The Reunion

So, this year is my {gasp} 10 year class reunion. When I found out my bff probably wouldn't be able to attend, I was devastated. But after she made a very clever comment on this post, that even got a chuckle out of Blake, he said, "You should go visit Michelle." Then a few weeks later came the 1/2 off flights on Southwest and a new reunion was born! My cross-country flight wasn't that bad. Well, except the 45 minute delay while we were on the plane, waiting to take-off in San Francisco. I thought the delayed connection flight in Chicago was a blessing, so we had time to actually make the flight and also eat some yummy Nuts on Clark, until we circled in a holding pattern over Philadelphia for about an hour and a half waiting for the weather to clear up. After a total 10 hours of airport/airplane time, I can't even describe how happy we were to see New Michelle (as opposed to the other Michelle, definitely not OLD Michelle) and Weston waiting for us. After stopping at the Wa-wa for a tasty sandwich, we drove down what has to be the most charming street in the entire country until we arrived at this house.
Beautiful, absolutely beautiful. My boys could have spent our entire vacation in this house. And specifically, the big basement toy room. He spent so much time playing down there. Heaven. And I can't tell you how happy it made me that all the kids hit it off so well, just like their moms. I tried to sneak pictures of them playing "Duck-Duck-Goose" and this is the best I got. Such good kids.
And the backyard, oh the backyard. So woody and so spacious. Plenty of room for swinging shovels! And look at the swing set with shredded tires instead of sand or wood chips to break falls. Jack would go to the glass door leading to the backyard and say "Sing! Sing!" He loved those swings.
Anyway, we did actually leave the house. Michelle showed us everything country-life has to offer. We went to pick strawberries and since the tractors weren't going that day, we had to make the trek out to the fields pulling our five little rascals. It's a good thing Michelle has such big guns. And it's probably a good thing we didn't have someone escort us out to the fields, since we probably ended up stepping on, smashing, and eating as many strawberries as we actually picked. We tried to take a picture of all the kids in front of the big strawberry and this is my favorite one. As Michelle said, Max is picking his nose, Sally is posing, Adri has to hold open her smile, Jack is walking away, and Weston looks abandoned. I love it!
The next day, Steve (or Eve as Max called him) had the day off work so we ventured to Atlantic City baby! The cold, overcast beach weather made us feel right at home and the boys headed straight for the water. Now the boys have officially dipped a toe, foot, or perhaps face-planted (that's why I don't have a picture of Jack in the water--on one of his first times in he fell right in and wouldn't get close to it again) in both the Pacific and Atlantic.

We took a nice stroll along the boardwalk and everyone got to pick a treat--whatever they wanted. Max and Jack chose rock crystal suckers, Sally, Adri, and Weston chose ice cream, and Michelle, Steve, a sneaky seagull and I chose fried oreos. Yes, that's right. A seagull came and stole one right off our plate. And then, after we finished the oreos, the wind came and blew the powdered sugar-covered plate off the table and right on to Jack. Jack didn't seem to mind, though. He just moved from licking his sucker over to licking the sugar off his hand.
Friday we went to a cute little farm where the kids chased ducks, pretended to be vets, and even rode a mini-carousel. They were such good little kids the entire day. Well, except when Max to step on the little baby chicks who were out in the open, free to roam around for their very first time. The kids played so well together which made for two very happy moms.

So, our ride to the farm looked like this--And coming home looked like this (Max just does not take naps--EVER)--
Since we still needed to do something matching to make the trip complete, we decided now would be the time to do and stopped by the shoe store. And after much deliberation (all the kids woke up during this time) we finally decided on some matching flip flops. And after Michelle worked her pedicurist magic, we could rest easy that we were once again matchers.
We really had the most wonderful visit and I couldn't have asked for a better reunion with one of my dearest friends. Thank you for being such a sweet host. Next reunion is definitely in San Francisco, right Michelle?!?