The beginning of the reunion picture dump!

We recently returned from the Richards family reunion.  We met in Florida this year.   It was so hot and humid but so much fun!  The first of our pictures are just random glimpses of the activities throughout the week.  Some days will get more attention such as the beach day, family pictures, and Sea World but these pictures are just random.  

Ralph is Mike's oldest brother.  He's eight years older than Mike.  Ralph is probably the nicest of the family, which says a lot because they are ALL nice!  Piper was originally scared of Ralph and even said, "I don't like 'that boy'" but that disliked changed really quickly when she realized that Ralph would draw with her, play hide-n-seek, read her books, and give her his hat in a downpour.  She loved him!  Ralph's work doesn't always allow him to come to our family reunions so I was really happy he was able to come this time so my kids could get to know him and and his wife and daughter.  Two of his children had to stay back and work at the family business so we missed them but we loved having Sarah and Laura there!  I really like Laura (Ralph's wife) because she is easy to talk to and happy all the time.

 We always have an unbirthday party at our reunions.  The kids love seeing what Grandma has chosen for each of them and the adults always enjoy the game where we get to steel each others gifts.  I got Men's socks.  Ha, ha.  Mike got some wooden toys for the boys to put together.

 The resort had a cool lazy river, a water slide, a hot tub, a kids splash area, and a pool.  We mostly played in the lazy river and on the water slide (part of the lazy river).  Even the adults got in the lazy river.  I'm pretty sure we just glided along in our tubes for a couple of hours at a time.

 I had to snap a picture of the Reunion shrubs!

 On one of the days we went to Celebration where the kids played at the splash pad.  The cement was so hot that our feet burned any time we took our shoes off.  It was really ridiculous how hot it was.  Some of the adults stayed with the kids while the rest went on a quick walk around the pond.  Halfway through it started pouring rain, giving us some relief from the horrible heat.  I've never been so happy for rain in my life.  We all ran into an ice cream shop where Grandma and Grandpa bought us ice cream and we ate our treats huddled under umbrellas and awnings.

 The houses we stayed in each had small pools in the backyard and the kids loved getting in any time they got a chance.

 Grandpa brought this cool inflatable rolling ball for the kids to play in when we had down time.  One of the houses had a pool table, air hockey table, and ping pong table.  The other house just had this big open garage so the kids had a perfect open space to roll each other around.

Some of us went to Downtown Disney.  It's basically just a big shopping area.  The kids loved this interactive Lego station.  They would hold up a Lego box and it would come to life.  Piper loved all the Minnie Mouse things she found everywhere as well as the princesses.  In truth, we would have enjoyed this activity more but it was just so hot we were all dripping with sweat.  I think it would be really fun to come back at a cooler time of year where we can really take our time.

 We found Piper's Grille and had to snap a picture!

Piper and Nate were best buddies all week long.  Nate is a couple of months younger than Laila, making Nate and Piper about 16 months apart.  They played all week long and would ask for each other whenever they were not near each other.  It was so fun to watch them interact.  I tried to get pictures of them together any time I could.  One day we went to Krispy Kreme donuts and bought hot, fresh donuts.  I had to snap a picture of these cute chocolate faces.