A Visit from Kevin's Family

Kevin's Family Visits Star
6/14 - 6/19

Sunday 6/14

Kevin's family arrived at 6:15 this evening and just in time for a spaghetti dinner.

The kids had fun playing Corn Hole, doing cartwheels & finding a place for some "Private Time".

Sydney (12), Crew (15), Connor (17), Sydney, Shea (8)

After dinner, as a group, we began working on "The Project". 

This hot tub has been in storage at Matt's house for a few years now. We thought it was about time to bust it out and see if it still holds water and works.

Matt opening up the bag containing the tub... and one very large spider!

Everyone helped clean up all the pieces.

Next came the task of assembling it . . . without any written instructions . . . but with our collective brains (and a little help from the internet) we figured it all out !!

We hooked up the motor/heater and began inflating the tub. Happily, it held air!! We screwed on the filters and cool, multi-color, light. Once we were confident there weren't any leaks, we Got the hose and began filling the tub. We figured out how the cover went together and Lani, Connor, & Crew figured out how the headrests worked. We checked out the control panel and turned on the bubbles . . . they worked !! We turned off the hose, the light, and the bubbles, then put the cover in place. So far, everything was good, The temperature was 68 degrees when we put the cover on so now we wait to see if the heater works.

On Monday morning the heat was up to 86 degrees so it's looking good for the heater. The temperature continued to go up and the kids didn't waste any time getting wet !!

 

During the rest of the week, the kids spent a lot of time in this hot tub. Even the grown-ups got brave enough to give it a try. We'd say the decision to set up this hot tub was a good one and was a big success!

Monday 6/15

This Afternoon, we headed to Lowell Lake Park.

We met Matt & Jen at the east boat ramp where they were just launching their surf boat.

We waited as Matt maneuvered his boat into place along side the dock so we could all get on board.

His boat will accommodate a large crowd so there was plenty of room for all of us to be on the boat at the same time.

 

Top Left: Matt's girls Jetta (21) and Sienna (18) - Lani & Crew (15) - Sydney (12), Shea (8), Lani, Crew, Jen - Shea, Sydney, Lani - Kevin, Connor ((17) - Steve & Linda

One of the things the kids like doing best is riding the tube. First they got the tube blown up, then Connor & Crew helped their little sister, Shea, up on the tube and sandwiched her between them and giving Matt the "We're ready" thumbs up!

Matt always gives them a wild ride. He starts out with a slow, calm ride, but then begins ramping things up into a "hold on to your hats" kind of ride . . . the kids LOVE IT even though sometimes they end up flying off the tube and into the lake!

After the tubing was done, the surfers got ready to ride the waves.

Matt, Jen, and Sienna are pros. Today, Sienna even did her first, complete 360 without falling. Kevin also took a turn. It is the first time he has been out since he tore his hamstring surfing a couple of years ago. He was a little bit cautious at first, but once he got up, he had a good ride.  After five hours, we returned to the dock, dropped off Lani so she could get the truck & trailer and back it down the ramp. Matt circled around while she was doing that then loaded the boat onto the trailer and our boating day came to an end. Matt & Jen always show us a great time on the lake !!

Tuesday 6/16

Today is Steve's Birthday but his "official" birthday party will be tomorrow night. He did get a surprise birthday treat today while we were having a good time this afternoon at TOPGOLF.

He also received lots of birthday wishes via text, phone, email, and social media.

After breakfast, Linda had an activity for Sydney and Shea . . . .

They made 12 chocolate pies and 12 Strawberry ones.

After dinner tonight, they served them up complete with whipped cream, fresh strawberries, sprinkles, and mini M & M's.

We spent two hours at TOPGOLF in Meridian this afternoon.

We reserved two bays and had two teams.

Team 1 - Kevin, Lani, Sydney, Shea

Team 2 - Matt, Jen, Connor, Crew

We were just spectators, however, we did swing at one ball each for a photo op!

With two hours reserved, we had plenty of time for everyone to get lots of play-time.

An AMAZING group of athletes !!

Top Left: Matt, Jen, Connor, Kevin, Shea, Sydney, Lani, Crew

**From the top left, going around and ending in the middle**

The boys, Brothers, Matt injecting jelly in his donut-hole, Shea retrieving a new ball, Our two bays, Sydney eating her jelly-filled donut-hole, Kevin giving Sydney some pointers and Shea with her bag of clubs. 

After our time at TOPGOLF . . . 

Everyone took a little bit of time to just relax and do their own "thing"

A BBQ was on the schedule for dinner tonight.

Steve did the grilling, Linda set up the buffet line, and Connor (17) fixed this triple-layer burger AFTER eating his 1st single layer burger. . . we can't help but wonder where he puts it all ??

Wednesday 6/17

We started out our day today with a little art project

... ROCK PAINTING ...

Everyone had fun creating their own designs but they all turned out sooo cute !!

From rainbows to lady bugs, a happy face, monsters & minions, Spheal & frogs, caterpillars and flowers, a duck, a chick, some cherries, a whale, Rock Pikmin, and a creative meme from the internet. Who knew we were all so talented !!

We have rope lighting on top of our kitchen cabinets that were installed back in 2008. We recently  noticed there were several sections of the lights that weren't working anymore. We got online and ordered two new, 18 foot ropes. 

They were delivered this afternoon and Kevin, Connor, and Steve got right to work replacing the old ones with these new sets. We also ordered some replacement light bulbs for our under-cabinet lights and got the burned out ones replaced.

Tonight, we celebrated Steve's Birthday AND Father's Day !!

We lit the candles, sang Happy Birthday, opened gifts, and played Pictionary. Later we had birthday cake and, with Sydney & Shea's help taking orders, ice cream sundaes. Then . . . . we handed out Happy Father's Day baggies to Matt, Kevin and Steve. Each baggie contained a mixture of candy and a "Dad's Ice Cream Shovel" spoon.

Our Pictionary theme was . . . "Things You Do In The Summer"

Here are just a few of our drawings

Top left: Shea, Linda, Lani, Sydney, Jen

 

Matt, Connor, Crew, Kevin, Steve

Thursday 6/18

We discovered a fun place, right here in Star, to spend the afternoon.

"Freedom Park"

We carried our camp chairs, towels and water bottles to the beach and found a spot to set up our stuff. The kids got in the lake and decided it was warm enough to go ahead and hang out for a couple of hours. We rented two paddle boards that the boys used, until they got tired, for about 45 minutes then the girls played on them for the last little bit. The boys decided that paddle-boarding isn't as easy as it looks. They continued to swim and play on the dock until it was time to leave.

Tonight, everyone built their own personal pizzas for dinner.

They were quite the creations and very tasty, as were the cheesy bread bites.

During the week, we also did these random fun activities

Played "Undaunted" & "Reign of Dragoness",  A different group of people went for a walk every morning, played "Pop & Catch", and Sydney fed grandpa's squirrels.

Friday 6/19

Today marks the end of a busy, fun-filled, week and the departure of Kevin's family

 

They got all packed, loaded the car, said their goodbyes, and were on the road by 12:30. We received a text at 6:00 this evening letting us know they made it home safely.

Thanks for the Memories !!