Johnsons Come For Spring Break

My sister Janeen and her kids came to Vegas for their spring break. Unfortunately, our Spring Break was the week before so my kids had school while their cousins were here. We still managed to cram as much fun as we could in the short amount of time we had.

We told the kids their cousins were coming but told them it was a day a later so they would be a little surprised. Janeen arrived just as I got home from a Dr. Appointment with Gianluca. My friend, Jenny picked Alessia up from school because I wasn’t sure I would make it on time. I was surprised that Alessia stayed at Sam’s house for lunch when she knew her cousins were here. After lunch Sam and Alessia came over here. Although, poor Sam didn’t last too long. Too many girls!

We all walked up to school to surprise Curtis when he was done. Curtis and Keegan were inseparable after that. Those boys need to stick together because they are surrounded by lots of girl cousins.

The first afternoon the kids were hyper. Janeen and I ended up taking the girls and Micah to a new park. While the older boys and Gianluca stayed home with John.

On Wednesdays there isn’t JAWS up at school and so the gates open a lot later. We took advantage of that extra time by taking the kids to a breakfast buffet at Green Valley Ranch. You should have seen all the stares we got. Not too many people see 8 kids with just two adults hanging out at a casino. Miraculously, the kids all were really good and I think people were surprised at how well we all did. It is always nice to have moments like those. Of course, why wouldn’t the kids behave? They got to eat whatever they wanted. Curtis had three doughnuts and three ice cream cones and washed it all down with chocolate milk. As soon as we were done with Breakfast we dropped off the kids at school. They were about 5 seconds too late and so I had to sign them in but it was worth it. I am sure it is a memory that will last them a lifetime.

After we picked up Alessia from Kindergarten we went to the park for lunch and a play date with my ward. We played for hours.

Then after Curtis got out of school we hit up Boulder Beach. It was a gorgeous day. The kids had fun digging in the rocky sand and playing in the water.

Thursday we walked to school and then did JAWS. Curtis was able to finish his 100 miles while his cousins were visiting. After JAWS we decided to walk to the grocery store but by then the older kids were tired of walking. They had probably walked two miles or more by this point. We knew we could make it to the store but doubted they’d make it home. So we called up John and after we were done grocery shopping he came and picked us all up. You should have seen us in the store. We had the double stroller with 4 kids on it and then a cart with two more kids in it. It was hilarious.

Once Curtis got home from school we decided to go back to Boulder Beach. The kids really wanted to roast hot dogs and marshmallows. I wasn’t going to do it because John couldn’t make it and well, I always let him make the fires and things. But then I decided Janeen and I were capable and we could build a fire ourselves. So we brought dinner with us. But of course, all the campsites were in use. It was looking like it wasn’t going to work. But then we decided to try building a fire in the grills at the picnic area. It took a little bit of time but we finally got a fire started and we were able to make hot dogs for the kids, foil dinner for ourselves and then s’mores before the fire died out.

On Friday, we just hung around home. Janeen was nice enough to watch all 8 kids while John and I went to Shania Twain with our neighbors, Jenny and Dave.

When I woke up on Saturday morning the Johnson’s were already long gone (and I woke up at 6:30). It really was so much fun having them here. We don’t get too many visitors so we just love it when people do come to play.