After the Smith Family Reunion finished and all our guests started heading for home, we were left with the immediate Hanks family. Since we don't get the chance to be together at the same time very often, we decided to treat it like a mini Hanks Reunion!
We mostly relaxed and enjoyed talking and spending time with each other, but we also tried to do fun things for the cousins to enjoy. So after church on Sunday, Janna, Kevin and I decided to take the kids to the duck pond near by.
The ducks were used to being fed and weren't afraid to come up close, which tickled the girls pink because they were able to feed them right out of their hands. Then Lily and Audrey took turns chasing the ducks and quacking out loud before we meandered back home.
The next morning, Kevin woke up early and went on a 30 mile bike ride... for FUN! The rest of us just slept in and lazed around with the kiddos.
It was really fun just sitting around and watching how well they played together. Wes is 9 months older then Brooklyn and Sydney is 9 months younger than her, so they are all VERY close in age and were best buddies!
Audrey and Lily are only a few weeks apart in age but are too young to really interact with each other. But that's OK. They both have enough personality to keep themselves entertained for hours without any help from us!
Although we DID occasionally have to entertain the kids, it mostly just came in the form of hugs and snuggles... and let me tell you, there was PLENTY of snuggling to go around!
Anyway, once the rest of us were ready to crawl out of bed, we got the kids dressed and walked over to see the 4
th of July parade.
There were a ton of people in front of us so it was pretty hard to see, and the kids didn't seem to understand what was going on anyway, so we didn't stay for long.
But Kevin and Brooklyn made sure they had some fun with the camera first, and then they gathered some candy and headed home with the rest of us.
Later that day we released the children on Grandma's backyard. They had lots of fun playing on the trampoline...
But then again, so did their Daddies. Especially Kevin who has miraculously managed to maintain his flexibility and bouncing skills as he has aged.
Soon Audrey decided she wanted a change of scenery and jumped into the swimming pool fully clothed! Her cousins quickly joined her (but to their dismay I made them put on their swimming suits first) and they had a great time splashing around together.
The next day, our gracious mother decided to babysit all the kids while the adults went ROCK CLIMBING!
Once we got there, we each took turns climbing, watching each other, thinking about climbing, making fun of those who were climbing, and rubbing our sore arms.
The Biological Hanks kids are all built like monkeys and didn't seem to have trouble scaling the walls.
The rest of us didn't take long to pick up on it though. In fact, Sara seemed quite adept to the whole thing.
Although we all tried our hardest, we couldn't climb long before our limbs gave out on us. Turns out you actually have to be in shape to climb a wall! Who knew? :)
Once we gave up, we spent the rest of our time watching Kevin and Brian (who both have humongous biceps and did not pay me to say that) climb the more difficult routes. They were both very good and Kevin actually earned himself a 1 hour back massage by reaching a particularly hard rock and then doing
pull ups on it!!!
Afterwards, there was even a little time for a ping pong match between Brian and Janna.
When they were all done, we woke up dad (who was supposed to be taking pictures but managed to sleep through the ENTIRE event) and headed home to get cleaned up for our family pictures.
The pictures were taken at a nearby park, and although they turned out beautifully, it was kind of a nightmare to get them taken! The kids decided to be cranky, crazy, wiggly, and/or uncooperative during the whole thing, but with a TON of adult power, we finally got this picture...
And then we were off to see more places and people!
To be continued...
We mostly relaxed and enjoyed talking and spending time with each other, but we also tried to do fun things for the cousins to enjoy. So after church on Sunday, Janna, Kevin and I decided to take the kids to the duck pond near by.
The ducks were used to being fed and weren't afraid to come up close, which tickled the girls pink because they were able to feed them right out of their hands. Then Lily and Audrey took turns chasing the ducks and quacking out loud before we meandered back home.
The next morning, Kevin woke up early and went on a 30 mile bike ride... for FUN! The rest of us just slept in and lazed around with the kiddos.
It was really fun just sitting around and watching how well they played together. Wes is 9 months older then Brooklyn and Sydney is 9 months younger than her, so they are all VERY close in age and were best buddies!
Audrey and Lily are only a few weeks apart in age but are too young to really interact with each other. But that's OK. They both have enough personality to keep themselves entertained for hours without any help from us!
Although we DID occasionally have to entertain the kids, it mostly just came in the form of hugs and snuggles... and let me tell you, there was PLENTY of snuggling to go around!
Anyway, once the rest of us were ready to crawl out of bed, we got the kids dressed and walked over to see the 4th of July parade.
There were a ton of people in front of us so it was pretty hard to see, and the kids didn't seem to understand what was going on anyway, so we didn't stay for long.
But Kevin and Brooklyn made sure they had some fun with the camera first, and then they gathered some candy and headed home with the rest of us.
Later that day we released the children on Grandma's backyard. They had lots of fun playing on the trampoline...
But then again, so did their Daddies. Especially Kevin who has miraculously managed to maintain his flexibility and bouncing skills as he has aged.
Soon Audrey decided she wanted a change of scenery and jumped into the swimming pool fully clothed! Her cousins quickly joined her (but to their dismay I made them put on their swimming suits first) and they had a great time splashing around together.
The next day, our gracious mother decided to babysit all the kids while the adults went ROCK CLIMBING!
Once we got there, we each took turns climbing, watching each other, thinking about climbing, making fun of those who were climbing, and rubbing our sore arms.
The Biological Hanks kids are all built like monkeys and didn't seem to have trouble scaling the walls.
The rest of us didn't take long to pick up on it though. In fact, Sara seemed quite adept to the whole thing.
Although we all tried our hardest, we couldn't climb long before our limbs gave out on us. Turns out you actually have to be in shape to climb a wall! Who knew? :)
Once we gave up, we spent the rest of our time watching Kevin and Brian (who both have humongous biceps and did not pay me to say that) climb the more difficult routes. They were both very good and Kevin actually earned himself a 1 hour back massage by reaching a particularly hard rock and then doing pull ups on it!!!
Afterwards, there was even a little time for a ping pong match between Brian and Janna.
When they were all done, we woke up dad (who was supposed to be taking pictures but managed to sleep through the ENTIRE event) and headed home to get cleaned up for our family pictures.
The pictures were taken at a nearby park, and although they turned out beautifully, it was kind of a nightmare to get them taken! The kids decided to be cranky, crazy, wiggly, and/or uncooperative during the whole thing, but with a TON of adult power, we finally got this picture...
And then we were off to see more places and people! To be continued...
3 comments:
Great set of pictures. Thanks for the time you took to create the blog post.
Kevin is so awesome/funny/crazy/freakishly athletic. Case in point: 30 mile bike ride for fun, Crazy wahooey trampoline jumps and monkey boy pull-ups on a rock climbing wall. What do you feed that man? Caffeine and straight sugar? geez!
Seriously though, love all the pics. Your kids are freaking adorable and looks like they had a lot of fun with their Hanks family. The family pics came out awesome too, way to use your adult power to get er done! Love ya dude, welcome back to the blogosphere!
Kevin gots hops! Rock climbing looked so fun and I love that Del slept through the whole thing. You belong to such a wonderful family. I sure do love the Hanks.
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