The First Part of Our Big Trip

On Monday, we returned from the biggest trip we've ever taken as a family.  It involved lots of flying, driving, family, and friends.  This post is supposed to be about seeing Jeff's dad and then Mark and Jennie, but of course my uploaded pictures are appearing in a random order and I'm not going to re-order them.  Just trust me when I say that we got up here at 3:30 a.m. to fly and see John.  After spending the night at his place, we drove to see Mark and Jennie and their boys Nathan, Micah, and Matthew.  We stayed for a few days with them and then drove to a family reunion for Jeff's mom's side of the family.   (The family reunion will be in a later post.)  We have known Mark and Jennie since before they were married, and we had the honor of being in their wedding.  They came to see us soon after we moved  here, when Nathan and Jonathan were the only kids between us.  Ah, how times have changed, but we are thankful to still be friends!  We loved having the time to catch up with them, see what their life and kids are like now, and of course watch some Olympics.

And now, the zillion pictures...

 Playing in Mark and Jennie's backyard

 Our introduction to Culver's (and a happy introduction it was!) and Jonathan's first frozen custard

 Cuties Matthew, Nathan, and Jonathan, happily full of custard

 Morning at the zoo - here I am with Jonathan, Grace, Nathan, and Micah.  Grace is displaying the theme of her behavior on this trip.  Ahem.

 Here are all six kiddos together who lived under one roof for a few days.  Thank you, Mark and Jennie, for your tireless hospitality!  This picture was taking at a local burger place, and our whole family loved it!  (Nathan - 6, Jonathan - 7, Matthew - 3, Grace - 3, Micah - 4, Benjamin - 1.)

 On the night of our arrival, we got to celebrate Mark's birthday with him.

We were so happy to see all Mark and Jennie's boys, but it was particularly special to meet Micah.  Many of you have prayed for him during his lifetime, and I'm happy to tell you that he is enjoying many, many answered prayers.  He is doing great! 

Nathan and a froggie buddy 

We all went to the lake one morning... 

And had a lot of fun playing in the water! 

 Here's the whole crew before we went into the zoo.

 Grace with Mark and Matthew.  She adopted Mark on the zoo day!

Mark and his boys 

 This is what we looked like as we waited for Jeff to retrieve us in a rental car.  It was an SUV, and we were thankful to have it, but it made us even more thankful to have our van at home!  And we only have three kids, but we sure got a lot of strange looks in airports as if we were the Duggars or something!  (And I have a whole lot of respect for Michelle Duggar, by the way.)

Jeff and John and the kids on the first night of our trip 

 The three kids the next morning after breakfast

 Loving on Daddy after breakfast before we drove to see Mark and Jennie

John and Benjamin 

A sweet but rare sight.  The kids are great bed sleepers but not great car sleepers. 

Jonathan and Nathan's froggie friend 

Fun... 

 in the sand...

 at the lake,

Jeff and Micah bonded over a bouncy ball 

Benajmin loved Micah's piano 

 We were very welcomed by Mark and Jennie and boys!

These pics are at the aquarium with Mark and Jennie and family 

 I love this one of Jonathan in the tube.

 Grace at the Mall of America

 The boys entertaining themselves before lunch

 Our lunch crew!

 Yes, Jonathan ordered the children's sushi plate on purpose.  He likes the California rolls.

Admiring the zoo at the Lego store 

 Playtime outside the Lego store

 By trial and error, we learned that it worked best for all the kids to eat outside, especially Benjamin.  He was not happy to be kept inside with the grownups when the big kids got to eat outside.  And yes, he ate almost everything on his plate.

And as I mentioned, these photos uploaded in random order, so here's one more picture of the kids at the zoo.

Thanks to John for hosting us the first night, and thanks to Mark and Jennie for letting us bring our chaos into your home and letting us take over your basement!  We are so happy that we got to see you and get acquainted with all your boys!  Thank you for everything!