Summer Vacation - In the Beginning...

My counsin Donny with his daughter Kate, flanked by Aedan & Gavin


We've been home almost 2 weeks, but it so often seems that a vacation after the vacation is truly needed! Here's the scoop:

Monday, Aug. 11 - the kids and I left about 6am to head up to Oklahoma to pick up Grandma for our trip out west. They were great! We left early because I wanted to get on the road to get to grandma's house earlier in the afternoon so they kids might get some energy out before our 18 hour drive the next day to Las Vegas!

Tuesday, Aug. 12 - got on the road early again. Not as early as Monday, but still in good time. Mom & I braced ourselves for a very long day of driving. We had all four of the cigarette lighter type plug-ins full. One for the converter for Aedan's Cyber Pocket, another for Chaz's DS Lite, the two up front were very connected - one for the iPod converter (a tuner for the iPod to play thru the radio - my van is just a couple years too old to have the direct connect), and the other with a splitter - on plug-in for the GPS and the other for the kids movies in the back (yes - they played almost the whole way and even when they were playing their games). We were packed with snax, pillows & blankets, and the necessary electronics in the main area, fully packed in the trunk, and a car topper strapped on top. The drive went rather well with just a couple of stops for gas, potty, & food. After covering MANY miles we arrived in Vegas to stay with my Aunt Bonna, Uncle Stewart, & cousins. Man, the air was dry and I was LOVING it! I miss the west coast!!
The best part about traveling west is the time change is in our favor - we arrived about 10pm Vegas time (midnight CST).

Wednesday, Aug. 13 - Sometime during the trip to Vegas from Ok Chaz started to cry - his ear was hurting him (in hind site mom and think it was when we went over the Sandia Mountains into Albuquerque - the first real elevation change). He had been complaining before the trip, but because we had been going to the pool so much I thought it was swimmers ear. I had the drops and gave him Tylenol and we continued to drive. By the end of the trip on Tuesday he was in pain and so I called my aunt in Vegas and asked about a good Dr. She suggested a walk-in clinic down the road and so on Wed. morning Chaz and I went to get his ear checked out. It wasn't too bad of a wait for a walk-in - about an hour. When we finally saw the Dr. she looked in his ear and there was so much fluid she couldn't see the ear drum. She determined that it was probably a burst ear drum and prescribed antibiotics. We filled the prescription ASAP and after a stop at a HUGE Jo-Ann's Etc we were back to pick up my mom and the other kids and get on the road again - this time for a short 7 hour trip!
We made it to Fallon, NV in good time and began a 3 day 4 nite stay with my aunt's family in Fallon (about an hour outside of Reno to the East - the relatively new home to Top Gun).

Thursday, Aug. 14 - Loved being with Aunt Shawna, Uncle Grant - their kids and Mojo (the dog). The kids and I enjoyed the first day of the week NOT in the van! Mom, Shawna, & I went on a bike ride after breakfast. I loved the cool morning temps - something I don't get in the summer in Texas! We played, rested, relaxed and enjoyed being with family we hadn't seen in TOO LONG!

Friday, Aug. 15 - More relaxing and playing. Shawna, Grant and I headed to Reno for a Costco run and met Grandma Christiansen, Great Aunt Gwyn, Mom (she drove up to Reno Thurs. morning), Dad (flew into Reno earlier on Friday), Bonna & Stewart (drove up to Reno Wed) at Claim Jumpers (YUM!). My cousins stayed in Fallon and watched my kids so it could be an adult dinner (yeah!!).

Saturday, Aug. 16 - Laundry! I needed to get our laundry done so that we would have enough clothes to last us thru Tahoe and the trip home! Shawna was so great to feed us, give us a comfy place to sleep and let us use all the other amenities! We packed up what we had brought in and got ready to leave early on Sunday morning to head to Reno to go to church and then prepare for the mass exodus to Tahoe (finally!). That evening my brother Cyle & cousin Shayla flew in to Reno from SLC and the Skouson cousins drove up from Vegas! Fun to reunite with EVERYONE! We stayed up WAY TOO LATE with an awesome Fireworks display by Josh and Millie (cousins) and yummy ice cream! The off to bed.

Sunday, Aug. 17 - Got up early-thirty to head to Reno. Shawna and Grant were having Stake Conference and I wasn't prepared for 2 hours with my kids (only brought a small church activity bag) and they didn't know who the visiting authority was going to be - so I chose to drive up to Grandma's ward to attend church with the rest of the family. Ironically, once we all arrived to Tahoe and talked about church earlier that day the visiting authority was Elder Pickard - my old stake president from Katy! His family had recently moved to Phoenix and he was in Fallon on church business! It would have been so fun to see him again - would have surprised him I'm sure! Oh well, loved church in Reno, had some pretty good revelation from one of the Sacrament talks!
After church we went back to Grandma's started the great load-up, ate a delicious breakfast provided by Bon and Stew and were outta there! We were all so excited to finally start the "official" family reunion at Lake Tahoe - something that had been planned for, thought about, & traveled too for about a year!

The Skouson and Moulton kids (missing Quinn) with a couple extras - enjoying the yummy ice cream after the fireworks!
Lt to Rt Front- Sharah M. (head down), Josh M. (green shirt), Aedan (tounge out), Kate (1/2 in picture) Back - Shayla M., Millie S., Mikayla S., Jacob M., Marissa S., Shalese M.