Ryan's family had its reunion over the weekend. He took the girls and me with him to re-unify. It was in the woods, I suppose that's as good a place as any to unify again with your family. They were up there for four days, but camping with a three month old preemie is not the easiest thing in the world so we just went for a night.
This set of pictures were taken on the first 4 wheel ride Ryan took Elsa and me on, there were several to come but this trail ended on a beautiful lookout:
My pretty girly is getting so BIG! And grown up, at the bottom of this post I am posting some pictures of previous adventures Elsa and I have had in the wilderness and it's amazing how much more mature she looks after such a short time.
I know I am her mom, and that that makes me partial, but I think she has gotten so beautiful.
When Elsa was taking the pictures of Ryan and me, we were posing like it was "prom night."
Oh yeah, we are so funny.
This one wasn't a pose, it was Ry doing that thing that gets me all twitterpated.
And this would be my beautiful young lady trying to hijack the four wheeler. I have no doubt that if she had known how to start that sucker, Ryan and I would have had to walk back to camp. Elsa might still be missing.
Shortly after arriving at this shindig, I was forced to play a game called "Throw a Horseshoe at a Stick" in which players throw metal things at sticks. It's also a game in which the Robisons laugh at the newbies who are not very good at throwing metal things at sticks.
I am not very good at throwing metal things at sticks.
This is Ryan throwing his metal things at a stick. I don't mind braggin' here. My man looks good when he throws a metal thing at a stick.
This is me throwing a metal thing at a stick...
This is the people laughing at me while I throw the metal thing. Notice they stand directly next to the stick at which I am hurling a metal thing, and yet they are unafraid.
Elsa has had some trouble dealing with the divorce. I have mentioned before that Ryan has stepped right up and taken on the father role. That's been good for her, but she has always known him, and they have always gotten along really well, so I wasn't surprised. What surprises me is how comfortable she has been settling in with his family and all her "new aunts and uncles" and "new cousins." For instance, this weekend I told her "Grandma" (meaning MY grandma, her great grandma who she calls "Grandma" had gotten her a book. She said, "which one?" and I realized between my mom, Paul's mom, my grandmas on both sides, Elsa has a bunch of those and when she said which one, Elsa thought I might be referring to Ryan's mom. So I explained that the kids call Ryan's mom "Nana" and for the rest of the weekend, she was not the least bit uncomfortable addressing his mom as Nana.
I was worried, with the baby coming, that Elsa would feel like I left her and started a new family with Ryan that she was not all the way part of. I was worried she would feel like her sister was part of a whole different family than she was. But Ryan's family has treated her like one of their own since the first time she walked in the door. It makes me feel good to see Elsa feel that comfortable with a group of people because I know in a lot of situations, she feels awkward, shy, and like she doesn't really fit in.
And without further ado, here are the Robisons!
I am attempting to do this in birth order, and without Ryan's help. But I might have Jenna and Whitney reversed...hmn. Ok, here goes:
This is Ryan's eldest sister (but she is younger than he is) Tiffany and her husband Dan and their oldest two children, the twins, Scarlett and Hawley.
And this is their baby, Tyda on the left.
Elsa likes Tyda. She is one year old and WAY more fun than Adele cause she can do all sorts of thing Adele can't. In Elsa's estimation, Tyda is everything a baby should be. She has even offered to make a trade with Tiffany and Dan: Adele for Tyda, straight across. Dan said no.
This is Hawley posing for a shot on our nature walk. Right before I took the picture, she said, and I quote, "Dis is my mom's flow--er."Next we have Shai, the next sister, and her husband Cade and their son Kix. You can't see Kix cause he's hiding under his mom's shirt, but very soon he will be photographable. And this is their daughter Oakley.
Elsa and Oakley are quite the pair. Oakley is about a year younger but she has as much uh...spirit shall we call it? as Elsa has. She is used to ruling the roost around there and she is no push over. Elsa can also be pretty feisty, so it's been interesting watching those two. They are part BFF and part nemesis. I am curious to see how their relationship will progress.
Ok next is Jenna. Or next is Whitney. I confess, I am not sure. But let's do Jenna next. This is her.
Jenna is a lovely girl, and uh...well let's just say that doesn't really come through entirely in this paricular picture, which Ryan took for the record. It's just...this was the only one on our entire trip we seem to have gotten of her. And below is Mr. Jenna, her husband Dustin.
And this is Jenna and Dustin's baby, Zoey. Elsa loves Tyda, but she has adopted Zoey. Zoey has a very easy going cooperative attitude, from what I have seen, with other kids and she let's Elsa mother her so every time we see her, Elsa gets her by the hand and carries her around as if Zoey were her little girl. I think she and Oakley may have even duelled for Zoey once or twice. I am not sure.
Zoey holding Addey for the first time...awwwwwwwwwwww!
Sad, sleepy Zoey. Not long before this shot was taken I heard her say, "I am done camping!"
Alright, now for Whitney, who may be older than Jenna. Or not. And this is her husband Brent.
And this is Whitney and Brent viewing something VERY interesting on the ground.
And this handsome thing is Issac AKA Zack AKA "The Boy" AKA Gus.... he's a boy so Elsa didn't pay him much mind but he has been cracking me up since I met him.
Picture above, from left to right: Elsa's shoulder, Issac checking out Adele, Whitney snuggling Adele, Adele being snuggled, and Ryan's nose and chin looking super studly--ah yeah!
After Whitney is Morgan and her Daughter Harley. Harley is not the child on her knee in the picture below. Harley is under the t-shirt still. But Morgan can still totally run!
Morgan and her husband Cody.
And then there are his mom and his dad who appearantly like reading and each other. Too bad Ryan didn't get a picture of his dad's face right after he snapped this shot of his mom and dad's sweet little moment. That look we don't have on film said, "Son, I may hurt you now."
And here we have a dog Elsa and Oakley found and loved for a few minutes just outside of camp. That was long enough to name him: White Dolphin.
And in a stunning show of total cooperation, Oakley and Elsa got right up on this deer before it took off:
As I said up top, here are my comparison pics. Look how much my baby has grown up! These were taken two years ago. My gosh how time flies!
Also, I promised Ryan I would stop calling myself a big old chub. (I am still working on some excess baby growin' weight I shouldn't have gained but if you think ice cream taste good regular, try it when you are pregnant!) But I wanted to see how much I have grown! And I happen to know I am about 16 pounds heavier now than I was in these other two pics...I wanted to see how much difference it makes by looking side by side at them.
Yeah. I am much cuter 16 punds lighter and two years younger. Well, nothing to do for the years, but here is inspiration to keep hitting the pavement at seven a.m. everyday for a jog:
Adendum: I just checked with Ryan, and Jenna is in fact older than Whitney. Good job me!!!!
