“Birds of a Feather Get-Togetherâ€
My mom is the one who gets credit for naming this one, for those who don’t know, my maiden name is Bird. 
It started out that Sarah wanted a chance to see as many sibs as she could while she was visiting with her family from Oregon and it ended up that all of my siblings were able to come up and almost all of us slept in the same house, Lee was the exception because he lives nearby. The rest of this post comes with lots of pictures.
We left after Isaac finished his last day of school. They were out early at 11:15 and I think we were on the road by about noon. I love this pic of Ila from the drive to Ohio.
We arrived after bedtime and had just a little time with cousins and sibs before putting the kids to bed. Here’s Ila with Krista’s son, Paul.
Isaac thought this massaging chair was great. He took the controls and hid behind the chair, excitedly waiting for someone to sit on it so he could surprise them with a massage!
Isaac was able to harvest some lettuce that he had planted with his grandfather last time we were in Ohio. We brought some home with us and he thought he should be rewarded for saving us money by providing lettuce so we wouldn’t have to buy our own this week.
Duct-taping Uncle Bryan seemed like a good use of our time on our first day together.
You can’t go to Grandpa Bird’s house and not take a ride on the forklift these days and he was sure not to disappoint when he introduced the kids to his new forklift.
I was glad to have lots of family who could hold Ila for me. I think if you look through my pictures you’ll find at least one picture of each of my siblings holding her.
I love this picture of my mom holding Ila. There were several pictures of mom holding Ila that I loved, but I choose this one because they’re both smiling.
There was a nice visiting area and lots of outdoor games for everyone to enjoy.
Barbara brought some things for the kids to do crafts with. They made clay figures and collogues. 
Charlotte learned that all her cousins are boys. At least she’s got enough sisters to even the score. I love that we actually managed to get a pic with all of the grandchildren and their grandparents. Also, I think my mom looks great in this picture. A girl we grew up with took some pictures for us on Sunday Afternoon.
They got to meet Aunt Barbara’s dog who was at times a little too excited to play with them.
Barbara taught them how to put up a “stop sign†when they didn’t want to be jumped on. Isaac was starting to be proficient at this skill before we left. The hard part was to try to remember not to turn your back and run—Winston (the dog) thought turning and running was a sign that the kids wanted to run and jump with him. Charlotte kept one hand up in a stop sign the whole time she played with that toy.
They spent a good part of the afternoon playing outside in the water toys. They had this pool, a slip ‘n slide and a wiggly sprinkler to play in. 
It all went by so fast that it felt as if you’d miss it all if you blinked, but I think we all had a good time and were glad that we were able to see each other.