It’s a fact–I take too many pictures. So in an effort to not make you page down 33 times in one post, I got a little collage-happy.
First is the Instagram version of our long weekend in the Ozarks. Maren showing off her photog skills, “Will Capone” looking cute, my mom and I having a little too much fun at the maternity store…and some pontoon entertainment.
Like most years, we spent a lot of time at the pool dodging the kids’ squirt-gun shots and chatting with family. If I’m counting correctly, there are 7 Gower siblings, 16 grandkids, and 14 great-grandkids…plus all of the significant others. Needless to say, we do a pretty good job of taking over the resort pool every second weekend in June.
Will was quite the lover on this trip and Luke had plenty of good quotes, as usual.
“Wow, those are really bootiful” – referring to Norah’s recently painted toenails.
“Uncle Chris, you’re a super hero!”
“Gigi, there’s your friend Papa.”
On Friday we did some outlet mall shopping while the guys golfed, and then our family watched a dog competition at a restaurant on the lake.
Saturday was devoted to a day on the water. We rented a pontoon boat to take the kids out on the lake and Chris put his Kansas Boating license to good use by driving. But really, who carries a license like that in their wallet for 14 years?!
The kids had a lot of fun in the water…especially Will, aka Randy. He got this sweet nickname because, just like Randy in “A Christmas Story”, he is always falling down and getting stuck on his back. It’s pretty obvious that he loves the attention and is now doing it on purpose just for laughs. Oh Randy!
Oh and next year we’ll remember to make sure there’s an anchor in the boat before we head out 🙂
On Saturday night a couple of my aunts threw us a baby shower on the deck. Again, we were overwhelmed by all of the sweet gifts–lots of adorable clothes, bath supplies, a bumbo, activity gym, and our video monitor from my parents and siblings–yay! Now to say that Gigi went overboard in the cute clothes department would be a huge understatement. Our baby is pretty much set wardrobe-wise for the first year of her life 🙂 I can’t wait to get home and look at it all again!!!
Maren, Norah and Luke were all a big help in unwrapping the gifts…but believe me, they didn’t want to waste any time in between presents. They barely saw what was in one bag before they were ripping tissue paper out of the next!
Doesn’t the middle picture just scream “I’m ready to be a dad”?!?
As usual, I’m writing this as we drive home…and we’re 10 hours into our 13 hour trip! It sounds awful but I’m actually growing to like these long road trips with Chris. This one was especially fun because instead of our usual route through OKC and Dallas, we went through Branson, the Arkansas backwoods, and now we’re getting close to Nacogdoches. Lots more to look at–but the power plug-in and air card help too 🙂
So another wonderful Gower family reunion is in the books…my 27th and the family’s 34th. Next year we’ll be back with the 15th great-grankid–and I can’t wait!
Looks like a great family vaca! How did you do those awesome instagram collages? SO fun:)
I used Pic Monkey–it's amazing! You can't do it straight from Instagram so you have to import the pictures individually…but it's still a great tool!