You might have known that Jim’s cousin Isaac proposed to his fiancee, Amy, and recorded a video of it to share with his family who couldn’t be there. He posted it online and it went viral. As of Feb 2013, the video had over 17 million views on YouTube!
Isaac decided to make another video, this time including the 100+ family members that come from his two sets of grandparents. He invited everyone to come be a part of the video. So we went!
We stayed with Isaac’s older brother, Connor, and his family. We just love them and their sweet kids. Kelly and I had a great time chatting and five-year-old Isabel was a wonderful playmate for JT and Haley. Plus, their dog Boss is a sweetheart who may have changed Haley’s mind about dogs. Haley and JT got sleep in bunk beds, too, which they thought was super fun.
Isabel introduces Haley to a Hello Kitty Nintendo DS
Here’s a couple of photos of the filming Saturday morning… as we stood in the 40-degree rainy weather for hours, finally doing it “for real” only to hear “one more time” from Isaac way more than one more time. Our children did not cooperate. JT completely shut down and Haley just wanted to snuggle!
Lined up to start filming
Haley + Great Aunt Julie
Isaac and Amy took everyone out for pizza afterward, and then we went home for the kids to nap it off. Sunday we woke up to a yummy breakfast with the Lamb family and then headed off to the Portland Children’s Museum. It was packed getting in, even for a Sunday… and then we realized it was free day at the zoo, which is right next door. Too bad we weren’t dressed for outdoor weather at all. So we did what we came to do, and had a wonderful time.
Riding the train outside the zoo
In the entrance
In the water works
In the water works
At the dig pit
Haley gets digging
Snack break!
In the treehouse
Haley found a slide, but you have to rock climb to get up. That just made her day!
JT getting ready to go bouldering
He was so proud to make it all the way across!
At the pet hospital
Giant lite brite!
This was an inspirational part for me, the educator and mom. There are containers of all different natural elements and the children are asked to “build a story” and then tell about it. So cool.
JT’s story (a person picking a flower in the sunshine)
Haley’s story (???)
Getting on the bus back to the car
We parked so far away (one freeway exit away, in overflow parking) we got to take the school bus shuttle. JT was in heaven.
Meanwhile, Isaac just posted the video today in honor of Valentine’s Day. That’s Jim’s Grandpa Kenny and Grandma Eileen right from the start. We are the E and S in YES in the letter cards! When the kids watched the video, when JT saw the picture of Grandpa Kenny in the military, he said, “There’s my dad!” (Don’t cry, Cathy…) It was sweet. You can see Haley for just a second in the pink coat in the top left of the screen when the 35 great grandchildren start running. But don’t look for JT… he was busy sulking and cold on the other side of the field, all by himself.
The Keene Family 