16 going on 17!

Michael had anticipated the reunion to include ringing in the new year, but everyone cleared out around 5 or 6 p.m. and went to bed, and we were left scrambling to come up with an idea of how to celebrate ringing in the new year.  We considered going to Connie's house on the river, but she had plans with friends.  We searched the Internet, hoping to find fireworks or some family-oriented activity in Cleveland where we could take the kids, but we found zilch.  I guess we're spoiled living downtown now, but there's always fireworks and festivities going on here, and it was a bummer to be away.  The same thing happened on the 4th of July this year when we were in Virginia and it rained all day and everything was closed and there were zero local festivities.  We've decided to never be away from home on a holiday again (we'll see how long before we break that rule), but it's nice knowing that no place seems to be as fun as home.  Especially when it comes to holidays and celebrations.  Completely stumped, I finally told the kids to get their shoes and coats on, and informed Michael that he would be taking us on a biographical driving tour of Cleveland.  We got to see (from the car) his first home, the rental house they lived in while building their new house, and the house on Rockland Court (which is the house he took me home to meet the parents in 1999).  We also drove by his schools and various parks, etc.  The kids were fascinated.  Not really, but it made us feel like we were doing something.

The kids were more interested in picking out a dessert at the diner we happened upon.  Michael was going to take us to Monterrey's as part of his tour, but it was closed.  We noticed a little 24 hour diner and thought it looked cute.  There was a magical case of cakes and pies when we walked in the door, and I got excited when I realized there was Greek food on the menu - can't think of a better last meal of 2016! 

We pumped them full of caffeine and sugar (and roast beef and mashed potatoes) so they would make it to midnight. 

The mint cake was our favorite!  We got back to the hotel in time to put in our jammies and turn on Ryan Seacrest. 

We had 30-40 minutes to wait to watch the ball drop.  Carigan dozed off once, but Tate took care of that by jumping on her.  We all got to witness live the bizarre train wreck that was Mariah Carey.  You'll have to google that one... I'm sure it will be in the history books.  All the kids were still awake at the stroke of midnight:

Happy New Year!!!!!  Kisses all around... even for Daddy.

Rogers Reunion

We brought some spunk to the Holiday Inn Express in Cleveland when we invaded the sleepy little hotel with our wild crew!

Everyone doting on Sweet Adeline, Bum-Bum-Bum  (Tate can't say Sweet Adeline without the Bum-Bum-Bum).  Mimi wanted to get a family picture for her belated Christmas card, but it was really cold so we ducked inside this historic house downtown to take pictures in the warmth.  It went about as well as you can expect pictures to go with seven kids. 

From there we drove to Kelli's for the reunion. Kelli and her family purchased Mamaw and Papaw's house after they moved into assisted living, and they've been doing a lot of renovations, especially in the kitchen and bathrooms.  It was neat to be back in Mamaw's house after so many years.  Kelli cooked a huge meal for all of us, and we all were wishing we could follow Tate's lead and take a nice post-meal nap.  But the kids perked up when they heard there were games. 

Denise had used hundreds of yards of plastic wrap, wrapping up treats like candy, toys and even money.  One person would unwrap as quickly as possible, trying to free as many treats as they could while the person next to them continually rolled a set of dice until they rolled doubles, and then the person with the wad of plastic had to immediately pass it on.  Sometimes a turn would last half a minute, sometimes you barely had time to get the wad in your hands.  But you got to keep anything you managed to free.  Wesley had his game face on the whole time.  That boy doesn't mess around when it comes to competition - especially when candy and money are on the line!   All our kids got some great treats, but Elise was the lucky unwrapper of the jackpot cash prize.  Such a fun game, and the kids had a ball!

Patricia hired a photographer to come take pictures.  It's the first time we've all been together in many years, and the first time since we've all had kids!  All of the grandkids were there except for Kevin, and all of the grandkids there (Michael, Jonathan, Kelli, Dallas and Angela) except for Dallas brought all of their children.  So we were quite the crew!

Kelli's older son Sam had already left for work (at American Eagle, so now Wesley is on a mission to find an American Eagle store were he can buy some clothes), but he played with Wesley for a long time before he had to go to work.  He showed Wesley his computer he built and overall just wowed the socks off his 11-year-old mind.  Wes has never been so impressed with anyone in his life as Cousin Sam!  We're so thankful for such a rare opportunity to get the whole family together.  Just look at what Mamaw and Papaw started!

Great Snowy Lodge!

Our little Floridians were on snow watch 2016 all day long.  Michael picked up Chipotle for dinner and we were getting ready to head out for yet another round at the water park Thursday night when...

Snowflakes began to fall!!!

We had so much fun staying late at the water park... the lines were super short and we could ride the big slides again and again.  I couldn't take my phone anywhere but the kiddie area though - it would not have survived a ride on one of the water slides.  So no pictures of those, but we had so much fun!

Carigan and Tate didn't want to miss the snow in the lobby (snow inside, snow outside - what more could you want?!), so we left Daddy to ride more big water slides with Wes and AK.

Jammied up and ready for the snow!  The water park closed just as the show was starting.  Michael and Wes waved as they passed, on their way to the room to get dry and warm.  Anna Kate on the other hand ran to us (soaking wet in her bathing suit) and had a ball playing in the fake snow. 

I was cold just looking at her, but she insisted she wasn't cold at all.  It was a lot less crowded at the 9:00 show than it was the 8:00 show.  We practically had the lobby to ourselves.  Tate went around catching snow with his Great Wolf Lodge grabber.  Such a fun late night!  Back in our wolf den, we watched Fixer Upper by the fireside until our eyes got heavy.

And we woke up to a thin white blanket of snow... enough to make snowballs on the balcony!

We checked out around 11 a.m., but we still had access to the water park for the whole day, so we went for one more round!

Wesley continued his MagiQuest game while I got these three showered and dressed in the locker room.  Then I took them to the gift shop to make their final selections for a souvenir.  Tate had already picked the grabber and got it yesterday.  Anna Kate picked a stuffed animal (surprise, surprise), Carigan got a Great Wolf Lodge journal, and Wes later popped in to get a book to hold his growing collection of pressed pennies.  Then we sat in the lobby as Wesley crisscrossed the hotel, finishing up his game of MagiQuest.  Finally it was time to go - Don't think we could possibly have crammed more fun into our three days at Great Wolf Lodge!  What a special memory.