Cousin Camp

Each summer for the past few summers, I have gotten together with my other sisters-in-law on Brad's side. There are four of us and 10 kids. This summer we went to Albuquerque and did some of the fun stuff they have to do there. By the way, we didn't even scratch the surface of the fun things to do in Alb. If you ever go in October (around balloon fiesta), you should visit the McCall's Pumpkin Patch. It is AWESOME and should probably be called the McCall's Pumpkin Amusement Park because there is so much to do. It's just off I-40 in Moriarty (about 30 minutes east of Alb.). I had to put that in there because if you ever go, it will be an experience your family will never forget. It is Eli's absolute favorite thing to do in the whole world...and that includes Christmas. Well, back to my actual trip last week. On Monday, we went to the aquarium and Biopark. Now, I should tell you that I am afraid of aquariums. Really. It is an unexplainable fear. I have never had a bad experience in an aquarium. I've never even heard of someone having something terrible happen in an aquarium. It just literally makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I think it must be something like people who have claustrophobia...like my sister-in-law. She says there is no reason to be afraid of small spaces. Logically she knows that nothing will happen to her, but she is still very afraid of enclosed areas. Go figure. Eli really liked the aquarium...even the part where you walk through a tunnel that has eels swimming all around it. EWWW! I had to take the scaredy-cat hallway around the side.

Couple of pics of the fish.



The Biopark is the Botanical Gardens in Alb. It's really way more fun than that because they have an area that is set up so that you feel the size of an ant. You get to see a huge watering can, big produce, a GIANT pumpkin, etc. I really thought is would be pretty boring, but I think it was one of my favorite parts of the trip!

All the cousins (minus Phoebe who was spending some bonding time with Grandma Sue)...from left to right, top to bottom, Casey, Brayden, Caleb, Morgan, Kailey, Eli, Colby, Tanner, and Conner.




Monday night, all the girls-Sue (my mother-in-law), Paige, Amy, Kirsten, me, and Phoebe went to The Melting Pot while Howard (my father-in-law) kept all the other kids. It was awesome. Then again, any time you spend three hours eating and visiting is awesome in my book! We got some good pictures, but they were on someone else's camera.

On Tuesday it was pretty cool so the kids just swam in the indoor pool. Three of the cousins (Tanner, Eli, and Caleb) spent most of the time blasting the others with their makeshift water gun. A noodle that they would fill with water and blow out the other end. Pretty ingenious!
That night, we gave the three "Texas boys" (Brayden, Tanner, and Eli) a bath in my in-laws big jet tub. Since they are all a little older, we just left them upstairs while we were downstairs visiting. After a little while we went to check on them and my what a scene did we encounter!

By the way, this is not really good for a jet tub.

Wednesday, we went to the zoo. I LOVE zoos. I'm not really sure why, but I think they are pretty cool...I even enjoy the free Amarillo Zoo that has mostly farm animals. You would think that since I love zoos so much, I would have gotten a few pictures of the animals. Nope. The only animal I took a picture of is an Komodo Dragon statue that Eli climbed on and said, "Mom, take a picture!" :)



The funny story about Thursday: Sue and I ran some errands with Eli and Phoebe. On our way home, Eli and Phoebe were in the back. They were both awake and very pleasant. I assumed Eli had entertained Phoebe the whole way home because his booster seat was right next to hers because he wanted to look out the middle. When we got home, Phoebe had shoe tread marks on her FACE!! Hope you can see them in the picture!

Friday we headed to Ute Lake with Brad's parents and Kevin and Kirsten and family. Brad got up on water skis...yeah! Eli and I were pretty tame, though. Although I can ski, the water was 70 degrees and I have an 80 degree water limit. It is not worth it to get in water any colder! People who do are insane.

Eli, Morgan, and Caleb playing "pirates." They have not actually floated away...they were tied to a tree on the bank. By the time this picture was taken, the oar they were playing with had floated away.

Phoebe on the boat.

Eli and Caleb dangling their legs off the back of the boat.
Brad just before he finally got up on water skis. The picture of him skiing didn't come out so well because the boat I was in was too far away.
It was a great trip! I really treasure times that are spent with family and I know they are creating a lifetime of memories for my children. I highly recommend that everyone has a Cousin Camp. These are only the highlights! By the way, I am the only one hoakey enough to give a name to the week we spend with our McCall cousins! Someday I might actually even design T-shirts. Although, not for the grown-ups...those of you who know me well know that I don't like to wear them! :)