After visiting A&M, the Gallander crew met up at The Tap for lunch. My brother Zach works there and it has turned into the family meeting place when in College Station. It’s crazy because when I went to school at A&M I don’t think we (my friends and I) ever went to the Tap. Now that one of us works there, it is a family favorite! We hung out talking to Zach, since he wasn’t going to be able to get off work for the weekend. We had my kids, my most of my siblings (only missing Sam and David), my mom, my dad, Uncle Ernest, and of course John. I love having a big family, it’s like having your own party everywhere you go!!
I called this one the kid table. My dad and uncle are the biggest kids at that table! Eli and Uncle Ernest were “buddies”, so they had to sit next to each other.
Surprise! Here is a rare look at me in a picture on this blog! A picture of me and my uncle. I think one of the kids was playing with a camera and took the picture. I had another one of us smiling together that didn’t turn out as well. They are still learning how to hold the camera still until it is finished taking the picture.
Then there was the adult table, ha-ha. Look another rare sighting in a picture- my brother Zach. He can be just as bad about not wanting to take pictures! (He is the one in the blue shirt)
After lunch we headed for La Torretta Resort on Lake Conroe. It is such a nice place. Two years as the Gallander family hot spot, you have to be good! They have a kiddie pool with slides and a huge bucket that dumps water. Below is a picture of my dad trying to run as the bucket just dumped. Eli was NOT following, even though I think Dad thought he was. Then you have the grown ups hanging out watching the kids play.
There is also a lazy river, which my kids think is a busy river. They can walk in it and like to swim and see how fast they can go around. It’s a workout for the “big” people who take them.
Friday as we got there you could see clouds moving in from a distance. They kept getting closer and closer. This is a picture taken right before a large lighten strike and an alarm went off. The pool was closed and we all gathered our stuff to get back to the villas before it started raining. We made it just in time!
So what do you do in a villa with a bunch of kids when it is raining? Well, wheel-barrel races of course!
My kids went over my my parent’s villa and John and I sat there in our quiet villa. We don’t get to enjoy quiet very often. When the kids are awake and it gets quiet, that usually means they are up to something! I did have a little “evil” plot, since my sisters decided to share the villa with my parents instead of us so they could lock out my kids. So, when the boys went over to their villa, I told them to make sure to tell Lauren and Mary you can’t lock us out! 
They were just kidding, I know, but mine was true- you can’t lock my kids out!
They were just kidding, I know, but mine was true- you can’t lock my kids out!
My cousin Cassie, my mom, and sisters joined us. We don’t get to hang out very often, so it was very enjoyable having some adult time. Bella and Maddox joined the kids in the other villa for playtime. The quiet of course ended when we got pizza for dinner and everyone came over to our side. We had a full villa with nine kids, all ten and under, running around playing. It was loud, but fun. And that was just the first evening, we still had all day Saturday!