Tahiti

My Grandma recently had her 80th birthday.  Such an occasion needs to be celebrated so my mom and I put together a family reunion/birthday weekend to be held at the Tahiti Village Resort in Las Vegas.

I LOVE this place.  Very family friendly, tons of stuff to do, gorgeous rooms, etc.

We left Friday morning, picking up Grandma about 2/3 of the way down.  So it was fun to have her all to ourselves for a few hours to talk and visit.  Eventually we arrived at the resort, navigated the initial chaos of getting checked in, coordinating with other family arriving at the same time, picking up my parents from the airport, etc.  But as quick as we could, my girls made their first visit to the pool (mostly to play on the gorgeous beach) and to share pizza with cousins.  My mom and I had put together little welcome gift bags for all of the family to receive upon arrival.  It included colorful tiki shaped drinking cups, seashell chocolates, coloring books for kids, tropical themed origami kits for adults, goldfish crackers, water toys, etc.  It was so fun to put together and I think especially the kids loved it.

Our room was incredible.  We  shared the deluxe suite with my brother and his family.  Even just our half of the suite was bigger than my first house so we had plenty of room for the kids to spread out and play with cousins, a full kitchen for prepping food and a separate master bedroom for husband and I to enjoy.  Our kids are early birds to they got to lounge around coloring and watching cartoons each morning.  They loved the amazing pool.  It sprawls in multiple directions.  The passed the "deep end" and volleyball nets so go to the beach side.  This beach must be magical because it was incredibly clean and even with the sandbar entry, the water was perfectly clear.  They loved playing the water, building sand castles, squirting everyone in sight with their new water toys and chasing cousins. 

Saturday afternoon, Husband kept the girls in the room for some much needed "quiet time" (movies and coloring so they were too excited to nap) while the women went shopping.  We grabbed some lunch and visited Ross, one of our very favorite stores.  My grandma, mom and I are all bargain shopper and love that store, having made many visits together over the years.  Now we have my two sister in laws to enjoy it with us--a special bonus because I've now been shopping there twice with one of them in particular and she is clearly my good luck charm as I always find the best stuff with her around.

We rejoined the family and then throughly enjoyed the lazy river.  E nearly fell asleep against her daddy and I spent most my time chasing the big girls while vising with my cousintwin who had just arrived.

That evening was the highlight.  It was the "official" birthday party part of the weekend.  We gathered for a big family dinner and then a few special activities.  My mom presented grandma with a lei she had made (in Polynesian tradition to honor someone special) and we presented Grandma with a photo album that we had begun to fill with index cards.  On these index cards we wrote memories of Grandma and things we wanted to share with her.  My favorite activity came after dinner.  We split the family in teams of three and handed each group a stack of cards.  On each card was a picture and a question.  They had to identify people, places, activities, events from all occasions throughout Grandma's life.  The kids loved seeing Grandma, Grammy, their own parents, etc. as babies/kids/teenagers and it stirred with so many fun memories and conversations.  We pinned the 60 cards to a long timeline across one wall and it turned out to be a pretty fantastic activity.
 
My girls gave their gift to Grandma, a container that we had filled with 80 caramels (a particular favorite candy of hers) with a note "80 is sweet!".  but in presenting it, my sweet little L called for everyone's attention, saying we had one more gift to give.  And then when prompted "80 is so...", she finished it "80 is so MANY!"  silly girl.

Sunday morning was more time to sleep in, play with cousins and of course, swim in the pool.  Husband left for the airport to fly out for a business trip.  So the girls and I took our time.  We played at the pool for a long time, then went out with the remaining family for lunch and visited the amazing Disney Store outlet where they each got to pick a new nightgown.  Eventually we started our long drive home, accompanied by my cousintwin for some much needed and much enjoyed catching up conversation.

I love this crazy family, what a great weekend and what a great kick off to summer.