Roseburg, Part 1: YMCA

We went to Roseburg to spend the 4th of July with Jared's sister and her family. We had planned on renting a condo together in Newport to watch the fireworks there, but we will have to do that another year. They just moved to Roseburg from Hermiston for a job transfer and didn't have the extra money to spend on the condo. We decided to just spend the weekend at their place so we could all be together still. It isn't important to me what we do or where we go. What matters most to me is that I get to just spend time with the ones I love.

We headed down on Wednesday and the kids were so excited to see their cousins! It's only been three months since we spent Spring Break with them, but it felt a lot longer for the kids. They had fun jumping on the trampoline and exploring the backyard. Since Petula's family moved in, her kids are always finding lizards and snakes in their backyard. Cayden was excited, but Faith kept her distance.

Ammon with a snake.

We all went down to the YMCA on Thursday and played around in the Family Fun Zone. The biggest hits were the climbing wall and the roller racers. On the climbing wall, there is a red line that they aren't supposed to climb up past. Our kids thought that was pretty boring until they realized that they were supposed to climb ACROSS the wall. And to make it more difficult, they could only go across on one color and then noodles were put up that they had to climb through. It made it a little more challenging for them. Jared also climbed the wall along with Petula and James. Even Brenna wanted in on the action! I was the only one who didn't try it because I was wearing flip-flops. I'd like to try it sometime, but I'd like to do the kind where you go straight up.

The kids had lots of fun zooming around on the roller racers! It was Cayden's first time on it and he was racing around like everyone else. Brenna kept trying to chase them down. Before we left, Petula and I decided to race around with the kids. They were so excited. Faith kept wanting to play bumper cars, which wasn't the best idea on these little scooters.

The other thing that we all enjoyed was the sports wall. It was a game that reminded me of whack-a-mole, but a lot bigger and on the wall. It was supposed to be a work-out and the had different energy and fitness levels. When the lights in the board lit up, we were supposed to whack it with a noodle. Petula and I played and she won 2 out of 3 games. It was fun and I wish I had something like that at home. It's an awesome stress reliever!
There was also a nursery area there for the younger ones that we took Cayden, Brenna, Kezia, and Talia to for awhile. There was much more for them to do there. Brenna just loved the slide! I love how there was something for everyone there. We all had fun and it was so easy getting the kids to bed that night. They were so worn out.

We try to get them to bed earlier when we are visiting them because it takes so much longer. Once they are all in bed, we get out some yummy snacks and watch a movie. That is what Petula and James do for their "date nights" and so we "double date" every night we are with them. It's sort of a tradition. Our movies for this trip were "Fools Gold", "10,000 BC", and "Licence to Wed".