We had a wonderful time with family in Indiana. Not being able to travel there as often as I once did before children, I missed them terribly and I am so thankful our whole family could get together with their whole family (as opposed to getting a few of them here or a few of us going there.). The girls were reacquainted with their aunt, uncle, and cousins and Reece has spoken fondly of each of them ever since. Nate, Phil, Anna, and Luke all did so well with the little girls. The two bigger boys have always impressed me that they play and play and play with their little girl cousins when they could be more concerned with their upcoming football game, or homework, or even the t.v. Nate and Phil swung Reece and read books to her (princess books at that!) and held Rynn any chance they could. Anna shared her princesses and baby dolls so well and was so sweet with the girls. Just like the last time we visited when Reece was nearly one and learned how to wrap boas around her neck and carry a purse, Anna offered more things for Reece to learn. This time it was the “climb the door frame” maneuver, but Reece has yet to be successful at actually getting up to the ceiling. 
Luke (a.k.a. “Yuker”) and the Reecer became pals right off, and even though he wished Rynn would have been a boy, I know he loved her lots too. Why else would he leave his G.I. Joe mission in the playroom to go play with the girl on the other side of the sliding glass door?!
Wayland and Kaleesha were so wonderful to let us invade their house and their busy family schedule. Wayland seemed to work magic on Reecer’s occasional grumpiness and Kaleesha was, as always, so hospitable. I loved being able to visit over breakfast out, and during down time at the house. The four adults stayed up late each night after putting the kids down so we could visit more.
One of our most memorable moments of the trip came during the start of Nathanael’s football scrimmage. Reece had been woken up from her nap before we left and was in a foul mood, even by Reece’s standards. She threw a monster fit on the way to the field (something about her independence being challenged) and threw herself on the ground. After finally coaxing her to peel herself off of the ground and into the stadium, she decided to take her baby doll to go tee-tee at the end of the bleachers…where we would later learn was right above the home of a bee hive. I hadn’t had a chance to watch a single play because of the two bees I kept shooing away from Rynn’s stroller, but a familiar scream broke my attention off of Rynn and onto Reecer. I saw a swarm of bees around Reece and immediately scooped her away from the buzzing swarm. The two bee stings on her leg caused a fury of excitement at the football field…the trainer was paged, people brought ice packs, other moms gave their advice on how to take away the sting, the athletic director arrived to tape off the area…all in about 30 seconds flat. Nathanael even heard the commotion on the bleachers from the football field and got to tell all his friends that was his little cousin crying. Unfortunately, the bees continued to stalk us because of the fruit juices, fruit snacks, and whatever else in our diaper bag, and we had to vacate the field to avoid another attack. Poor Kaleesh didn’t get to see Nate’s first scrimmage that she had been so excited about.
The story does have a happy ending though…
Ironically, the bee stings turned Reece’s frown upside down and she became the happiest victim of a bee attack you’ve ever seen. She even sang about the bees who stung her. Kaleesha and I joked that they must have injected some nectar or honey into her bloodstream.
For more on our great time in Indiana (including pictures), see Wayland and Kaleesha’s blog.
