July 4th Weekend with the Jenkin's Clan!

To celebrate the Fourth, we along with the Jenkin's family headed to the Gaylord for the weekend. They are some of my favorite people in the world, so I couldn't have asked for anyone better to celebrate with! I apologize in advance for the litany of pictures, but between me and Jace & Amy, we took 1000 pictures!! Good lord. Anyway, I put some of my faves here, and uploaded the rest to our picture site.


First, we all met on the riverwalk for a super yummy brunch a "few" mimosas. Then, the kids had fun watching the fish and playing on the train... and running everywhere!!!










On the way to the pool (and yes, that's a shower cap on Grady's head):




One of the things that we were looking the most forward to was just relaxing poolside! Well, we got there and we couldn't believe it. There were so many drunk people just going crazy so we didn't feel comfortable getting in with the babies, so we found the indoor pool instead. The kids didn't seem to notice or care...they had a great time regardless. We cracked up because between Amy and me, we had enough floaties for the entire pool.








We headed back to our rooms for a little naptime (while the boys headed to the sports bar to watch Tiger). Sailer's never really slept in a "big girl" bed so I was suspect. I was right... no sleep for the weary! So we ordered up some $6 an episode Mickey Mouse instead. (=




After naptime, we all rounded back up. They were clearly obsessed with the cowboy!




We made reservations at a super yummy restaurant in the heart of the resort for dinner. I was so proud because the kids behaved wonderfully. You think Sailer was digging the cornbread cactus or what??






After dinner, we mostly just let them run around like crazy...




After dinner, we walked around the resort and they had SO many fun things going on! One of the highlights was the balloon man! While we stood in line with the kids, we took some fun photos... don't you just love the progression of those of Mark and me?!?!?




Waiting patiently for her turn... and then, a very happy little girl!




While we waited for the time to come to head to see the fireworks, we confiscated an empty conference room and had a little dance party! The kids LOVED the table dancin'! Sailer was absolutely in love with Mr. Graham the whole w/e as you can tell from the following pics. We did make a little pit stop at the front bar before we headed to the parking lot for the mommys and daddys.










The Gaylord is known for their impressive fireworks display... and it surely did not disappoint. The first pic is of S and her daddy waiting for it to start. She was SO tired from not having a nap and playing so hard all day, but once the fireworks started she was back in action! The best watching venue is from the top of the parking garage, so we headed up there with the rest of the hotel to watch the display. The kids had just as much fun running around, climbing on everything, and then, playing with their light-up necklaces. Too funny!




After the fireworks display, we grabbed a few "roadies" and headed back to our room. I think this might have been one of the kids' favorite parts.... they jumped on the beds like monkeys, played beauty shop (or at least Sailer and Graham did), and watched a movie. Aren't Lincoln and Graham so cute in their matching pj's??






And one of my fave parts of the weekend... everyone sacked out except for the mommy's, so we stayed up really late drinking our room service goodies and talking.


Well, we had reservations to eat at the Sunday brunch overlooking the lake, but we didn't quite make it in time. Did I mention we think someone pulled a fire alarm at the hotel around 4am so we were rudely awoken... thus we all slept in. Once we all got up and around, we met and grabbed LUNCH at one of the restaurants that were luckily open at that time. The food was actually pretty good though.




We finally ventured back out to the outdoor pool for awhile to end our trip. Amy and I even managed to take off the over-ups and get in the pool.



I'll leave you with a pic of the hunk-y daddys...