Farrell Family Reunion 2014

The Farrell family reunion 2014 was in a huge cabin in Mount Shasta, CA. We spent a few days on the lakes around there, did some hiking, drove up Mount Shasta, explored the town, and just generally hung out and enjoyed each other's company. It was SO hot while we were there, and our cabin had no AC - so we were pretty toasty. Jack ended up with heat exhaustion after being outside in the heat. He spent a night in the ER with an IV in his poor little noggin and by the next morning he had perked up. It was our family's first ever ER trip and it was terrifying, especially with a tiny 3-month baby that can't communicate how he's feeling. The rest of the reunion was fun, though we kept Jack inside, naked, with a wet washcloth on his head for the rest of the week just to be safe

Mount Shasta!

Cute long-legged boy.

Nora looks so old in this picture to me.

Enjoying the view.

Cousins doing a rock maze.

The lake had these awesome blow-up floating jungle gym things. So fun!

Farrell siblings jumping off.

Cute babies.

Babies with grandpa - this was about 10 minutes before Jack got super sick. This picture still gives me anxiety.

ER visit.

Wrapped up and grateful for the air conditioning.

Tiny tiny baby in a huge crib.

Feeling much better in the morning.

We went on a drive to visit some of the other beautiful lakes in the area. It was screaming hot - it felt like standing in an oven.

Poor naked Jack stayed in the car (and the air-conditioning) with daddy.

Nora and Ellie - two princess obsessed cousins. :)

Twirling like princesses.

Tapping Batman in the talent show!

Steve and Debbie's sweet moves.

Matt and I played "The Devil Went Down to Georgia"

Our family talent was a glowing stick man dance. SO fun.

Glowstick dance party!

This is what Jack thought of the glowsticks.

Summer activities

We love lazy summer days. :)

Jack doesn't love tummy time, but he sure is cute:

This is one of the kids' favorite activities - "cooking" in the backyard. The end result is pretty gross to clean up, but they love it!

We went to Matt's house on the final day to help clean it before they left forever. Matt was pretty sad. These are the last pictures before this house belongs to someone else.

We are loving getting to know this sweet baby boy.

 And, like all my kids, he excels at crazy faces.

Love love love first baby sounds. Jack is just finding his voice.

He doesn't love the bumbo...

 Danville street fair.

 Pirate themed, obviously. :)

These are their scary pirate faces. They got to do a treasure hunt through lots of stores and had tons of fun!

4th of July, 2014 - Monterey/Pacific Grove, CA

We LOVE Monterey and the ocean house, and it's even better at the 4th of July. We were able to go down with my whole family this time, and had so much fun!

4th of July parade in downtown Monterey.

Madeline and cute cousins.

Nora can't help moving any time music comes on... this time she was dancing to the belly dancer music from the parade. She was much cuter to watch than the actual belly dancers.

The whole crew. I'll blow it up for you....

....because my mom, obviously. :)

There we go, that's better.

This is how Jack spent the parade.

We went to a fair in Carmel after the parade in Monterey. There was a sack race, and Owen decided to do it. Normally he is very timid, and doesn't do great in things like this and then gets really sad/embarrassed. I was just like him as a kid, so it kills me to watch him be so timid. He did great in this race, though - the other kid fell down three times and totally cheated (he didn't go all the way to the end before turning around). Owen didn't fall down once, went all the way to the turn around, and nearly beat the other kid. He was about 5 years younger, though, and so the other kid was a lot faster. I was so proud of Owen for trying. He was super happy to get a prize. :)

The whole family in 4th of July gear.

Cute Lexie, Ryan, Katelyn, and Aubrey.

This little dolly is a professional drama queen.

But she can usually be persuaded. :)

Cute mom and dad.

I love this picture, obviously.

Wacky Mad and Kev.

The three "little kids", Becca, Kevin, and Madeline.

All the grandkids.

Becca did some awesome nail art on everyone!

Pretty sure my kids are the cutest. :)

LOVE them. So much.

S'mores over the barbeque.

Nora and Owen's first time doing fireworks (they're pretty much illegal everywhere in CA, except in certain towns, so we've never done them). Nora and Owen loved the sparklers and poppers, but got freaked out by everything else.

Exploring the tide pools the next day.