We got a special treat this Mother’s Day and we took advantage with the whole crew! One of my clients owns a lake house on Lake Travis in Lago Vista (about a 45 minute drive from Austin) which they rent out over the summer. They took it off of the rental schedule this weekend so we could get away with the gang. It was such an incredible place and we are so grateful for the chance to have been able to use it!!!

We headed out late Saturday morning along with Megan and Jennifer, two of our good friends and baby helpers, made a stop at HEB and Rudy’s on the way, and arrived with plenty of time to get settled before hitting the pool! Of course, Eliot was the first one to make a splash and she made it clear to everyone that the water was just perfect (the weather didn’t cooperate fully, but the heated pool made up for it!!) After The Fab Five was fed and full, we all hit the water…the babies all loved it! Of course, Ryan was the most animated about the experience, squealing, giggling, and wiggling out of our arms as if she could pull off an Olympic-style butterfly stroke! Lila and Brooklyn were pretty relaxed about it all, but there was no question they were having fun. Jack had a blast splashing the water with his hands and cracking up every time he did it…so funny! The biggest surprise was Little Mighty, Britton Grace. The little spider monkey, Queen Diva was extra-super chill the whole time she was in the water! Huh?? Who is this child? Seriously, she just laid back in her little floaty and took in the scene – she didn’t do much laughing or giggling, shot us a few good smiles, and did not fuss one time in the two hours we were in the water…cue the theme music from The Twilight Zone…

After the swim we fed the kids and fed ourselves then got everyone under the age of two down for the night. Jennifer and Megan left a little while later leaving me, Casey, and Eliot to the most quiet, relaxing evening we have had in a long, long, long time…aaaahhhhhhhhh!! It’s funny because it wasn’t much different than most other nights – the babies usually go down by 7:00 and we do not hear from them for the rest of the night, leaving the house pretty calm after dark. I guess there is just something about being out of town, in a different place, away from the city, and knowing you are near the lake that just put a different kind of calm in the air. Oh yeah, all of that and the fact that our phones were not blowing up, we had nothing to think about doing on Sunday except for more swimming, and neither of us had our laptops tugging at the gray matter in our brains, distracting us from our singular focus: relaxation. Yeah, some of that probably had a bit to do with it as well…

The next morning, Little Miss Sunshine was warming the pool with her radiance by 9:00 am, begging daddy to join her with no delay – I told her I at least had to have breakfast first! So after grabbing some grub, helping Casey with the Fab’s feeding, and holding out long enough to get the babies down for an early nap, Casey and I hit the water again. We played Marco Polo, tossed rings to the bottom, swam races, and did just about everything else a five-year-old can think of to do in a pool, most importantly of which was having a blast!

After that, exhaustion set in as we begrudgingly packed the car for the trek back home. It was pretty awesome being away for just a little while with only our family though…that was a first for us! We did pretty good with packing light and managed to get everything there and back without having to call United Van Lines to haul our stuff so maybe we’re getting a little better at this mobile-family-of-eight thing? Maybe we’ll even take a road trip this summer…who knows? One thing is for sure, you can’t hold me, Casey, and Eliot back from some serious summer fun so it is time to figure this mobility thing out pretty quickly!

Thank you, thank you once again to my clients for allowing us to invade your little slice of serenity on Earth this weekend! And I apologize for the redecorating we did while we were there…. ;-)

Really quick before I go, I wanted to mention that “Quintuplet Surprise” aired again on TLC last night and as my email in-box can attest, it was very well received once again! Thank you so much to everyone for the support and sweet thoughts you have been sending our way! We have been moving pretty fast and furious on filming the new episodes so life will not be slowing down anytime soon. We’ll be sure to let everyone know when we have more details about the show, but in the meantime when you think of us think of this:
yeeeeehhaaaaaww!!! :)

Y’all take care,
Ethan