When I first told my Missouri family that we wanted to come for a visit in June, in between basketball/tennis camps and FSY for our teenagers, my younger brother said he knew a guy who was going to start renting his big house on AirBnB or VRBO. It has lots of bedrooms, a big kitchen and a pond on plenty of land just north of Liberty, in Excelsior Springs. Next thing we knew, more and more siblings were able to come.
My sister and her husband flew in from England, a brother and his family flew from Seattle, two brothers and their kids also drove from Utah, five siblings in Missouri/Kansas came (sometimes sleeping over, sometimes not). In the end, there were 20 grandkids and 16 adults playing, eating, talking, kayaking, swimming, etc.
The pond was the biggest hit. The kids were in it just about every day.
The other big attraction was getting turns driving and taking rides on the property.
JB walked every morning and often saw the cows in the pastures.
Cousins with Uncle Peter
I thought before hand that my parents would be able to come to the big house as well, but it would have been hard on my mom and her health. So on Tuesday, a big group drove to Chillicothe and visited them.
That morning we also stopped by Adam-ondi-Ahman and the spot where JB and I got engaged.
Then we drove through Jamesport, where I went to a small K-12 school my senior year. We stopped at some Amish stores and bought good treats and saw a hat that fits JB.
We took the road past my family's old house and then the route on 190 to Chillicothe, which is the home of sliced bread, as the mural shows.
We played at a park but mainly stayed in the shade in the hot humidity, then ate dinner at the buffet in town (kids are 99 cents on Tuesdays, wink wink)
James ate these mini corn dogs.
Millie had her dream treat - pink ice cream with gummy bears.
These cousins were inseparable all week.
On Wednesday, some of us went to see more historic sites, like Liberty Jail
And the Independence Visitors Center.
The sister missionaries do an incredible job.
Then we went to Joes KC barbecue
One night my brother Michael showed my boys the stars.
Another night Aunt Sarah helped everyone roast S'mores
Friday we went to the Gladstone Municipal Pool. Two of my sisters live in Gladstone and this is a very fun pool. Millie was in heaven. She had been begging me to get into the pond all week, but I (and many other mothers) did not really want to get into the "wild water" and walk on mud at the bottom. So I played and played with her at the pool.
Ben and James (under the blanket) got chilly and sleepy. The cloud cover was deceptive -- several of my siblings got sunburned, and even with sunscreen my back turned a little red.
Look how happy cousin Kaylee is behind my tired boys
The boys got new Chiefs shirts. Max misses his cousin Nathanael a lot -- we are hoping for another chance to see them before missions.
Uncle Joe was always the tallest, but Max is catching up
Uncle Joe paid the kids to catch frogs. They went on a massive frog hunt for him Friday night when he went to the Royals game.
Saturday morning at 6 a.m. we drove away. That was sad! We had so much fun.
We drove all day and made it back to our house in Salt Lake City at 9 p.m., so it took 16 hours with the time change and a long wait at the Chick-fil-A in Cheyenne, Wyoming. We listened to "Endurance: Shackelton's Incredible Voyage" and that helped JB keep going. We have to plan the next family reunion!
