Sunday, July 17, 2011

What would you do if you had a million dollars?

I’ll tell you what I’d do, man. Party with two sets of quads at the same time, man. That’s what Chris Goerlich and I decided to do a couple of weeks ago as our wives’ quad mom group planned their third annual quadmom vacation. Chris emailed me because he was taking his kids north to visit Mari’s family and their trip happened to roll right through Wichita. We made a quick weekend party of it. Here is how it went down.


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(L to R on the step): Finn, Cohen, Sophia, Pius, Forrest, Noah, and Laine. Danna in the front.


The Goerlichs rolled in here around 5 p.m. Friday night. There was all of the normal sniffing and feeling out that goes along with 3-year-olds. They stayed pretty close to their own siblings the first night. The Goerlich quads have met other sets of quads before, but this was the Graf quads first rodeo. They were so excited to see and meet them.


We decided to have them all have a “slumber party” in the Grafs’ bedroom. As the Goerlichs are veterans of this situation, they handled it very well. The Graf boys also did very well with it. Danna, on the other hand, screwed it up for everyone. She is usually the last one asleep anyways, but now she had four more 3-year-olds in the bedroom to terrorize. I felt like I had an infant again because I had to go into the room about 4 times through the night because Danna would wake up screaming. It wasn’t a fun night time for us dads, and I can imagine, for her roommates either. Amazingly, though, we survived.


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This was their cluster…err…sleeping quarters for the two nights.


On Saturday morning we took the 8 man crew to my cousin, Ashley, and her husband, J.D.’s swimming pool. We rocked it for a couple of hours over there, and mine were so excited at first because I actually swam with them, too. I am terrified of water for myself as it is, but when I add my four toddlers to the pool my anxiety level goes even higher. So normally, I sit on the side and count to four…CONSTANTLY. All 8 of the kids have puddle jumpers and have become very good at “swimming” so it wasn’t bad. We had a blast, and it worked really well because they were all wiped out and took a nap so we didn’t have to battle Danna again.


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Taking a break from the pool for some snacks.


Saturday evening we grilled out over here. I made “spicy burgers” for the adults, and chicken and hot dogs for the kids. They all ate really well and they stayed up pretty late driving our four power wheels cars around. What was really cool was that as the day went on, the kids started to interact with each other a lot more. The kids had a ball playing with each other throughout the day. Saturday night bedtime went a lot better so it was a good end to a good day.


100_0600 The Grafs and Goerlichs attacking Stubby on Saturday night.


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Dinner time!


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Pius and Finn cruising the back yard.

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Danna watching Cohen and Forrest.


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Chris finally figured out how to make the fire truck go. Add a dude on the back.


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Pius doing his best to charm Sophia. After they left Sunday afternoon, Pius and Laine started fighting about who Sophia would sleep next to the next time they came over.


Sunday morning we rolled out of bed, ate some breakfast, played with the powerwheels/in the basement for a little while and it was time for the Goerlichs to continue their trip. It was one of the coolest things I think I’ve seen. My kids interacting and playing with another set of kids that they had a ton in common with. I know Moni always says that those girls are her best friends and she is so thankful she met them. In this last year, as I’ve got to know each of the couples more, I’ve really started to feel a bond with all of them, too. How lucky for us to have such great friends that we share a pretty unique trait with:)



8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes it was a wonderful experience. I must say to Billy and Chris, you guys amaze me! You are absolutely wonderful parents! As for me, I could only handle it for about an hour. Chris, we really enjoyed spending time with you and your beautiful quads!
Grandpa Stubby
P.S. 1ST TO POST! CHAMPIONSHIP!

EMO said...

How fun!!! I loved the picture of Mike covered in Quads. hahaha

Goerlich Quadruplets said...

We too had a Great time hanging with y'all and getting to know each other better this weekend. I can't believe there was a pic of Finn not driving...those power wheels were like crack for my guys. I'm craving one of those spicy burgers and cauli-shroom goodness right now. I enjoyed kickin it with your fam and enjoying ice cold BL (maybe too many). Thanks again for letting us invade your Casablanca, drain your batteries and tornado your playroom.
Ps. Longest comment wins:)

Goerlich Quadruplets said...

Casablanca? Darn autocorrect! It is a house of love though

Anonymous said...

I had a blast hanging out with two amazing sets of quadruplets! And Grandpa Stubby said it 100% right when he said that you two are amazing parents! Those kiddos have got some fantastic daddies!! Sorry I passed out on you two on Friday night! Your kids wore me out! I can handle four easy smchmeezy...but eight! Whoa! That is a different story! That Octo-Mom must be pretty awesome, lol! And Mr. Goerlich...I think I may have taken over longest comment! WINNING!!!

Love, Auntie Lainie

Anonymous said...

Dang it! They are pretty close...I might have actually lost! Losing :(

Oh well! Great post, Billy! Love ya! Auntie Lainie!

Charity Donovan said...

Greatness! How fun! Glad you dudes had a good time! Safe travels Goerlich's! Give that beautiful wife of yours a hug for me!

Stephanie said...

What an awesome weekend!!
I'm pretty impressed yall managed to take pics too ;)