What more could you ask for?Hanging at the pool.
This is pretty much what we did about 7 hours a day for the entire week...not bad...read a bunch of books, played some fierce cards, and had great conversation with the rest of the family. 
What? You can't see us? Well, it's obviously me with my sisters-in-law and the boys, but it was a teensy bit humid and my camera lens, along with my sunglasses, kept fogging up. So the camera is just showing how humid it actually felt, which is why we hung out in the pool most of the time.Painting pottery.
The boys' most requested activity (after the pool) - watching the sun set into the Pacific. 
Hanging out with Grandpa Jim watching Spanish cartoons. 
Larry the Lizard. 
Views from our hotel room - right: 
left:
center: 
Aaaahhhhh: 
The boys passing the time in the Phoenix airport on the way home, watching Mexican jumping beans. 
I'm so pleased and thankful that all four families were able to coordinate schedules and spend the week together, scattered as we are now in Oregon, Arizona and Colorado. And a huge thanks to Mom and Dad for your organization and generosity in making this trip possible for all of us. 
started kindergarten today! 
The backpack 
The school is just around the corner from us, which is really nice. Andrew, Ben and I all walked him over this morning.
Lining up with his class 
Reading a sappy story designed to get all the parents crying, but I held it together.
Don't they look thrilled? Such good dads/husbands, fulfulling the porter part of the job description.
I thought he might burst a blood vessel from sheer joy and excitement. I had to keep reminding him to hold onto the wall when the teacher was with another kid because he has no fear and he's used to having his floaties on and being able to just bounce around pretty safely. He kept bouncing around the pool away from the wall and going underwater (sometimes on purpose, sometimes not) and giving me mini heart attacks. But he had a blast and was the first to volunteer for everything. He's totally been looking forward to playing "motorboat, motorboat, go so slow" ever since he saw it at big brother's swim lessons and his wish was fulfilled today. He has lessons Monday through Thursday this week and next. Max has lessons Tues/Thurs afternoons for the next 4 weeks because he starts kindergarten Wed morning!
The lamps slide up and down, twist sideways and the lampshade tilts. (Don't judge me because I don't iron sheets.) 
Our guest room is kind of long and skinny, so we made some changes there as well. Less fluffy bedding (I know, it still needs a bedskirt), ditched the nightstands and went for the wall-mounted shelves, and got wall-mounted lamps there as well to try and squeeze every square inch of space we could out of the room.
Me, Sue and Kate:
Ben, Maurice and Susanna:
Jane, Max, Ben and Susanna:
After the reunion, we headed out to Carl and Helen's house for a fish fry. Here is their recipe for heavenly fish:
Carl and Helen are retired hog farmers, and these days, just have cattle, corn and soybeans. Carl refers to his somewhere-around-400-acres as "not much more than a garden these days." Just for comparison's sake, here's our garden: 
and here's Carl and Helen's "garden": (Keep in mind, they don't even have to irrigate.) 
After the fish fry, we headed to Wilma and Jim's place for melon and cookies, where the boys saw and caught fireflies for the first time in their lives.
or "This is where Tom and Becky ran into Injun Joe" and I kept wanting to shout "but they're FICTION!" But I restrained myself, and tried to enjoy it in the spirit in which it is intended. We took a ride on the horse-drawn carriage:
Max got to steer for a bit, which is why I took the following picture. I was not just trying to show you a horse's behind.
The historic downtown area (notice the mighty Mississippi in the background):
The Mark Twain cave:
That evening, we headed south to the St. Louis area to have dinner and some great company with one of Andrew's cousins, Tamara, and her family. I'd never even met Tamara before! Here are all the kiddos, Liza, Andrew, Susanna, Oscar, Jane, Ben, Max and Carley:
Cabela's, and the Agriculture Hall of Fame. There was only one other family at the Ag Hall of Fame with us on a Tuesday afternoon, and everything is completely hands-on. What a great place to visit!
This is where the boys thought they'd died and gone to heaven. (All together now, "Is this heaven?" "Nope. It's Kansas.") 
Milking a fake cow:
This was the biggest hit, sending corncobs through this machine that stripped off the kernels
and then grinding up the kernels into cornmeal, which we then fed to the chickens: 
Riding the little train: 
That night we stayed in Topeka, enjoyed some barbecued ribs, and then safely returned home Wednesday. 