Riding In Cars With Kids.

Steph, Maxim, Brecken, Meatball (more on that later) and I piled in the car on Saturday after shooting a wedding and headed south to Hesston, KS to see my sister and her family and bring home my 16 year old niece.  The tailwind was great and we pushed 22 mpg in the Expedition all the way down..that was THE enjoyable part of the drive down. 

After listening to 4 movies the kids were watching, one of them 2 times, listening to Brecken ask every question 5 times, witnessing him eat everything in the car, and watching Maxim run the battery in his iPod down 3 times...we rolled into H-town around 1:30 AM and it was party time.  Meatball (AKA Kolby) and Maxim were up until 4:30 AM and they were loud and rambunctious.  We didn't sleep too much that night.

Went to church at Rev. Brad's and Sally called us out during "sharing time"...Sally with a microphone to the rest of the church throws me under the bus...
"this is my brother Tom and his family from South Dakota...they haven't been down to see us for 7 years." 
OK I know it was a while, but after the last drive it might be another 7!

Sunday afternoon we went swimming at some friends of the family...beautiful pool and property and the kids loved it.  Hit Applebees in the evening and had a delightful time with the Burkholders.

Monday we packed up Cassidy and the kids and headed to Omaha for a halfway stop and to see Steph's brother's family...more of the same as far as movies, and yapping.  Brecken at one point had the quote of the day, "Mom, I am hungry AND sweaty."  We laughed at that one for a while.

We finally rolled to the WESTSIDE of the lake around Tuesday night, and the kids all crashed out right away...Steph and I watched the NBA Finals and went to bed.

MEATBALL Explained.

Uncle Brad = FUN

He loves to make the kids laugh and run.  He and Kolby hit it off pretty quick, and when you are Uncle Brad's favorite you get a nickname...not sure where it came from but Kolby was "Meatball" for the weekend.  She would say, "I not Meatball, I Kolby Capri."  Pretty sure in Uncle Brad's eyes she will be Meatball for life.