J & V + 4: Quick Trip

With Steven living fairly closely (8 hours), we decided it was time to take a trip to visit him. The drive down wasn't too bad. The kids did really well. We got to the hotel and waited for Uncle Steven to come over. We went swimming then out to eat at a pizza place. The kids got lucky because there was a guy making balloon animals so they each got something. Then we headed over to Steven's house to play for a bit. The next morning Steven came back over to swim again. Then we went to his house to meet Cody and have lunch. Uncle Steven had Easter baskets with fun toys and treats for the kids. Then we went to the Bass Pro Shop to check out some of the aquariums there. We saw fish, turtles and crocodiles. And I'm awesome and dropped my phone down into some water and it took a while to find it (thankfully after putting it in rice for a few hours it turned on and still worked!). Then we went back to their house to hang out a bit before Cody had to go to work. Then Steven took us to the park across the street. After we had dinner and hung out at his house for a bit, we left to drive down to Melanie's house.

Swimming with Steven. The kids did really well with their floaties and even the baby did ok. He probably would've liked it more if it was actually warm and not cold.

Getting into water fights.

How the kid slept at the hotel.

Laken wanted more to eat during breakfast at the hotel so I told him if he held the baby I would get him more food. Surprisingly, he agreed to it and did a great job holding him.
And Carter doesn't like having his picture taken.

The kids checking out some fish or turtles at Bass Pro Shop.

Forgive the blurriness. But it's Steven, Cody, Carter and Laken.

GRRR!

Laken at the park

Uncle Steven was the designated swing-pusher.

The boys playing with the foam airplane Uncle Steven got them for Easter.

Super tired kids. They all slept the entire way down to Melanie's house.

We figured since we were so close to Melanie and her family, we would go visit them for a day too. We got there around 8 Saturday night and sat outside to talk for a bit. Our kids took a while to warm up to being someplace new again, but eventually made their way to play outside with their cousins. We stayed for a bit then headed to the hotel for the night. The Easter Bunny visited after the kids fell asleep and left some goodies and hid some eggs. We woke the kids up in the morning so they would have time to check things out and we could get over to Melanie's for breakfast and to hang out before church started. The kids got spoiled when they got to Melanie's because they had Easter goodies for our kids too. After breakfast, and some playing, we got ready and headed over to church. Carter was a stinker and wouldn't go to primary class with his cousins and spent most of church crying in someone's arms. After church we went back to Mel's house for lunch and she and Jared went outside to hide eggs for an Easter egg hunt. Then we played outside for a bit and brought out a bubble machine to play with, which made tons of bubbles. Then we had a nice Easter dinner, hung around and talked. We face-timed with Bruce and Ingrid and the other siblings. Then kids started getting tired from lack of sleep and extra playing so we said our goodbyes and headed back to the hotel for that night then left in the morning to come home. It was a fun little trip but went by too quickly. It would have been nice to spend more time at each person's house. The trip back went well. It didn't take as long as we thought it would so that was good. Then it was back to school, work, and normal the next day.