Chronicles of The Christensens: The Day Family Visits

This is year it was so nice to have Meg and Alan's family come to Bend for a visit. I am always trying to convince family to come out to see us. (I know it's not always easy we get it, but we miss everyone so it's worth a shot) When I was talking with Megan I planted the seed of coming out to Bend for their family trip for the summer. Our family was going to be going out to Utah later in July but I told Meg there is really nothing wrong with seeing each other multiple times over the summer, and to that point she agreed, and that same day she got back to me to say that they would be visiting! I was so excited! It was just a couple weeks out when she they decided so I was able to to tell the boys right away and they continued to count down the days till they arrived.
They came over the 4th of July. We are often not with family on holidays and so this was a really special occasion because we were. We definitely packed in a lot of things over the time we had. We went to the Pet Parade on the 4th, we to Sisters, we went swimming at Juniper, and did fireworks-and that was one day! I love fireworks and I really have started to love watching fireworks with my kids. This year Rowan was so fun to watch fireworks with-it was like a rollercoaster ride he was so excited. Of course, this holiday is not ideal when you have small kids/babies. I usually want to make an announcement that once the main event is over than everyone should cease to do any more. It wasn't too bad- it got quiet around midnight.

The next day we went to the river to let the kids play in the water and the sand. They had a lot of fun, and were so messy! Messy in a good way..the kind of messy kids should be sometimes. It's always nice having an extra pair of hands to hold Lily, because obviously she at a harder stage that she isn't not able to really enjoy such a scene and I spend most of the time trying to protect her from the sun. I also made the mistake of thinking Jonah would not be going into the water much and that was not accurate hence the most water logged diaper EVER! 😂

Saturday we got Ocean Rolls in the morning and then went to the RockRidge park so the kids could ride around on the trails and then go to the park that is also there. I even got to ride a little bit on the trails too. I have to admit there is nothing quite like riding a bike that makes you feel like a kid again that and probably rollerblading, but it is so much fun, and I really hope that I can do it more often.

I am still totally in baby land --I mean Lily is just 6 months old, but I am starting to the clouds depart and that some day I will be able to do things much easier, and even, dare I even say, enjoy my time with the kids better. Right now I am still feeding Lily, trying to get her to stop crying while intermittently trying to put the house back together as well as I can..which might I add, is not that well.

Ahem. That was an unexpected tangent. Anyways, the trip with the Days was a success. It was a lot of busy, fun with the kids and enjoyable evenings with the adults which is how it should be. I do express my thanks when we have visitors but I hope they realize how much I really mean it, and how much it means to our family, as well. I need and want my kids relationships with the family and cousins to be strong despite living away. I believe it is important. I just hope that the family wants this as well because it's not just up to me. It is just my hope. I also always hope and believe that everyone does always have fun together. I know it is meaningful time for my boys. They count down the days and always want it to be a longer visit.

Thanks Day family. It drop another hint next year and hope it can happen again. 😉