Barton Family Reunion

This weekend we were able to go to our 4th Barton Family Reunion. As you recall the first one was in Austin, TX. We attended that one with Colby when he was 15 months old. The next was in Pensacola, Florida and he was 3 years old and I was pregnant with Lindsay. The last one was held here at my parent's house and we had Colby who was 5 and Lindsay was 1 1/2. 
This one was in Mississippi at Lake Tiak 'O Kata. 
We planned to check Colby out at lunch and we kept Lindsay home from preschool. We spent the morning loading the van up and getting things ready. We picked Colby up at 11:30. We decided to drive to Slidell before stopping for lunch. We stopped at a Panera Bread. I think the kids were happy to stop there and we all enjoyed our lunch. Lindsay slept from NOLA to Slidell. I was glad she got a nap but had wished it would have been AFTER lunch not before. 
We got back on the road and drove straight on to the cabin. We arrived around 4:30. We unpacked and checked out our cabin for a bit. The kids were in overdrive and super excited about their room and the cabin. We soon went to check out my parent's cabin. We visited with them and Randall and Lizzie for a bit before heading to the Reunion Cabin. Once we arrived there people were slowly getting there also. We all sat around and visited for quite sometime. They were late serving dinner and the kids were getting quite restless and hungry. Lindsay behaved the worst. She refused to eat the food but wanted dessert. We finally told everyone good night and went back to our cabin. We all slept good which was wonderful! 
Saturday the kids were up bright and early. Around 6:30 I think...we woke up to rain. We had a little bit of relaxing time around the cabin before starting to stir and get ready for the day. It was a lovely view to wake up to and nice to just sit back and appreciate the moment and nature. We got dressed and headed to my parents cabin around 9. We visited for a bit there with them before once again heading to the Reunion Cabin. They were having a brunch around 10:30. Once again the kids were restless and hungry and not totally crazy about the food. That's the hard part at these mostly adult gatherings. They were going stir crazy by 1 so we decided it was best for everyone's sanity to get them out for awhile. They really did behave well but since it RAINED the entire day it was hard for them to burn their energy. We went back to our cabin and freshened up then took a drive. We ended up driving into Starkville. We figured we could see some sights and Lindsay could get a much needed nap...which she did ;). We drove around the campus of MS State for awhile before stopping for coffee and a snack at Chickfila. We figured this way the kids wouldn't be STARVING at dinner that night. Plus they enjoyed running around and playing with other kids for awhile. We headed back and rested for a bit at our cabin. That evening we had a BBQ dinner in the big cabin. It was fun to visit with everyone. That night though Colby got really tired and grumpy. I think he was also hungry. It had been such a busy week and he just fell apart. I felt bad for him but luckily after a little pouting he got happy again. We watched the first half of the LSU/Alabama game then we went back to get the kids to bed after a long day. Once again we all slept great. 
We were up bright and early again on Sunday. We got ready and told everyone goodbye then headed home. We didn't stay for breakfast b/c it didn't really look like anything the kids would eat plus we were anxious to get on the road. We stopped for gas and they had a little donut shop attached so we just let the kids pick one thing from there. We knew we would be stopping for a big lunch. The timing ended up to where we would stop for lunch in Hattiesburg so we met Austin's parents there. It was a good ending for the trip. It was good to catch up with them and the kids were excited to see them as well! 
We had a great weekend! I am so thankful we have been able to make all these reunions even with little kids. I think its important for them to know where they came from. We are now all ready to face another week!