Cousin Carnival

Haley and her kids were able to come to Idaho to visit for a couple of days, so we decided we wanted to plan a fun Cousin Carnival for all of the kids. It ended up being so much fun!

Here the kids are getting their ticket holders to hold the tickets they earned from the games.

Grandpa loaded all of the kids into the semi truck and that was how they were escorted over to Randy and Britt's where we had everything set up.  He took them on a little detour over to Robin and showed the kids different places and things from where he grew up.

Pulling into the drive! I am sure they were just dieing with anticipation at this point!:)

Grandma Wheatley had t-shirts made up, with a stick figure of all of the kids and their names!  They were really cute and such a great addition to the day!

They started out playing a bunch of different carnival type games and earned tickets based on their performance!:)  It was a tad windy so we weren't able to get the full effect of some of the games, but the kids still had a blast and were good sports about it!

The two little boys enjoyed playing with each other inside!  I just can't get enough of these cute little guys!

After lunch, we were done with most of the games, due to the wind, but the kids still insisted on going out and doing the water games! The big bouncy slide was a huge hit!  Teague especially liked it!:)

After lunch, the adults were inside and the kids were playing outside!  All of a sudden a big tornado gust came through!  We all ran outside to have everybody come in and to find the little kids.  We are so lucky and grateful that nobody got hurt!  It ended up blowing Randy and Britt's partially built swing set over, breaking one of the legs.  The canopy that was set up and staked down blew over and was bent in all different directions and definitely wasn't salvageable.  The trampoline in the front yard blew over and landed about 4 feet away from all of the parked vehicles.  Teague was on a little kiddie slide and the wind blew him off and down into the little kiddie pool.  And the motor for the bouncy slide blew all the way underneath it!  It was actually really scary and we were so glad the damages weren't any worse.  Needless to say, a few minutes later the fun continued and everybody went back to enjoying themselves!  We can now look back at it all and just laugh!:)

Later that afternoon, we all headed back to Ralph and Vauna's for a wonderful meal that they had prepared.  Of course right before we were leaving Cousin Carnival and getting things put away, Teague got stung by a wasp!  It was just kind of par for the day!:)

After dinner, Brittany and I went and set up the concession stand for the kids to redeem their prizes.  We had treats for the upcoming "drive-in" movie and then lots of little toys!  It was fun watching how excited the kids got when they came in to purchase their items!:) 

Earlier in the day, the kids had all made cars out of boxes to use at the movies.  We had them all set up in the family room, ready for the big showing of Alvin and the Chipmunks, "Chip-Wrecked" that we had projected on the wall!  The kids loved it and so did the adults.  It was so much fun having all of us piled in the room together, adults included!  

Even though there were a few bumps along the way, it was still so much fun being able to hang out together as a family.  We did miss Ryan and Stan who weren't able to be there and can't wait for the next Wheatley get together! We have such an awesome family!