Ninety Years of Bill Brady

The second weekend of June, the Houston faction of the Brady bunch packed up our boots, babes and bags to head to South Bend for an epic birthday party.  On June 8th my incredible Grampa turned 90 years old.  Anyone who has had the pleasure of meeting him knows that he is one-of-a-kind and to say that we are blessed that he is ours is absolutely the understatement of the century.  On Saturday June 11th, we threw a bash in his honor.

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

The Brady Bunch Does Florida

Last summer in the Dominican Republic over a hibachi the Brady Bunch decided that a reunion was in order for summer 2k15.  We didn't know when or where... but we knew that the wine (or in my case pregnancy food coma) told us it was a grand idea.  Thanks to diligent research and hard work on my Mom's part- we procured 2 beach houses in Seaside, Florida for the last week of July.  

Unfortunately not everyone could make it (we missed you Hershbergers + Herndons) as being an adult apparently brings along with it all kinds of scheduling conflicts.  Things like buying houses, etc.  You know- small details.  Rest assured though that 1) we had fun on your behalf and 2) we will do it again.  

You may be wondering the million dollar question that anyone I told about this trip did- drive or fly?  As it turns out, making that choice is kind of like deciding if you would rather be eaten by a shark or a boa constrictor?  Both have their individual pros but in the end, you still wind up feeling some pain.  I was initially team plane but I let Ryan persuade me that driving was the right call.  A 9 month old who eats every 3 hours and a 2 year old who has an urgent "need" on average every 3 minutes... what could go wrong?

This post is meant to be about all the fun we had so I will only briefly touch on the car trip.  How did it go?  Well... Emery was actually a great little traveller.  Color me shocked.  Sure she lost a straw in every chocolate milk we got her which resulted in mass hysteria.  Sure she dropped at least 3 items per hour- typically between her car seat and the door- which caused me to contort myself in ways I previously didn't believe possible. Overall though, she enjoyed playing with her "pooter" (Leap Frog), the new books we got her and the animal sounds app on Ryan's phone.  Brynnie on the other hand?  She was a different story.  Your girl is not a road tripper.  She's generally a very content kid but not on this particular trip.  So... was it awesome?  No.  Could it have gone worse?  Yes.  So in my book- that's a win.  For the statisticians in the group- we turned what per Google Maps was a 9 hour drive into a 12+ hour drive.  True story.

Once we arrived we got ourselves situated with an adult beverage and got down to the business of relaxing and we did not stop for the remainder of the week.  To think that I could possibly capture the awesomeness of the week in one post would be delusional, so I'll just hit the highlights and for the most part let the pictures tell the tale.

The main group outings for the trip were to get ice cream one evening, get dinner one evening and the kiddos/2nd gen parents went to the aquarium.  We spent the remainder of the week doing the following:

• Taking too many trips to Publix
• Changing children into and out of swimsuits
• Talking about the Snappy Turtle
• Monitoring how much sunscreen Kyle put on the children
• Watching certain adults fall asleep in the pool sitting straight up
• Trying to break into Ashleigh & Kyle's room after Lucy locked them out
• Playing euchre
• Learning about Lucy's bug
• Spending 3 hours to prepare for a 1 hour trip to the beach
• Hearing about the ladyfish that John caught
• Counting how many different ways Emery fell down
• Having Ava retrieve razzys
• Watching the kids play on "'cooters" (Scooters.  Get your mind out of the gutter.)
• Eating delicious meals courtesy of Chef John
• Wondering why all the alcohol was at the Grandparents' house
• Dressing and undressing dolls

Suffice it all to say that it was an incredible trip.  Growing up some of my happiest memories are of summer vacations spent in Indiana visiting my cousins.  Being able to hopefully re-create those memories for our kiddos now means more to me than I can possibly express in words.  I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I have the best family in the world and this trip certainly served to highlight that fact.  Thank you to everyone who made it and especially thank you to my Mom for organizing it.  I am already counting down the days to the next one!  Love you each.

You probably hear this all the time, but you guys are even more stunning in real life than in the videos on my Mama's phone I watched 7,539,832x this week.

The first day we arrived, Sunday July 26th, was Tripp's FIFTH birthday.  Lucy & Emery were more than happy to help him open his presents.

As you can see, they may not have been quite clear on who's birthday it was.

Baby Ellie!  She looks about as thrilled with my paparazzi skillz as my own children do.

This look is because who has time for singing and candles when there's a new Lego police truck that needs to be assembled?!

Obligatory candle blowing picture.  Wouldn't be a true birthday without one, would it?

Laser focused on his Lego rather than the cupcake in front of him.  A sure sign he isn't mine.

Shoving icing in your mouth while looking dreamily off into space?  Yup, that looks more like mine.  Lucy's parents have taught her better manners because she's clearly appalled.

How we found Emery after night #1.  To the right you see striped sheets on her blow up mattress.  To the left you see the dust ruffle from our bed.  She was completely under it.  She and Lola have a lot in common.

Emery teaching Paul & Kyle a thing or two about parenting.  Oh, you guys just have 2 to worry about?  Look at me.  I have 3.

These two had way way too much fun together.

Mama Ava coloring with her baby ducklings - Lucy & Em.

How did Emery take to the beach?  A picture is worth a 1,000 words.  Or in this shrill screams.

Pawpaw decided that Brynn needed to channel her inner Miami Vice era Don Johnson for our evening trip to the beach.

Tequila may make your clothes fall off.  Large bodies of water make Em's clothes fall off.  Kara the Baby Whisperer wasn't bothered, thankfully.

Aunt Jan & Uncle Tom/Nonnie Jan & Pawpaw Tom.

Paul, Ash & Kara trying to catch some dinner.  They wisely gave up and settled for some razzies.

Great Pawpaw Brady, Uncle Tom & Matt fishing for some land sharks.

The reason we're all here- My Mama, her Daddy & her sissies.

Ain't no party like a Brady Bunch pool party because a Brady Bunch pool party don't stop... until it's nap time anyway.

Luuuuuuucy & Ava.

Why does she look 16 here to me?

Trippy is most likely trying to demonstrate to me how he can jump "200 times in a row" in the water.  (He made it to 37.)

Roomies.

I have an idea.  Let's see how many days this week we can refuse to nap.  You in?

Modern day Cleopatra.

"Mom.  Ma.  Mommy!"

Oh hey- it's me!  Proof I was actually on this vacation.

Kara the Baby Whisperer holding court.

Paul may not have ever won Emery over but clearly he knows the key to Brynn's heart.

Group trek into town for some ice cream.  Ava is such a sweet little Mama to her littler cousins.

The Aunts go marching two by two - hoorah, hoorah!  (Do you get it?!  They're my Aunts...)

Ava taking care of Lucy & Brynn.

Lucy looks a lot more stoked about her second beach encounter than Emery does.

Ohhhh, paradise... how I miss thee.

Why do I live in Houston?  Does anyone remember?

Tripp proving that real men can use dump trucks, pink Hello Kitty shovels and look good doing it.

Our little sand mermaid.

Emery & the other man in her life.

Discussing euchre strategies is serious business.

My littlest bathing beauty.

Paulie, Ava & Tripp.  Fun fact- I think I was only 3 years older than Av when Kara met Paul at a horse show for the first time.

Men being men.  And giving peace signs.

Neenie, Nonnie Kathe & Nonnie Jan.

Discussing how lucky they are to have married into such an awesome fam.  Or Marvel comics.  Hard to say which.

If you must carry a pink shovel, also have a beer.  For balance.  Duh.

Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum.

Lucy the Cowgirl.  A clear indication she wants her family to move to Texas.

Group outing to town for dinner.

Ava supervising Ryan's parenting skills.  Thank heavens someone has it covered!

Great Pawpaw Brady, Nonnie & the Boo Boo at Pickles.

The most expensive, least accurate dinner I've had in a while.

Tripp may have approved but I think some other members of our party might disagree.  Please see Yelp.

Cousins gone wild.

These two really do melt my heart.

Baywatch: Seagrove Edition.

Pssst- Pawpaw.  Get a load of this- I'm holding Mom while SHE sleeps.

Ryan exercising his baby wearing skills at the Aquarium.

Em, Av, Luc & Kyle checking out the wild life.

Sweating like a pig but happy as a clam.

My little hearts.  I really need us all to get our next trip on the calendar!