We took our annual New Years Eve trip to the hotel.
This year we stayed at the Ramada Inn in Grayling.
We all made our grand entrance on Saturday and stayed for 2 nights.
We rent a conference room to 'hang out' in..here you see the kids (& Mike) starting right out of the blocks with some Euchre...yes, we bring them up right!!!
and as more arrived....more Euchre games started!
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One of the favorites is ...Forced Family Fun...'FFF' night.
This event took place on New Years Eve.
We all come together as families (young to old) (one of the best parts is connecting the generations..so glad all the G-parents will compete..it makes it so much more fun!!!) and participate in some sort of activity.
In the past, we have done Talent Shows, Music Videos, Skits with props, Praise & Worship, shared what the Lord had done in the last year....
This year we played Minute to Win It games.
The first game was....empty tissue boxes while a team member picked up all the tissues.
This is a cup game (obviously!!)
Wes, in the blue shirt, (Danielle's Beau) was stellar at this game
the masses...
we counted up peeps and we had 34 peepers in attendance.
We are growing since the first time we went to a hotel.
We looked back and to our best recollection, we have been going for 12 years now. We were reminiscing about our years sitting poolside watching all those little ankle bitters....now we are watching all the girlfriends/boyfriends and making sure they all behave!!! Life changes
"baby rattles"
Cara, Renee, Danielle & Nikki (Drew's chic)
heat 2....
Darica, Troy, Steve & Bonnie
"ornament roll"
Neil, Justin, Major (Darica's Beau) & Florin
Justin working it..
Neil & Major working it
"Yank It"
Tyler, Dave, Maddie & Kristi
harder than it looks!
Christmas card
Trent, Nic, Micheal & me!
REALLY hard!
6 dice on a popsicle stick
Renee, Jim Sr., Carrie & Drew
heat 2
Mike, Rance, Kristi and Taylor (David's chic)
Our favorite....
"Junk in the Trunk"
All Grandparents in
Neil, Jim Sr., Karen & Bonnie
(the sister laughing at each other)
real teams compete
Jim Jr., Trent, Reece & Nikki
Shake it!!!
Whoa...Trent be careful man!
The brothers + Cuzzy
the outcome was not good..too competitive!
Jim Jr., Craig, Steve & Mike
the Ramada has a Holidome (use to be owned by Holiday Inn) now I guess it's a Ramadome...but it's a great place to hang out. Here we are visiting--Karen, Lynette & Renee
Some swimming
Trent's splash
Trentster!
Hot Tubbers
More tubbers
football in the pool
ping pongers
Carrie & Maddie
kids trying to avoid the camera!
The second night there we watched videos from past years and some old converted slides of Grandpa & Grandma Austins...and of Willard's Gold. Some of us learned how to play Mexican Train. But most of all we had fun together as a family....we talked together, we laughed together, we stayed up together, we played tons of games together....you can't ask for much more than that!!!!
While most families can't stand to be together, we really enjoy each others company! (at least I do!!)
My kids look forward to this every year. As our kids are moving on in life and growing up, it is my desire to keep this tradition going. Won't it be great to have new little ones around to watch poolside! (not too soon!!) We have built soooo many fun memories around these trips....you could never put a price on this kind of family fun! Already have the hotel booked for next years festivities!!!!
A BIG BIG Thank you to Neil & Bonnie for making this possible and Bonnie for your insight so many years ago to put this into motion!!! Thank you!
