We had far too much fun and there are far too many stories, pictures and laughs to recount them all. I don't see myself stringing together another 30 minutes on a lunch break for quite some time, so I'm going to try to squeeze it all into one post. To help aid your understanding, I'll break it down into the phases of any good party experience. Here we goooooooo...
THE GETTING READY
So, this was our first trip on a plane with the girls. This big milestone was to immediately followed by their first time in a rental car and a 2.5 hour drive from Chi Town to the Bend. Are you jealous yet?
To keep the Martin Family Income Statement afloat (this is an actual excel spreadsheet that my husband produces, by the way), we snagged tickets through Spirit. This meant awful flight times, an extreme amount of time Googling travel hacks and an absurd amount of time spent worrying by Ryan & I. I am pleased to report that it was all basically for naught though because the girls did extremely well on the plane. The car ride was a different story, but hey- all's well that ends well, right? (The Hertz employee who was left with Brynnie's crumb-filled carseat may feel differently.)
Grampa's 90th was at a barn and featured his line dancing teacher coming to show us all how it's done. Obviously boots were in order. I'm thankful I took this picture pre-packing because Brynn has yet to leave them on for long enough to take another one.
They're looking a lot more awake than I was feeling at 4:15 am. (Parent Tip #437: Leaving them in their jams does not incite sleep.)
The grass is always greener on see-see's (sissy) side.
This photo was taken approximately 2 minutes after take off. At 3.5 minutes after take off, Ryan opened a bottle of water and the pressure caused water to spray all over Brynnie, waking her up, never to return to sleep again. (Ok, maybe she did sleep at like 7:30 pm that night.)
THE PRE-PARTY
This picture was taken about 3 minutes after we got to Grampa Brady's house. If you know my Em, you know what a feat it was that she warmed up so quickly. I was so proud of her.
Another day, another state, another tool to be used. Here's GC cleaning up Miranda & Trav's barn.
Be still my heart. Watching these 7 (Brynn was napping screaming inside) brings back so many irreplaceable memories I have as a kid with my Indiana cousins. Left to right we have Ellie (1), Ava (9), Stockton (1), Shiloh (6), Tripp (5), Lucy (3) and Emery (3).
I think I have roughly 1,000 photos of this event on my phone.
Lucy looks skeptical of Em here. I don't blame ya, girlfriend.
Pawpaw Jim and Pawpaw Tom teaching Ellie about the important things in life- like tools and tractors, I'm sure.
Caddy & JJ getting their swing on.
This looks totally natural, right?
Sharing invaluable insights on Peppa's First Sleepover.
One of the days leading up to the party, the men took the children to the zoo while the women crafted. It appears it went well.
Em was really working on getting Pawpaw Brady to eat out of the palm of her hand.
THE FIESTA
My little cowgirls. (Brynn, I'm going to charge you $14 for those boots once you get an allowance, child.)
Miranda makes Martha Stewart look like a slouch when it comes to crafting.
I wish I would have taken a picture at night. I was, however, otherwise disposed as you'll read later.
You have a fake on you, cousin Ashleigh?
Baby's first red solo cup. Put it in the scrapbook.
So this is the line dancing portion of the evening. Please take note of how much harder Ryan seems to be working than everyone else.
The line dancing version of running man?
Brynn showcasing some moves she did NOT get from her father.
The Pawpaws playing grill master.
Boot cake to pay homage to Grampa's love of line dancing.
And an Eiffel Tower to pay homage to his years (and years and years) of teaching French.
I am pretty obsessed with Miranda & Trav's property. The barn is where we held our shindig.
My Grampa is truly the coolest. It's impossible to look at this picture and not smile.
Mamcita and Patty making sure he gets all those flames out.
I think maybe I was meant to be a farm girl in a different life (but without the early rising, manual labor stuff). Did I mention I was obsessed?
Cheers to 90 incredible years.
The whole crew. Left to right: Paul, Stockton, Kara, Travis, Miranda, Shiloh, Ava, Ashleigh, Kyle, Ellie, Lucy, Nonnie Jan, Pawpaw Tom, Tripp, Grampa Brady, John, Nennie Jean, Matt, Nonnie Kathe, Emery, Dad, Me, Ryan, Brynn, Julie & David.
THE HANGOVER/STORIES FROM LAST NIGHT
