What's in Midland you ask. Not much, but for one weekend in August, it was the destination for our family reunion. Why Midland? Not because it's the most exciting place with the most variety of things to do, but because it was the half way point between all our families. With us coming from El Paso, Scott coming from San Antonio, John coming from Dallas, and Mom, Dad, and Paul coming from Wichita Falls, we each only had to drive around 5 hours to get together instead of one family (most likely us) having to drive 9 plus hours to see everyone. We appreciated the location and knew that as long as we were all together, fun would be had. And that was true!
Of course, it didn't come without drama, but at least it was minor drama. We were all supposed to be staying in the same hotel, but there was a mix-up between the website we booked rooms through and the hotel, so Mom and Dad ended up in a different hotel down the street. Not too bad, plus Grandma Solheim was able to be with us, so they probably preferred the separation from all the kids anyway. The best part about our hotel was the indoor swimming pool complete with twisty slide. Everyone loved taking turns shooting out of the slide. Even the little girls got turns with Tyler or Scott holding them so they wouldn't go under water. It was funny to hear them scrape along the sides of the slide to keep from going too fast. The first picture is of Aubrey coming out with Tyler. She was so excited to show Grandma and Grandpa this weekend how she had learned how to swim without floaties. Unfortunately, the week before we left, she had been complaining about her ear hurting and after going to the doctor we found out she had a pretty badly infected swimmer's ear. So she wasn't supposed to put her head under the water for like a week. So she put her floatie back on, but still swam and took her turns going down the slide being held by someone who would keep her out of the water. They had a pretty big hot tub too, so I snapped this second picture as Grandpa got put in charge of tending the little ones who wanted to swim in the hot tub.
We spent most of Friday at a park where we reserved a pavilion to eat and the park included playgrounds, a splash pad, volleyball nets, and horseshoe pits. We also brought a lot of outdoor games to keep everyone happy. We had a lot of fun and I tried grabbing pictures of all the different activities. Here's Aubrey and Rebecca on the playground, and Chloe and Tessa on the swings. We had another interesting occurrence while at the park. A reporter came up to talk to me while I was watching Taryn play. She said they were doing an article on updating parks in the city and wanted to take some pictures of people using the new playground equipment. So she took pictures of Taryn playing and got our names and Taryn's age to be in this newspaper article. But since we were just visiting, I probably won't ever see if we were actually in the newspaper or not. I did try looking for it online once, but didn't come across anything. The reporter thought it was hilarious that we were all in Midland for a family reunion but no one lived there. She asked where we were all from and just laughed wondering what we'd find to do there. Playing at the park was at the top of our list, so we had a good conversation about the city and what things we could do there. It was funny.
Tyler brought horseshoe stuff and he and Abby played with Paul and Grandma. We played volleyball, ladder golf, and other lawn games until the kids finally talked us into going over to the splash pad.
We were worried about the weather (it was supposed to rain all day), but it just stayed overcast and the splash pad was still turned on, so we let them go until they got too cold to be in the water any longer. I took a lot of pictures while they ran from one thing to the next.
Scott had us take a selfie together. (Is it not a selfie with two people??) Anyway, here we are as we watched the kids play in the water.
As the kids started tiring out for the day, they started huddling around Grandma. I took this picture and thought it turned out really cute.
When we weren't out eating or playing, we spent the majority of the our time in the hotel. The room we stayed in had a complete kitchen so most of the big group get togethers were there. Our room also had this huge walk-in closet so we would just send the girls in there to play with their barbies or to watch movies on the ipad, so we could shut the door and let them be. They didn't seem to mind. They loved it in there.
We were on the second floor and our room looked out onto a huge open lobby and the pool. The girls would take their toys out there to play occasionally too. They had these cute benches with the lamp in the middle where the girls liked to sit and play. Here are two pictures. One taken on the first floor with them, and one taken from the second floor right above them.
The lobby also had ping pong tables, arcade games, and a mini-golf set-up. The kids loved taking turns playing everything, going from one thing to the next. Grandma even had brought some little crafts like flying airplanes and pinwheels that the kids got to put together and play with in the big lobby.
I loved finding all the cousins together as they played. They loved watching Tessa, or whoever, play on the ipad. As long as they were happy being together, I wasn't going to complain about what they were doing. I also grabbed some of them in the hallway to take a picture. There were some steps right outside our door, so I thought it was a great picture spot.
We put up tables when we all ate together in our hotel room. I took this picture because it included some of the adults. Aubrey found new best friends in McKaye and John. She wouldn't leave them alone the entire weekend! Good thing they didn't mind the little tag-along.
We ate out for a couple of meals, so of course the pictures continue. We ate at an On the Border because I love that place and they don't have one in El Paso (and we ARE the border, so it's crazy to me that we don't have that restaurant...don't get me started!). Anyway, so I got my fix while we were there. We took pictures while we waited to be seated.
And then after dinner, they had a small fenced area in front of the restaurant where we took a lot more pictures. Most of these included Grandma Solheim so we could make sure she was included in the memories. I love the one of Chloe, Aubrey, and Rebecca. Those girls are going to be trouble. Only one year separates all three of them in age, and they love playing together when we get together. It's so fun to see them grow up together.
I love taking pictures of Grandma with Aubrey because this is her namesake. Aubrey Jeanne was named after her great-grandma, Jeanne Solheim.
When we first saw Grandma Solheim and Grandma and Grandpa Black at the hotel, I started taking pictures as my kids climbed up and down each of them. So here they are:
We love being with family. No matter where we are, as long as we're together, we can make memories and have a great time. We can't wait to get together again - no matter where it is.
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