If you cry yourself to sleep, does that mean it was a good weekend?

MEMORIAL DAY AT THE RANCH!

Baby cousins Meet (Bryson on the Left, Hunter on the Right)

Addie tastes S'Mores for the first time

Bryson's sleeping arrangements - hugging his "monk-monk" (gloves in the corner for when needed)

My happy mom and happy Bryson "Grandma Lanie" (or Manie as Addie calls her)

Last year, my blog got all bottle necked after Memorial Day weekend. I had 500 awesome pictures that my mom took, a few mediocre ones that I took, and I wanted to wait and write the perfect blog about the perfect weekend. I was also 9 weeks pregnant with Bryson last MDW and I was worried that I wanted to share how I shared our pregnancy with my mom, but I couldn't because I wasn't ready to go public. Anyway. So this year, I AGAIN don't have all the photos I want, because some are on my moms camera and some are on Sabine's camera, and I'm sure there are even more on various cousin cameras, but if I don't write about the weekend, the details will be lost, and I'll be bottle necked again for summer.

And I'm already bottle necked from March - April - May...starting with a hike to Multnomah Falls, skiing with Lily, feeling alive, Oaks Park, Roller Skating, Au Pair news, etc, etc, etc. (I even looked back at my drafts and much to my chagrin, there is still a draft of Lily's bday party from October sitting in there. YIKES!). Anyway.

Well the annual 4 hr drive to our family's ranch outside of Pendleton, Oregon, in Coombes Canyon went well. Sabine sat in the back with the kids, so she handled a lot of the requests for a snack or to open something or to calm fussy Bryson. We stopped in Pendleton for a potty break, lunch, and to let the kids play. In Pendleton, the only place you can do all three of those things is McDonald's, so that is where we went. While there, my cousin Rosy came by to visit. Then as we were leaving my 92 year old Great-Aunt La France and her daughter and son in law, Gay and Woody stopped by. I was SO happy to see Aunt La France and for her to get to meet Bryson. Only in a small town do you stop at McDonald's 4 hrs from home and see 4 relatives by chance!

Uncle Matt pretending his lap was a "ride" for Addie. She loves him!

We pitched our new tent once we arrived, and one for Sabine too, giving her the option to join us or to sleep on her own. We did introductions and people were still arriving so we set up camp. The kids ran and played and ran and played and everyone doted over Bryson and his non stop smiles. My mom and brother arrived shortly after, more hugs and fun. The girls can never get enough of their uncle and his girlfriend. I opened a beer around 5pm ish and went to bed at 10pm ish with over half of it left, just to give you an idea of my sitting and indulging time. It was a very fun night, but not much rest for me, not much sitting and talking for me either. "Honey, we have three kids, this is just how it is now when we travel...CRAZY!"

Between trying to get our camp set up and playing with the kids and getting people fed, including my nursing baby, keeping my little people warm and myself warm, it was just a lot. Addie didn't nap that day and begged to go to bed after Bryson was asleep, instead she went in the tent, woke him up, and then came in and out 5x. After I told her she'd have to sleep in the house with the dogs if she came out one more time, she stayed in the tent, but didn't get to sleep forever. Bryson stayed up forever that night too. It was SO cold in the tent and they both woke a bunch. Bryson slept in my sleeping bag with me, meaning I didn't sleep much, you know, making sure he was breathing the whole night and not face down in the air mattress. Lily did awesome.

My cousin Amber is about to have a baby girl in Boise, so my other cousin - her sister, Grace, stayed with her and didn't come to the ranch this year. But their mom, my Aunt Sylvia, brought Grace's older son Caleb, who is 4.5. Lily and Caleb were stuck like glue most of the weekend. It was so awesome to see them play at the Ranch. Running free without worrying about traffic or strangers, it reminded me of my childhood and playing at the Ranch with Amy, Rosy, & Suzy. There were other cousins, but those 3 were the ones who played the most with me when I was Lily's age, all within a year of my age.

That's Bryson sleeping off to the right... in our new big tent

They had glow bracelets and flashlights and went on "adventures" looking for footprints and bugs. It was so awesome. The first night, Addie was too tired to join in, but the second night she got to as a reward for taking a great nap. She had so much fun with them, and they didn't make her a 3rd wheel, she got to join right in.

My cousin John took Lawrence and Sabine up on the hill to shoot guns. They had a great time, I was glad that Sabine got to experience something she probably wouldn't otherwise. Some Au Pairs go on vacation with their families to California or Hawaii, we take ours to Eastern Oregon, the middle of nowhere to freeze her butt off in a tent. But at least she got to shoot a gun! :) Lawrence also enjoyed the target practice and thinks my cousin John is pretty cool to hang out with.

The weather was nice on Sunday, warmer and not as windy as on Saturday. We all got sunburns on our faces because it was overcast and I wasn't thinking. We had our annual fund raising auction and I got to be the auctioneer. I wasn't great at it, but it was fun. Last year we used the funds to make DVDs out of all my grandpas old home videos. I'm not sure what the $$ will go to this year, but we raised close to $300, mostly reselling stuff from our own houses that we didn't want any more + selling regifting type material. I had a few things I wanted to sell that I realized were given to me by people who would be at the auction. Then as I'm auctioneering, I see at LEAST 3 things that I gave to people being sold. I totally shoulda brought my stuff. If I had any room in the truck!

Last year our car was STUFFED to the brim. This year we have that same car and added 2 people, one who takes up a GIGANTIC car seat. Needless to say we are getting much more creative with our packing, and only bringing the "essentials". I say it in quotes because among the "essentials" there was a muffin tin and badmitton rackets. Lily made fork flowers to sell and was thrilled to see them going like hotcakes. :) Grandma Lanie won some for $3.00 but it was a lot of bidding on them. If I would have remembered her Mother's Day gift from Lily she would have gotten some for free. Sigh.

S'MORES

Saturday late night it POURED rain, POURED. It was fine, because it was just before bedtime, so we all got in to the tent. The night was warmer and we'd also borrowed my uncles small tent space heater. So we were toasty. I'd also been given a super warm hooded sleepsack for Bryson and dressed everyone in more unneeded layers. Sabine was given an extra 2 sleeping bags at least! So we were warm, and the sound of the rain on the tent is relaxing. Our new tent is waterproof...until you unzip it, then in dumps the water. But it was okay. Putting it back in the car was interesting, with Lawrence's hurt shoulder. Everything was wet. I had it all timed out that we'd be leaving right around Bryson's nap, but instead we were late, and he took his nap in my mom's arms waiting for Lawrence to finish loading and puzzling us all together. I offered for Sabine to ride up front so I could be close to the kids and give her a break on her day "off". Lawrence turned on the truck, it didn't start. He blamed me for leaving something plugged into the cigarette lighter all night. Okay. Luckily we were in the company of 3 mechanics and within a minute we were jumped and running. So then we get to Pendleton and I hear Bryson starting to poop for the first time in several days. We pull off at Wendy's, decide to get some lunch since Addie is sleeping. I started getting the flashes in my eyes that means a migraine headache is coming on. We stopped somewhere around The Dalles so I could puke and find some Exederin Migraine. I did both, and within 50 miles I could feel it working. Oh, and Sabine traded me back for the front seat.

By Portland my headache was there, but by some miracle it was no longer a migraine and I could see a future to my evening where I would be able to help unpack the car and take a shower. Not in that order.

Most of the gang minus my mom who took the picture and a few nappers and early leavers

We got home and everyone showered and bathed, and showered again. We set back up the tents in the Portland sun and let them dry out. Then we played outside with the girls new bug catchers they won at the auction. As we went to bed we heard Lily crying and crying in her room. When we went up to see what was the matter, she was crying because she missed the ranch. On and on she cried. There was no reasoning with her and we had to just let her be sad.

I know this isn't the most interesting blog I've ever written, but sometimes you just have to get the details out there, the ones that will be boring to most everyone who wasn't there.

Lily's favorite part: Seeing a wishing star

Addie's favorite part: Daddy's hat flying off while on the 4 wheeler and Lily going to get it for him

Sabine's favorite part: Shooting guns

Mommy's LOL: Lily runs up to my lap after a long day of running and playing and having so much fun with her cousins. I pull her close to me and kiss her cheek and say, "Lil, I feel like I've barely seen you today", she says, " I know mom, maybe next weekend you can schedule us some family time".

Mommy's favorite part: Seeing the kids run and play at the ranch, carefree and without worry. Loved knowing that bigger cousins were watching out for my little guys. Also loved watching Lily and Addie play the game of life.

Mommy's biggest regret: Not enough time to sit and talk. Especially needed more time with Rosy.

Daddy loved : His new tent, his Fat Tire in a can, his packing ingenuity, indulging his "shoulda been a cowboy" heart!

Other honorable mentions: Kite flying, bubble blowing, playing with Elyssa, paling around with Nick, seeing Marley and Shelby, ALL the Wilke's, lots of time with Susannah and Clemy, Lily and Clementina walking on a log

Titus and Ruth sharing big baby supplies, making a mud-pie Y, Suzy's boyfriend buying all the stuff they didn't need and outbidding himself, Matt and Heather camping at the top of the hill...sounded better in the heat and the daylight, silly zoned Addie high on Benedryl due to itchy watery eyes, everyone getting to the bottom of who drove Nick so fast on the 4wheeler up to Laurie's house, only to find out it was Laurie, and last but not least Lawrence bidding on dumb crap we didn't need at the auction, only to win a little rascals puzzle that is SURE to not have all it's pieces. I was a pretty biased auctioneer and only let him actually win once! :) Unlike Jeff and John, who I left win OFTEN when trying to bid other people up.

I've rambled enough...that's it! See you tomorrow as I attempt to unclog my blog and post some old stuff. It's June 1 and I feel the need to be caught up. Hot damn, it's June 1! The forecast is RAIN!