Days 1 and 2

Well, after a settling-in operation that was reminiscent of a military operation, all 33 of us are in our assigned rooms, and everyone is helping out with the cooking, cleaning and taking care of the precious babies. The young moms can relax a little knowing that there is always a cousin, aunt, uncle or grandparent to keep a watchful eye. The older moms are reveling in the smell of babies' heads and cute toddler antics. The big cousins are being nice to the little ones and helping out at every turn to keep all the miniature people happy. So far, so good.

Most of of got here yesterday in the late afternoon. Phil, Alex and Mom were the exceptions, saving their grand entrance till about 11 pm just to keep us on our toes. Alex survived the plane trip and everyone is safe and sound. Many of the men and boy-folk went to see manly action movies last night.

Today we went to church in the wee Oakland Branch. I ended up playing the piano in Sacrament Meeting and Eric, Johnathan, Josh and Jake administered the sacrament. It was nice to be able to help even though my piano playing skills are "slender indeed." The afternoon actually went by pretty smoothly for a Sunday on vacation, with the kids making a joyful noise while the adults chatted, napped and snacked. Here is Ryan catching a catnap on the couch in the middle of total cousin chaos.
Here is Steph having a scenically serene moment of her very own.

Some of us made plans to run in the morning as we were standing around the kitchen counter enjoying a wide variety of sweets. I think our logic is that the more we run, the more we can eat.

Now everyone is settling down a notch or two. The little ones are starting to peter out, the grandmas and a couple of cousins are doing the dishes, and the lake is shimmering in the come-and-go sunshine of a storm system blowing through. When the light capriciously appears, it is the warm gold of the last hours before sunset.

Here is Owen fast asleep on the couch after a long day.
Here is Mathew fast asleep at the dinner table. When it's time, it' time!

Tomorrow, we will get the canoes, the water trampoline and the real water fun will start. We are right on the lake, so the kids can stick their toes in and swim without even having to go over to the state park beach. We probably will go over one day to have a nice sandy-beach kind of day. Lucas has already had one unintentional soaking, so we know the kids will enjoy the water.