Over the first weekend in June, we went on a family vacation to Oklahoma for The Rickner Family Reunion (my paternal grandmother). I don't remember ever going to one, but, with the exception of the last four hours in the car, we all really enjoyed ourselves.
I left work early on Friday so we could begin our journey. The reunion was not until Sunday so we found a hotel in Dallas for Friday night so we would not be couped up in the car too long and the kids could swim and have fun. We drove from Dallas to Tulsa on Saturday and had a rather uneventful trip. We met up with my Grandma and my cousins Matthew and Mariana once we arrived in Tulsa; and, after a quick dip in the hotel pool, we were ready for dinner. My dad's cousin Troy and his family - whom I don't ever remember meeting - met us for dinner and we went to Logan's. The kids loved Logan's because they could crack their own peanuts and throw the shell on the ground, make a mess, and not get in trouble. After we got back to the hotel, we all sat and talked for a while and once I went back upstairs (Paulette had left and took the kids to get them in bed) Dylan said "Isn't it funny that man looked kind of like grandpa Danny?" He was talking about Troy, and yes, I saw the resemblence too.
On Sunday morning, we decided we had to get the kids out of the hotel room so we went across the street to the mall. Talk about the perfect time to be at the mall. The mall was closed, and wasn't going to open for a couple of hours, so it was completely empty and we let the kids run around the kids area for a while. Even Kolton had a blast. When we made it back to the hotel, grandma was antsy to get to the reunion and we ending getting there quite a while before everyone else. This is my theory, Grandma has pretty much been the only representative from her side of the family at the reunion for a long time, and was excited to have 3 out of 5 grandkids and 3 out 7 great-grandkids to introduce to everyone. Despite the fact that I did not inherit my dad's ability to strike up a conversation with nearly anyone, I had a really great time getting to meet family.
Great picture don't you think! It looks like Paulette was up to her old tricks by dressing everyone alike, but, believe-it-or-not, she only dressed my 3 kids similar so it would be easier to identify them.
We stayed Sunday night and went to a movie with Matthew and Mariana while the 3 little ones stayed behind for some quality time with Grandma. Dylan had been begging to go to Toys R Us ever since we told him that's were Grandma and Matthew were when we first arrived on Saturday. Monday he woke up and couldn't wait to knock on Matthews door and ask if he would go to Toys R Us with him, and to his delight, Matthew agreed. Dylan and Hayden each picked out a Transformer to play with on the way home. Just before leaving, Dylan was able to con $10 out of Matthew so he could jump on the trampoline that was inside the mall.
We decided we were brave enough to make the 8 hour trip in one shot on Monday. In retrospect, that may have been a mistake; the kids behaved just fine until Dallas, at which point all 3 of them became unbearable the rest of the way home.
All in all we had a really great time and would like to thank Grandma for everything!
