McGee's visit

There is so much to catch up. I'm sure I will leave out some things. The McGee's got in Monday night. After Ben picked them up from the airport, they came here for a quick dinner before we headed up to Williams. The drive up was uneventful, which is a good thing. Ben and Jason talked up front, while Abbie and I caught up in back. The kids watched a movie and fell asleep about 20 minutes before we got to the hotel. When we got there we were all starving. Ben and Jason left to get food only to come back with a bunch of junk from the gas station. Apparently nothing else is open past 10:00 pm in Williams. We were also planning on swimming, but this particular Fairfield had to be the only one w/out an indoor pool, except for the one at Disneyland, but that's in California. HELLO! The kids were disappointed, but found a way to have a good time in the hotel rooms. So much so, one of our neighbors banged on the wall. The kids just hit the wall back. I guess they thought it was a game. A few minutes later the manager came, and we decided it was bedtime!

Tuesday morning we started off w/ the free breakfast. We were starving! The kids loved it...and I loved that they were old enough to serve themselves!!! After breakfast, we headed over to the train. Before departure time, they had a cowboy shootout performance. The kids had a good time watching that. They didn't enjoy the smell of the horse poop, but luckily they scooped it up pretty fast. I don't know how Abbie held her breakfast down? She is 14 weeks pregnant and still has a queasy stomach. At 10:00 am our train left for the Grand Canyon. It was a 2 hour ride. The kids liked the music and the refreshment car. They made a few trips back there and filled their bellies w/ a lot of junk.
The Grand Canyon was nice, but didn't really compare to the Havasupia experience. It was still amazing to see how deep the hole really is and all the layers, etc. I wish we had more time to stop at more points. Boston was really freaked out at first, because a four year old girl just recently fell in and died. Once he took a few looks, he got almost too comfortable. Boston, Aubrie and Sydney had fun looking through their binoculars at all the different spots. I purchased one of those backpack harnesses for Ethan. He didn't like it at first, and neither did Ben. He wanted me to take it off him, but I figured my son's life was worth more than what others thought. We didn't even get any looks. I think everyone was glad to see we were using precaution! Ethan got used to it and by the end liked it. After we finished taking the free shuttle around, we had lunch at Bright Angels Lodge. The food was overpriced and average, but we had a view of the Grand Canyon while we were eating, so that was nice. Ethan was so tired he fell asleep in Ben's arms before the food came. We had to box it up for the train ride. I guess he isn't used to so much excitement. After lunch, we strolled back toward the train depot and then headed back home. The ride back was the same; entertainment, refreshment car, free drinks. We did have a little more excitement. The cowboys held up the train and "took our money", or more like our donations. They spent a lot of time talking to the kids (they recognized them from the shoot out) and the kids ate it up. The kids were giving them a hard time and our car was getting a good laugh out of it. We have so many pictures from it all, I don't know what ones to post. I do know that I want a new camera. The McGee's have a new 10 MP camera and it takes the BEST pictures. I thought I just lost my touch b/c my pictures were so much better when I used to have my 35 mm. Now I want their camera...so NICE!!!
Anyway, on the way home we had a little excitement. Our suspension warning came on and when we stopped to check the car out. Our tire was hitting the rim of the tire well. Ben tried driving it for about 5 minutes, until he realized it wasn't going to work. We put our spare on, which is a normal tire, and that luckily got us home safely. Thank heavens for our custom wheels! I never thought they served a purpose till then. Also, I'm so glad our car is still under warranty. Whew!

Wednesday I moved the kids piano lesson to the morning, so we could head out to the state fair early. Wednesday is dollar ride day at the fair. It's such a good deal! We got there around 2:00 and it couldn't have been a better time. It was so empty! We had a GREAT time! Sophia was perfect and I only ate a funnel cake (big accomplishment). We bought 80 rides between the two families and the kids rode about every ride they wanted, except the ones they were too short to ride. Poor Ethan had to hang back on a lot of rides. He was fearless, running up to rides that were clearly too big for him. We actually snuck him on a few that were harmless, like the log ride. We squeezed 6 on the ride, so Ethan was pinned in between Jason and I and he wasn't going anywhere. He LOVED that ride along with the other kids. I would say that was their favorite along w/ the GREEN roller coaster. Jason and I rode most of the rides w/ the kids. Abbie couldn't ride anything and Ben refuses to do the water rides or any of the "motion" rides. I had to go on a few of the spinning rides, and almost lost my water! Oh how I sacrifice for my children. Ha!
We got home around 5:00. We just picked up some take out and enjoyed the hot tub. After the kids went to bed, we finally played some cards with the McGees. That is something we have always done with them. We used to hang out at each others house almost every night when Aubrie was a baby. We started with Canasta, and some how started playing Spades. So now we always play Spades. It's Abbie and I against Ben and Jason. So far Abbie and I are the reigning champions and still are:)

Thursday the girls went shopping while the boys hung out and did guy stuff; fix our electronic set up for our TV's, watch Transformers for the millionth time, etc. We then swam, fed the kids some dinner, and luckily were able to find a sitter so we could enjoy a dinner out. We had a nice time at the Cheesecake Factory. I got my favorite dish; the fish Tacos. When we got home we had a few hours to play some more games and finally after midnight we called it a night and went to bed:(

Friday morning the kids went to school b/c the McGee's left that morning to go back home. I was so sad to see them leave. Their trip went so fast. Aubrie and Sydney had such a great time together. They were inseparable and enjoyed their late nights bunking in Sophia's room (she slept in ours) in their blow up sleeping bags. They did everything from playing Uno, listening to music, playing w/ dolls, playing w/ their webkinz online(under supervision of course) playing in the backyard, shopping and buying matching cloths, etc. They are already planning their trips to visit one another:) Aubrie wants to go to there house first b/c they have 7 cats! Not a big surprise from my little animal whisper! LOL
Friday night Ben and I had our date night. We had dinner at In and Out! How funny is that? Nothing else sounded good to us after all our eating out w/ the McGee's. That also gave us plenty of time to catch a movie. We saw "Dan in Real Life". It was such a great "feel good" movie. When we got home the kids were finishing up their movie "Meet the Robinsons". That was a "feel good" movie, too. So we went to bed on a high note. Ha!

Saturday we didn't do much. Boston had another T-ball game, but Ethan had pink eye, so I kept him home. Boston had a great game, so Ben stopped at Sonic to get him something. Ben swam w/ the kids while Aubrie and I tried to find some black Sunday shoes. Doesn't anyone go to church anymore? It took me 5 stores before I could find some decent ones, argh! After we got back, we made our dreaded weekly trip to Walmart. It's really not so bad, but going on a Saturday isn't the best idea. Unfortunately we were pretty wiped out after the company, so we had to restock on a few things. Of course, you just don't go there for a few things. So we ended up coming out w/ several things not on the list, including a Halloween costume for Ethan. I realized that he never has had a new costume. He has always wore the hand me downs. So this year we let him pick out something. He picked out a Superman costume and is already wearing it around the house!:)
After we got home, Aubrie put on some fake nails the I reluctantly bought her. What 7 year old need nails, right?! Well I definitely changed my mind after she scratched my back, arms and legs!! The best $4.oo I ever spent. Aubrie got smart today and started charging money for a back scratch (not me of course). After she scratched Ben's back, she said I need 2 dollars. Ben asked her why and she said "because this is Aubrie's Spa and that's how much it costs".
Saturday night we watched the Red Sox win another game. Ben had to run and give his Mom a blessing during the beginning of the game and when he got back they were ahead 6 to 0! I told Ben he should take off and serve someone else to clinch the win! Ha! While Ben was gone, I was trying to hold the fort down. Boston was so sweet, wanting to help me bathe Sophia. He was so gentle with her. He, too, will make a good babysitter! Oh, speaking of Boston, Saturday morning Ben said he came out front to find Boston in the small garage. He asked him what he was doing and he told him "he was organizing the garage b/c it was driving him crazy!".....he is so my son. Anyway, back to Saturday night. While Ben was gone, Aubrie wanted to put Sophia down. She rocked her and fed her a bottle and put her in her crib. She did that tonight, too! She definitely has that mothers instinct! When Ben got home I played Uno with the kids while Ben finished watching the game. As we were putting the kids to bed, Aubrie's eyed started looking crusty; darn it! That's when we knew we wouldn't be making it to church.

Today we just took turns taking naps, we have had too many "wake up calls" the past few nights! We also made some Halloween sugar cookies, practiced piano, watched some church videos, and had our home teachers over. Oh, we also had to get some more eye drops. Our first trip over there they were trying to give us eye drops that cost 55 dollars. I told them I never have spent that much for "pink eye" drops. Finally, an hour later, Ben picked up another type of eye drop that only cost 3 dollars! What were they thinking?!!!! I was almost panicking there for a second, especially since I needed two!
Now it's very late! I hate playing catch up on journaling, but there was really no time while our company was here. I'm sure I left out plenty, but something is better than nothing! Pictures will have to wait until tomorrow!