Wednesday the 8th: Today was the day that the Griffiths Family Reunion officially started. Liam is 4 weeks old today! Kurt, Alex, and their kids showed up in the morning and they've gotten so big. Baby Devin is such a chunk, I love it! It's fun to see the differences between Liam, Lena, and Devin when there's only a few months between them. A little bit later Shelley and her kids arrived. Gabriella and Charlie are huge! We finally had all the kids together and it was madness :) Nine children all under the age of 5! Plus Shelley is expecting another one this December. We started off the fun by going to have pizza for lunch. We expected it to be a bit crazy with all the kids but they ended up doing great. That afternoon everyone got all packed up and headed to the campsite at Guahome Park. The rest of the Griffiths clan were there so Liam got to meet all Chad's aunts and uncles and most importantly, Nana. She held him and loved on him for a little while and it was a magical moment. Chad, Liam and I decided to stay at the house to sleep and Shelley and her kids did too. Camping will come when Liam gets to be a bit older.
Thursday we all drove down to Mission Bay to hang out at the park and go out on the jet skis. I honestly wasn't looking forward to the trip because it was hot and I didn't like the jet skis that much when we went before. It ended up being such a great day! There was a huge grass area to be on so we didn't have to have all the kids in sand. Cindy knows all the things to bring to make everyone comfortable so we had lots of shade, swings and bouncy seats for the babies, lots of food, and chairs for everyone. It was also a lot cooler at the bay than back in town. There was a little playground for the kids to play on and a small beach with sand next to the water. I even went out on the jet skis again. There aren't big choppy waves like in the ocean and I drove while Chad rode on back. Then they hooked up an inner tube and all the kids got to take turns riding on it. Chad, Shelley, me, and the kids left around four to head back home. Chad took me out on a date that night to the Moonlight Amphitheater to see the production of Fiddler on the Roof. He used to do plays there and was excited to see how they upgraded the facilities. I've never seen the play before so I was excited too. Liam came of course and was a perfect angel the whole time. I fed him right before it started and he slept until the end. We were out pretty late, it ended at 11 pm, so we were ready for bed as soon as we got home.
Friday was beach day with the whole family. We drove out to Oceanside and met up with everyone else. It was cooler again that day so it ended up being really nice. Chad and I even got to go on a walk, just the two of us, while Liam slept. The rest of the kids had fun playing in the sand and splashing around in the ocean. It was really nice having so many extra hands because all the new mothers were able to do fun things while someone else watched their little one. Liam got to spend more time being held by Nana again, we cherish every moment we can have with her. After the beach, we came back to the house to unload and shower before heading back to the campsite for dinner. Liam took his first shower! He liked it except for when the water went on his face. We only hung out at the campsite for a little bit before heading home for bed. Chad and I were tired from our previous late night and then spending the day out in the sun. Shelley wanted to get her kids to bed as well.
Saturday was the big pool party over at Keith and Cindy's house. Their backyard is amazing and all the families came over for swimming and dinner. I hadn't been in their pool yet because each time we go out there its in the winter and too cold. It was hot again so the pool felt fantastic. Again there were lots of extra hands to help with the babies so I was able to swim for quite a while before needing to nurse Liam. He hung out by the pool and took a great nap outside. He has a cousin named Max that was born one week after him so we put them together for pictures and to see how they were alike or different. We ate a great mexican dinner made by Marianne and it was a wonderful end to the family reunion. That night was the talent show that they do every reunion. Some kids are really into it. We all met at the pavilion at the campsite. Adelyn and Reese sang a song together and were super cute. We didn't stay too long because Liam was super fussy and we needed to take him home and put him down for the night.
Sunday was Liam's baby blessing at church. He was blessed by his Papa and had lots of people in the circle supporting him. We are thankful for Kurt, Jake, Jason, and Jared and also Brother Vance, George, Zeltner, Hill, and &&&& for helping out. We were sad that Brandon wasn't able to come but the blessing was planned last minute and he's saving his time off for when his baby girl arrives in December. The rest of the day was spent relaxing at home.
Monday was Disneyland day!! Liam is such a lucky boy to get to go to such a magical place at one month old. The new cars land opened this summer so we were all excited to see the new rides. Chad, Cindy, Liam, and I left at 6am to drive down and get tickets. Everyone else left a bit later and met us at the gate. We raced over to the new big ride in Cars land. Kurt and his kids got in line right away. We had 4 kids that were considered "babies" and took full advantage of the baby switch passes they offer. The point is for one parent to be able to go on the ride while the other got a switch pass. Then when the first parent was finished, the other can go through the fast pass line and not have to wait forever to go on the ride. Well we cheated the system just a bit and got the passes without having anyone wait in the long lines. We were able to go on many more rides than expected. The new cars ride was awesome! You're in a car and drive slowly through the Cars town, then about halfway through you stop with another car next to you and you race each other to the end. Liam hung out in his stroller and slept for a lot of the day. This allowed Chad and I to go on some rides together, like the roller coaster and Splash Mountain. Liam wasn't left out of all the fun though. He rode on Ariel, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted House, and It's a Small World. He won't remember any of it so we made sure to take lots of pictures. Reese and Adelyn were finally bug enough to go on some of the bigger rides. Chad and I took Reese on Soaring Over California and she loved it! The funniest moment of the day though was while riding on It's a Small World. Kari's new boyfriend, Alec, came with us. It was his first time to Disneyland. He's a great person and was awesome with all the kids. He held JR while on the ride. JR had a little accident though and it ended up on Alec. He aimed it perfectly so it looked like Alec had the accident himself, lol. But he was great about the whole incident and laughed it off. After all that Chad and I were ready to go home. We'd been up since 5am and Liam was ready for bed. The rest of the gang stayed for the firework show and didn't get home until around midnight that night.
Tuesday we woke up, packed up the car, and Chad took off for the long drive home. Liam and I hung out at the house. I went swimming with the kids one last time. Around 3ish, we left with Nana and Papa to the airport. The plane was delayed so we hung out at the airport for a bit before our flight. I couldn't believe all the nice people that were offering help to me, a single parent with a small baby. I needed help getting through security and folding up the stroller before boarding the plane. But nice people offer to help me with my food tray when I ate dinner and on the plane too! Liam slept again the whole way home. My dad picked us up and we stayed the night at my parents house. Chad drove the whole way and showed up around 3:15am.
It was a wonderful vacation and I'm so glad we had the opportunity to go.
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