Delaware Vacation

We have had a lack of blogging here in the Winn house because Jarom has been home alone and has been too sad to let Mitch out to blog. Also, he had nothing to report on. Jarom's life is pretty boring when his family leaves. But the kids and I had a marvelous time on our most recent spur-of-the-moment vacation. We went up to Delaware because there was a party going on. Two of Jarom's sisters have had babies in the last two months and they were both being blessed, and our niece, Allie was getting baptized. Nancy was flying out for the festivities and she invited us to come. She called us on Sunday the 18th and we booked our tickets to leave Saturday the 24th. We were lucky enough to get non-stop flights, and it made all the difference. Our flight out there was fabulous. It left at 6 a.m. and after an alarm clock snafu and some traffic detours we made it to the airport with one minute to spare to check my bag. The nice man at the desk thought it would be more helpful to lecture me on the importance of arriving at the airport an hour and a half early instead of just checking my bag. But he did it and by the time we got to our gate, it was time to get on the plane. The flight was mostly empty and Bo even slept for part of it so it was really not bad at all. Before we knew it we were landing in Philly. JD was nice enough to come get us and we made it to the house by 10 a.m. It was definitely the best travel experience I have had with two kids by myself.

Such adorable chitlins

Jenna's morning hair

Helping Mom pack for the trip

All dressed up for church and/or doing chores on the farm

Once we got to the house Jenna found Hailey and I didn’t see her again for the next two weeks except for meal time and bed time. She and Hailey had such a fun time together. It’s really a shame we don’t live closer so they can play more. Later that afternoon, the rest of the people showed up. We had Kenzie and Kenna and Nancy and Kristi join us as well. Once we were all together, we sat around and chatted and let the kids play. Nancy got reacquainted with her house and we all met the new babies for the first time. Sunday was the big day for all the blessings and baptizing. Church was at 9 a.m. and most of us made it on time. Everyone had shown up by the time the blessings were supposed to start, so we will call it a success. The blessings were wonderful and after sacrament meeting, I dropped Jenna off in nursery and spent the last two hours chasing Bo around the halls and catching up with old friends. After church we had a huge dinner with all of the Winn friends. It was so fun to see everyone. At seven we had to pack everyone back up and head back to the church for Allie's baptism. I hadn’t been to a baptism in years, so it was fun to be a part of it. My kids were pretty much terrible the whole time and we left a little early to get them in bed. It was probably one of the longest Sunday's ever, but it was so nice to be a part of the festivities.

Future Bo and present Bo in the tub with the girls

No big deal, just letting our dog eat crumbs off the floor

This is how Jenna and Hailey J. spent most of their time together

Not much to work with back there

Monday was spent hanging out and not really doing much. We did find a brave soul to watch all of the children so the adults could go see the Hunger Games. We chose a later show so the kids would be asleep the whole time and our one babysitter wouldn’t have to do much. But most of the kids woke up at least once (except for my kids... booya!) so our plan didn’t work out so well. But the movie was AWESOME! I really liked it. I felt it was just as good as the books and I look forward to the next movies in the series. We tried to not do too much the rest of the week. Since almost everyone was there, it was kind of a big bunch to go and do things. We had ALL 15 grandkids there ranging from 6 weeks to 8 and taking that many young kids out of the house is a chore. We did manage a shopping trip with most the kids, which we later regretted. We mostly sat around while the kids played and Grandma could enjoy her kids and grandkids. Honestly, that is my favorite way to spend Delaware vacations because Jenna loves her cousins so much. She had so much fun playing with them and Bo even had a fun time being around them. Ethan learned how to say Bobo and walked around all week pointing at him and saying Bobo! It was really cute.

She's not a very good driver

Stealing the formerly-pregnant Annie's water. Congratulations on getting here Charlee!

Even in a super-king sized bed Lix still complained about how Jenna was a pain to sleep next to. I'm not sure what the fuss was about.

That weekend was conference and we all sat around and tried to watch. It was kind of difficult with so many kids around, but I caught bits and pieces. On Saturday, in between sessions, I made it over to the Slaugh's house to see Karen and Annie. It was Annie's due date, so I tried to cheer her up a bit. I don’t know if it worked, but it was fun to see them. In between sessions on Sunday we had an early birthday celebration for Bo and had the Slaugh family over for the occasion. Bo got to poke around in his cake and got blue frosting EVERYWHERE. I made cake pops for everyone else. It was pretty low key, but it was fun to watch Bo. Maybe he will do better when his actual birthday rolls around in just ten days.

How cool does she look?

On Monday, we were sad to say good bye to Nancy and Kristi. They had to return to their lives in Utah. It was fun to see them for the week. We were lucky enough to stay for a few more days and hang out with Jolie and Rob and Jamie and JD. We went on a trip to Longwood Gardens one day and did lots of swimming in the hot tub. We also did some preschool which Jenna loved and was really good at and played at some parks. Then on Friday we had to say good bye as well and come back home to Jarom. We missed him a lot while we were gone and were glad to see him again. We had a wonderful trip and we can’t wait until we get to go back and see everyone again. Maybe next time Jarom can come with us!

What could go wrong here?

Sometimes eating noodles can be very tiring