For Memorial Day this year, we headed down to Ashland. Landon had Friday off of school, so Shane took it off as well and we left Thursday night. We were lucky to time our trip to arrive just a day after Jake and Stacey had their third child, baby Maggie. She is darling and it was so fun to see her and hold her! We arrived Thursday evening, and we stopped off at Jake and Stacey’s place to say hi and see baby Maggie. They had just arrived home from the hospital a few hours earlier, and Stacey looked great!
The rest of the weekend was filled with lots of fun because Dave and Liz came up for the weekend from San Jose, and Becky and Nate and their two boys were there all week before Nate started his internship in Seattle for the summer. We were sad that Camille and Bryce couldn’t join us!
Friday, May 25th:
Friday was Jake’s birthday. For his celebration, he wanted all the boys to go golfing, so they had an adventurous time golfing in the rain. Meanwhile, Mom and I took all the kids to ScienceWorks. It was a lot of fun, and not too busy! Luckily, it’s not too big of a place, so we could keep track of all the seven kids running around. The huge bubbles were a favorite as always, but they also had fun with the rocket that blasts off to the moon, the ball that blows up in the air, and the air blaster.
After ScienceWorks, the kids helped wrap and decorate 29 presents for Jake for his birthday. (Well, Liz and Mom did the wrapping, and the kids colored)
That evening, we had a birthday dinner for Jake, complete with tri-tip (his favorite) as well as razzleberry pie and a peanut butter cup cake dessert that Stacey and her mom made that was delicious! We had fun watching him open his 29 presents, plus a few others for his birthday. He had some helpers as you can see!
The spectators:
We also got a few little outfits for baby Maggie. Liz, Becky, and I had a little bit too much fun picking them out!
Saturday, May 26th:
They boys played a little racquetball in the morning, and we all played some tennis in the afternoon. Shane and I weren’t too successful at playing together since James kept wanting one of us, but it was fun anyway.
After tennis, we had a weenie roast at the usual location, and a yummy dinner of hot dogs, fresh fruit, chips, and brownies.
After dinner, we headed over to the grassy area to play a few games of boules.
Nate throwing a ball, and everyone checking out the positions of their ball
A tired new dad, James getting a drink, and Ethan with his ball
Mom and Davis, Kallie with her ball, and Mom and Bennett playing baseball
Sunday, May 27th:
After church and a relaxing afternoon, we had a nice walk and then a delicious lasagna dinner on the back deck. The kids had fun playing croquet and running around on the trampoline.
After the fun play time, all the kids had baths and stories before heading to bed.
James and Ethan – two Lightning McQueen buddies!
All the crazy cousins, except for Ryan and Maggie. Uncle Jake always does great funny faces to get all the kids to laugh.
Reading some Clifford books before bed.
Monday, May 27th:
Jake and Shane are training for the Siskiyou Challenge 100 mile bike ride in June, so they wanted to do a practice run up the steepest part. Somehow, they tricked Dave and my dad into joining them. Here they are getting ready to go.
And one of them at the top of Greensprings:
It was a super fun trip! We were so glad we could go. We were even lucky when we got home to have a Memorial Day BBQ at a friend’s house, so we didn’t even have to fix dinner! Thanks for a great time everyone!
