Storrs Family Reunion San Diego

This last weekend we went down to my parents house for a family reunion. We had a great time and the kids had a blast. We each got our own welcome bag of goodies and fun toys. Thursday night we hung out and chatted. Went swimming and watched a movie on a projection screen out by the pool.
Friday we went to Mission beach and played there all afternoon. Then we went to the Padres game all 43 of us and let the kids play in the sandbox behind center field.
Then Saturday we got up early and did a 5k at the park and yes I did finish it! Then we hung out at mom and dads and went swimming, kids had a blast in the art room, older kids had fun in the pool room out back with all the video games, played games and hit balls in the newly finished sport court. There was of course a ton of food everywhere to graze all day. Then we had a surprise luau for my moms birthday with a lot of her old friends. Even her old friend all growing up from Idaho Falls flew in from out of town, Gladys. We had L&L Hawaiian Barbecue cater it and yum I haven't had L&L's since I moved back from Hawaii. Anyway the girls all did a couple of hula dances for grandma and we had a picture slide show for mom. Then we had a fun dance party after that to finish off the party.
Sunday we went down to Sea Port Village to take family pictures...which is always super fun! Then walked around for a bit and then went back to the house to hang out.
I am super tired but the kids had a great time playing with cousins all day long for four days.

memories

Here is a fun little game...

leave a comment on our blog of a memory that you and i (cherisse, austin, makenzie, ethan or tessa) have had together. it doesn't matter if you've known us for a short time or a long time, or met just once, anything that you remember!

next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. it is pretty funny to read the responses.

up and down the five II

Thursday kenzie, ethan, tessa and I flew up to Washington to surprise shalyn and the kids. It was ethans first time on an airplane and he was so excited....until we went to board the airplane and he realized that daddy was not coming. He would not go with me and kept screaming no I want daddy. "Daddy go airplane with me. I want daddy go." He was crying and holding on to austin's leg. It was so sad, but after about 10 minutes I got him on the plane and he was fine and excited to push all the buttons he could get his hands on. Kenzie that night before was crying saying that she was not going to have any fun in Washington because daddy was not going to be there. I want daddy to go on the airplane. Daddy is going to be all alone and sad because I am not here. I want my daddy to go. Yea I feel like a good mom...my kids want their daddy to go and are crying because he is not going. Hello....here I am...mom is going...nope only wanted daddy.
Aaron Grover was nice enough to come and pick me up from the airport and take me to shalyn's house. It was fun seeing old friends from Hawaii again. I haven't seen Aaron in about six years so it was fun to catch up. shalyn was out and about so after 5 minutes of waiting she got home and we surprised her as she was getting out of her car. we had a good time playing at a beautiful park with a lake, picnics, mariners game, snoqualmie falls, huge rain storm, walle and playing with cousins.

up and down the five

last weekend we were up in the bay area for luke & greta's wedding. we drove up at 3am on Friday morning and met up with everyone at the hotel, went in and saw some sites, and then back for some swimming. driving in the morning was great and we made it up there in about six and a half hours. our trip back was not so quick as it was in the middle of the day. it was fun hanging out with the dyer side of the family and to get together for luke's special day was fun.

seen and heard

we have quickly realized that we need to write these things down as soon as they happen or else they will be forgotten.

heard - while makenzie and ethan are running around in the kitchen with filled water balloons,
"hey dad can you juggle these, can you juggle these?"
"if you want to play with those, you need to go outside."
"do you want to juggle some food that is not going to break."
she then brings over some lemons.

seen and heard - the kids getting out all of the lemons from the fridge and teaching themselves how to juggle. it quickly turned into dodge ball. while sitting in the office i hear makenzie become the casualty of an errant citrus projectile. then ethan comes running down the hall toward me with a look of guilt. i tell him to go and apoligize to his sister and he turns around and taps her on the shoulder and tells her,
"you ok."

heard - if no one is around tessa, not that we leave her in solitary confinement, but if she sees that no one is around at the moment of her choosing then she will let out a squeal. a bone stirring squeal to let all within a two and a half mile radius know that she is upset about something.

heard - last week we were at the thunstroms pool and there was a birds nest just above the (which is a cave/grotto) and so the kids couldn't go swimming in there. So today we were over there swimming again and kalia came over to kenzie and said,
"kenzie, kenzie the birds are gone they are not in the hot tub any more we can go swimming in there."
"o, are the birds on vacation?!"

heard - makenzie, "mommy, when i cough i think that i have a cold."

heard - i told her that while in san fran we were going to go to a park that i use to play in when i was a kid (in front of my grandma's house). makenzie wondering how i got there,
"o what car did you ride in."
thinking back to those 11 hour road trips down to SF, "a herbie van (vw bus)."
"mommy, what car did you ride in." short pause, makenzie answers, "a pink limo."
"yep makenzie, a pink limo." "that's a fun car."

heard - "mom, i am going to be princess leia, and an ice skater."

heard - after i got done singing a made up song
"dad your silly." "why am i silly?" "because you are speaking english."

heard - while in a grocery store in melo park,
"we need to get some milk for your cereal." makenzie, "i don't like milk." "milk is good for you. it give you strong bones, and has lots of vitamins in it." makenzie, "chocolate milk make you healthy. regular milk makes you sad."

heard - when we were leaving at 3am on our trip to san francisco makenzie woke up for about 30 minutes and was full of things to say. we got out the camcorder and recorded some things that she was saying. toward the end cherisse asked,
"is there anything else that you would like to say kenzie?" "um.., no that's all. a motorhome, you should get a motorhome. dad that would be fun, huh."

the last two weeks

A little catch up from the last couple weeks. Briette, Tiffani, Paige and I went to Sea World. It was a beautiful day and the kids had a lot of fun. Then we went to Oceanside Beach with Briette, Tiffani, Paige, Katie and Cortnie. Thanks to Katie for taking all our kids in the ocean to play in the waves.
We also had the opportunity to run into our friends Jeff and Judy at Disneyland. the last time that we saw them was at Disneyland around thanksgiving. We met up with the Garners and Fords and had dinner in old town Temecula. then over to the fords for desert and catching up since we all left byu-h. Last week we met up with the Kearns @ Disneyland, who were down for a week. we just missed out on being able to hang out with the Nilsson's and Hatch's.