Family Trip

Katie's sister invited the boys and I to come on a family trip with her family and the boys' grandparents right after Christmas. It really meant a lot to me that she invited me, because this part of Katie's family had excluded me numerous time since the divorce and while Katie always claimed that she didn't have a problem with me attending and that it didn't come from her, I'm still not sure why it happened. I really struggled with it and made me super sad, because I love her family and we would see each other all the time before Katie left. Anyway...I was excited to be invited and to be able to spend some time with everyone.

We rented a house up north, about three hours from Phoenix. I always get a little nervous driving long distances with Finn by myself, but besides a major nosebleed, it all went smoothly. 

That night, we all went out to dinner, which really ended up being the only time we ever left the rental house.

Grandma and Grandpa with all of their grandkids.

We were hoping for snow and I had borrowed lots of snow gear from friends for my boys, but we never ended up using any of it because it was a little too warm for snow while we were there. The morning we left, it started to snow...go figure.

4 crazy boys to keep up with...I think Grandma and Grandpa were pretty tired at the end of every night.

There was this huge open space right in front of the rental and the kids were happy to be able to run around and play.

All of us had hyped up the kids about going sledding, but since there was no snow to be found, we improvised and dragged them around on the grass, which I guess was the next best thing and they all had a blast.

I don't know what it is about Grandpa, but he can make the kids laugh like no one else.

Finn wasn't sure about going on the sled, he's is very timid in general, and it took about an hour to convince him to just sit on it for a picture. Look how scared he looks here and then check out the next picture...ha!

Once we showed him how much fun it could be, he was all about it.

This picture warms my heart, they were probably drawing together on a magna doodle for a solid hour.

I didn't bring many toys to play with, but magna tiles are always a hit.

Little dude couldn't hang. We were all watching a movie and he fell asleep sitting up.

Making s'mores in the fireplace.

We stayed for three nights and while we didn't do much, it felt amazing to just spend time together, eat way too much of Grandma's homemade fudge, play games, and have fun. I'm hopeful for the future and that we'll be able to do more things together going forward.