The Longest Post in the History of Blogging or Our 4th of July Vacation

I have finally downloaded the pictures from our trip to AZ and CA. It was a fun, long, and tiring 10 days. The first few days were spent with the Gibb's for a family reunion. We hadn't been all together for about 5 to 6 years, I think. We all stayed at G'ma & G'pa Gibb's new house in Prescott, AZ - there are 32 of us Gibb's these days - that's a lot of people and a lot for one roof. We managed to have a great time. The first day we were there (Thursday) was spent visiting with everyone, getting ready for the family picture (a little stressful, I might ad) and of course going to:

The pictures turned out great (hopefully we'll get them soon and I can post them.) On Friday, the 4th of July we went on a hike around a beautiful lake near my parents house. We had a great time. Tim stayed home (because of his hip issue) and kept McKenna so I really got to enjoy myself.

I was trying to be a good photographer and get some action shots, so here you go.

Uncle Andrew, his son, Hyde and my niece Hannah (Bart's daughter) Note: They were having a lot more fun than they look.

Looking across the lake at some of the fam.

Somehow these two cuties charmed their way into free rides from their super nice cousins, Brenden and Landon.

Cousins, Cousins, Cousins During the hike we stopped for a rest. The kids enjoyed the nice cool lake water. Everyone started skipping rocks. Here's Livie's action shot. Check out that wrist action.
And then, of course, it had to be turned into a competition by all the guys.
Just as we were trying to get back to the cars from the hike, it started raining, no wait, hailing. We then of course had to make our stop at:

It rained off and on the whole day. That evening we figured the fireworks were canceled so we stayed home. We got to enjoy a fun Power Point presentation of old photos of all of us. I would post some examples but they were just WAY to embarrassing. We also enjoyed a little Wii. Ok, A LOT of Wii. Here's Brenden showing us all up.
Bart and Brenden. Look how calm Brenden plays. This is about how much he would move if I were filming it. Bart on the other hand - a little different story. Hee! Hee!
Saturday, was another fun FILLED day. We started the day off with the Prescott Parade. It was really great but it just got a little too hot for all these darling kids.

You can't beat that AZ sun.

That afternoon we then, of course, stopped to have our final In-n-Out hamburgers.

Mmmmm. Can't you just taste them now?

Grandpa Gibb then treated us all to a Rodeo. It was great fun. The Rodeo clown was so funny and all the cowboys were VERY impressive. Everyone had a great time. Thanks again, Grandpa.

Carson, Livie, Alexa (in the back) and Landon.
The next Rodeo star.

Tim, Casey and McKenna

The day wasn't over yet. We finished it off with a grand Gibb Talent Show. We didn't get very many photos of this event because by this time our batteries in the camera had died. But, if you go to Bart's blog I am sure he should have some great videos and pictures from the night. (Yes, Bart, that's a hint to UPDATE YOUR BLOG.) There were so many great performances. It's so great to see how talented our family is. We had some piano solos, duets, aprons made for families, skits and singing.

Here's the Grandma and Grandpa singing. My dad had wrote each of us a song when we were kids so they sang them to us. It was touching. I hadn't heard those songs for a long time.

Alexa and me playing a duet.

On Sunday we had one last event. Not only did we go to church but Bart and Marie blessed their new baby, Grace Caroline. It was so nice that we could all be their.

Tim, Grandpa, Grace, Bart & Andrew (Dave and his family had already left when this picture was taken.)
Marie, Bart & Grace
Two cute girls holding their cousin, Nate.That night we left to head out to CA to see the other grandparents, aunts and uncles. As we were driving down the mountain I got a shot of the most beautiful part of AZ. The sky.
On our way to CA. Much better traveling conditions than I remember as a kid.

No time to rest. The next day after arriving in CA we went to the Aquarium with Uncle Scott, Aunt Tara, cousins, Noah and Caleb, and Abuela and Grumps. They had a great time.

Maya
Livie and Maya
Livie
After that we headed on over to Redondo Beach and had lunch at Chicago for Ribs - a tradition that the Van Buskirk's have enjoyed for many years. It was delicious as always. We then stopped at the Beach to let the kids play (and wait for the traffic to die down so we could get home sometime that day.) It was the same beach that their Grandpa Van Buskirk aka Grumps, grew up going to. He only lived a few blocks away. It was the first time a few of the girls had been to the ocean. Hard to believe since Tim and I both grew up about 45 min. from the beach.

We aren't done yet. Hang on. Just a few more days left.

The next day we went to Newport beach to let the girls play. This was the beach that I grew up going to. My parents rented a little beach house every summer for a week. Great memories.

Tim took each of the girls out into the water to really get a good experience. They all loved it except for Olivia. She is just a little more cautious than the rest.
Here's sweet McKenna sunning with mom. It's the only time she left her hat on longer than 5 seconds.
The new beach bums. They LOVED it.
One tradition I had growing up was going to Ruby's on the pier for ice cream. So, of course we had to stop and have some.

Our last day in CA Abuela and Grumps to all the grandkids (and their parents) to Skandia. We had a great time riding the rides, riding go-carts, and the bumper boats. Thanks Abuela and Grumps. And thanks to Tara's blog because I got so lazy about taking pictures that I "borrowed" some from her blog.

Caleb, Livie, Maya, Alexa and Noah

(would you believe that Noah is actually younger than Alexa?) He is getting so tall.

Kirra and Grumps leading with Kristine close behind.
Look at these darlings. Malia and Kirra
As we headed out of town we stopped by my old house in Upland where I grew up.
Whew!!! We are finally done. We had so much fun. We were so busy that just remembering all this makes me tired. The girls were great travelers and they so enjoyed seeing all their cousins as did we. Hopefully we will see them again soon.