January 11 - The arrival

Ok, so here is my attempt to re-cap about three weeks of family filled fun.

On Monday the 11th I drove to the airport to pick up the family. Keep in mind that when they left it was below freezing in Columbus and when they were to get off the plane it was already in the 90's. Lilly and I had to wait awhile and it turns out that Jaime and family got stopped by a banana sniffing dog. Really it was for fruit but because there had been a banana in one of their bags at some point the dog sat down on their luggage and all the luggage was searched. **Note - Don't bring bananas or throw them in your bag at any point.**



I told Jaime when they come through the security doors, go right. No matter what anyone else does, turn right. There was a bit of confusion but they finally were able to turn and eventually realized that we were standing where we said we were going to. **Note - If you ever come for a visit and go through the international terminal, turn right, it's just less crowded and that is where we will be.**



The next step was to wait for Seth. We needed another car to fit everyone and all the luggage. Even with a Territory we could have fit all the people, but not the luggage. Meanwhile we packed the car with all the luggage and the second car seat. All this time everyone seemed to be enjoying the heat although we stayed in the shade where we could find a breeze. In the 20 minutes it took for Seth to get there, I don't think the heat was as pleasant (especially for Michelle who was still wearing jeans and a long sleeve shirt).

We got back to our house and let the kids unwind with a little play-doh. Apparently this was a first for James and Jenna who both discovered that it doesn't taste very well. Seth and I ran to drop our car off (so we could borrow someone else's larger vehicle) and let everyone get cleaned up.



Lilly really enjoyed having the kids around and we set up the water table so they could cool themselves off a bit. They thought it was hysterical to squirt each other and get squirted. It also caused for a slippery floor so lots of falling.

In the end, we didn't go anywhere. While it was amazingly hot in our house, we just couldn't bring ourselves to move much more. We let our guests sleep downstairs even though it would be very crowded just so it would be a little cooler. This was one of those nights where it just never cooled off.