So, when I finished the last blog post about our family reunion road trip, we had spent 4 days travelling across California, Arizona, and New Mexico, and then spent another 2 days in Texas and were finally on our way to our family reunion at a dude ranch in the absolute middle of nowhere New Mexico. Seriously...after several minutes of driving on a very bumpy dirt road with no signs of life in sight we were questioning whether we were on the right dirt road. But finally the cute little ranch came into view...we were relieved!
Out of the 32 people in my family, everyone was there except one brother-in-law who had to work...pretty impressive! We were in New Mexico in the dead of summer with no air conditioning and I'm not going to lie...it was HOT and the bugs were out of control. But it was fun to get to see everybody and the kids loved getting to play with all of their cousins.
This table top checkers game was a big hit with all of the kids.
There wasn't any real table so the kids got to eat their meals on the floor, but they clearly didn't mind.
There were 2 buildings at the ranch- the main lodge and a smaller bunk house. Ellie loved running back and forth between the two looking for bugs and playing with the 2 ranch dogs.
It's tradition in my family to have an auction at reunions to raise money for the next reunion. The kids wasted no time scoping out the goods and staking their claims on certain items. The kids auction got a little competitive and there may have been tears shed...lol. But it was fun.
The owners of the ranch were kind enough to bring a horse out for all of the kids to ride. It was one of the highlights for them.
This made me laugh. It was at least 100 degrees outside, but the kids were so desperate to swim that they kept getting in the hot tub.
My parents made the kids vests and got each of them a bandanna and a stick horse. They had a fun little rodeo with lots of games, races, and activities. It was really cute.
Talent show night. Emma and Matthew sang "When Can I See You Again" (the Owl City song from Wreck it Ralph) and Ellie tried to join in.
The family picture taken...not bad considering how many of us there are!
Ellie's bff for the week. This dog was SO good and patient with her.
At the end of our week we all got up early and packed up to go our separate ways. Jon drove home with Ellie (he's a brave soul!) so that Emma, Matthew, and I could go spend a few days at my sister's house in Texas. We set out on our day of driving with her van packed completely full of luggage and people. It was me and Rachel, and six kids all under the age of 9. Things went really well, until a few hours into our trip when the air conditioning suddenly went out in her car. In the middle of nowhere Texas. In the middle of summer. With the temperature outside over 100 degrees. It was HOT! We were flying down the freeway with the windows down, but it provided almost no relief. A few hours, lots of water and ice cream later, we finally pulled up to her house. I don't think any of us had ever been so anxious to get out of a car before!
We had a fun, quick visit. I really wish we were able to live closer to some of my family. It makes me so sad that my kids only get to see their cousins, aunts, and uncles once every year or two, and only see my parents once or twice a year. It's just not enough! I'm grateful we were able to squeeze those few extra days in with Rachel and her family.
Our first full day there we went swimming THREE separate times at the awesome water park by their house. The kids really want us to move right by a water park now too...unfortunately it probably won't ever happen.
The next couple of days we hung out mostly at their house. In between trying to get the air conditioning in the car fixed and my complete lack of energy thanks to the heat and being massively pregnant, it was just hard to get out. But everybody played hard and had fun anyway.
Our last day there we stopped for ice cream at a cute little shop and then met up with one of our college roommates and her family to watch The Croods. After that we grabbed some dinner and then continued on to the airport.
We found out just a little too late that our 9 pm flight was delayed, so we ended up spending the next 7 hours at the airport and FINALLY got on our flight at 2 am. It was a LONG night. The kids were great, but I was exhausted and there really was no way for me to get comfortable...though I definitely considered plopping on the floor next to Emma. We finally boarded our plane, headed home, and crashed in our beds at 4 am. It was an eventful end to an eventful trip.
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