic of Elli and I playing "Throw the dried corn like a dart through a wheel circle thing" -- that is the official name I think. Why don't you believe me?
We even got to see the reanactors make real food- although they didn't share with us, something about the FDA not allowing it. Whatever- they wanted it all for themselves.
The rest of the pics below show a little of the fun we had just hanging out at the house. The neighborhood kids loved having extra kids to play with and before you knew it, we had a four square game going, chalk, and a lot of laughing. It was a lot of fun. Even though Halloween was over, Elli still wanted to wear her costume, and since her costume was warm, I didn't object.
Since this is the closest we will probably ever live to this much family-- it was a cherished blessing to have so many of us together for an unexpected winter reunion.
