Smith Family Reunion, Part II

One of the things we did while everyone was here was take the kids to the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science.  One of the first stops in the museum was this little room where the kids could learn about forces:  centrifugal, centripetal, friction, etc.  Not sure which category bubbles falls under but it was the clear favorite of young and old.  There were lots of different shapes bubble makers but no matter the shape the bubbles always came out the same. 

The taller kids had the most success.  Ryley's hair kept popping the bubble though! If you look really closely  in this picture the bubble is just starting to burst right at the top of his head.    

This picture catches the bubble mid-pop as the liquid falls back into the pan.  Pretty cool!

Again mid-pop:

Uncle Josh was able to make some awesome bubble tubes around all the littler kids. 

And himself. 

Mirrors are always fun.

There was a HUGE gravel pit (ten times better than a sandbox and waaaay less messy) where the kids could dig for dinosaur bones.

Luckily we had most of the museum to ourselves.  We had a lot of kids there between all of us and two were missing - Ben and Matt Mo were in school. 

Then there was a whole room about the body.  This nose was hilarious.  It actually sneezed.  Maddie and Whitney thought it was so funny!

 

Kind of wish I had my own personal HazMat suit.  I can think of so many uses. . . puking children, diaper changing, bathroom cleaning, grocery shopping. . .  ;)

Then we headed down to the younger children's part of the museum.  They had a live snake out for the kids to pet.  Blehhh!

There was a dress up play area.  You can see my older boys putting on the firefighter's uniforms in the background.  Zach and Sawyer are pretty much the cutest drivers I've ever seen. 

Funhouse mirrors are even more fun than regular mirrors!

Poor Ryley looks like he's inherited his father's toes!

The water room was Sawyer's favorite part. 

He played and played and dumped water all over himself several times.  I'd take him out of the room to dry off a little and he'd escape and run back in to dump more on himself.  Silly kid!

All the kids had fun in here.    

We had a really fun time there even though the museum had packed up a lot of the exhibits.  They were getting ready to move all of it to their new location in downtown Dallas the next week.  There were workers actually taking things apart and moving them out while we were there.  I think they should have offered everyone going there in the weeks before their move a discount or at least a free ticket to the new one.  Kind of a rip-off!

Pops also planned a fun field day or "Kid-Olympics" for the kiddos on Saturday.  The kids all learned how to play kickball.  The Moms and Dads even got into the game.

Ryley was confused for a moment and thought they were playing tackle kickball. 

Quinn really wasn't much help in the outfield.  She was kicked off the team shortly after this incident.  (Cutest outfielder EVER.)

After a warm-up game the adults took on the kids.   

I love this picture:

The two Uncles Josh.

G.G. and YoPapa were the official umpires. 

After kickball they had the horseapple on a spoon relay.  Ya know, the common backyard game of all Texans with a Bois d' Arc (pronounced Bo-dark, here in Texas) tree in their backyard. 

   

Next was the balloon relay.  The kids had to race down to the chairs at the edge of the yard with their balloons and then sit on the balloons until they popped and race back.  Maddie and Ryley were always paired against each other, to be fair, since they're the oldest kids. 

Next up were Whitney and Ben.

Watching Whitney and the other littler ones try to pop their balloons when they weigh only slightly more than them was so funny!

Then Cash and Mo.

Josh ended up picking up most of the littler kids by the arms and helping them pop their balloons.  It was so funny!

Last up was a tug of war.  I'm not sure there was a winning side.  It was kind of a bust and ended in more than a few tears.

We ended up turning the rope into a jump rope and had lots of fun with that.  I taught the kids how to jump in and can't believe I can still do it!  All those hours of practice at recess must have stayed with me.  Making ugly faces really helps. 

Maddie got the hang of jumping pretty quick.  Must have inherited that from her mother.    

Sadie gave it a try too. 

And her Mom jumped in to help her.    

Maddie and Ryley tried it double.

It was a super fun day and the kids were nice and tired after all the running around and playing. 

It was so fun to have all the cousins together and watch them play and have fun.  The weather was wonderful all week and we were able to go swimming or send the kids outside to play every day.  I have so many good memories of hanging out with my cousins and I hope all these guys will too.

It was such a great week!  I sure hope we can all get together more often.  After looking at all these pictures and remembering everything, now I miss everyone!