Cousins at the Museum

Brad’s cousin and her family came out to DC recently and we met up at the Air and Space Museum downtown. I didn’t get many good family photos as we were wandering and chatting and looking at stuff instead, but we had a lovely visit with them and enjoyed the museum together. Here are some photos that did turn out nice.

Heading down there by Metro. It was COLD out that day!

The most awesome thing about this cousins picture? These kids haven’t seen each other in forever, they were both small last time, yet, not only were they dressed almost alike, they took to chatting like old friends who just saw each other the day before.

Brian taking a break in a chair, and the girls taking a break by wall-sitting.

Funnily enough, I ended up going back to the same museum a couple of weeks later with Brian’s science class. At least I knew where to find the various exhibits!

R&R Wrap up

What can I say? R&R was quite full this year! We really had an amazing road trip. I suppose that I’d best quit with this saga though, before I run into next year’s allotted space. Besides, I haven’t touched on the most important bit yet. This vacation wasn’t merely for fun on the road, the primary goal was visiting family, and we were able to do plenty of that too.

We visited most (not all, sorry :(  !) of Brad’s extended family as we made our way through Oregon and down the California coast, but after Monterey, we headed inland to visit the kids’ grandparents, and more family, for several days, after which we flew to Oklahoma to visit my sister and her family too. For the most part, hang around and visit is all that we did, and it was simply wonderful to see everyone again.

I have a ton of photos and I’m not going to share them all because unless you know me, you’re not going to recognize anyone anyway! I will share some of my favorites though.

Brad and two of my nieces demonstrating the ‘sit around and visit’ niceness of this vacation. Hi Rachel and Annalyn, we miss you!

Anna, Honor, and someone’s foot. Honor and Anna have always hit it off well, and we often see them like this, heads together and chatting.

All of the kids spent a ton of time swimming. I love this photo of Brian. I didn’t take it, so it must have been the work of my assistant photographer Sveta!

I also like this photo of Brian and his Uncle John. Brian loves to spend time with his uncles, and it’s no doubt because they are so willing to devote time to him. My kids are lucky to have such good family!

We had a wonderful time with Grandpa and Grandma too. Honor and Anna share a game of Rummikube with Grandma.

Honor missed our kittens, very much(!), and was thrilled to have Grandma’s cat, and her cousins’ kitten to love on.

Here’s my assistant photographer! Miss Sveta asked if she could take some photos for me, so I handed her my camera and asked her to please make sure I had a lot of good pictures of everyone. She did a wonderful job. Thank you Sveta!!

My sweetie and his brother. I am so happy that we got to spend so much time with Jeremy this trip, and even had time to get to know his girlfriend better.

As a matter of fact, we were able to get all four brothers together at the same time this trip… it’s always a blessing when that happens!

Speaking of getting everyone together, here’s a shot of Brian and Honor with all of their California cousins!

(To all my wonderful nieces and nephews – I’m sorry if I did not have an individual photo for you. I had to pick a handful… but if you ever want to share a story or photo as a guest writer on my blog, I will publish you because I love you and am very proud of you! Love you all, Aunt Connie)

After hanging out with the California cousins, the kids got to go torture their ‘big’ cousins in Oklahoma.

“Hurry Brian! I got him!”

Whoops! This is not going to plan!

Nick was very patient and they all had fun. It was actually tough to take clear photos as they were goofing off so much and moving too fast! I had a ‘matching scowl’ photo of Nick and Honor that would have been wonderful.. except for all the blur… sigh..

We went out to dinner several times with my sister and her family. Nick and Kira and to work, but we saw them when we could. We also spent some time conducting some classic expat business – school supply shopping, clothes shopping, replacing phones, etc. We also had our annual eye exam… we’re all doing pretty good, thank goodness, but we had to get two new sets of glasses for Brian. That kid is tough on frames! He takes care of them, but sometimes forgets to, say, not catch the soccer ball with his head.. that sort of treatment is hard on glasses!

Photos of the Oklahoma cousins:

They have so much fun together!

Nick and Kira – love you two also, and miss you very much!

Saying Goodbye to California

We spent the majority of our time in California visiting with family - as it should be :-) We also did a bunch of back-to-school shopping. Not notebooks and folders really, although we did get backpacks and water bottles, but shoes and clothes (on sale!) and other items that are hard to find or more expensive on-line. My biggest pet peeve is packs of socks! You know, the 10-pack of plain white socks that you can find anywhere in any department store? Not available on-line :p So, we stock up during summer visits.

We also spent a bit of time being sick - not recommended for any vacation, of course, but it usually cannot be helped. We did a bit of restaurant and grocery store tourism as well - good beef, good tex-mex, etc. I like that our summer vacation coincides with Chevy's watermelon margarita season - wow, those are yummy! The kids like to have cereals they do not usually have access to (like Cookie Crisp!) and other goodies we cannot get at home (like Taco Bell bean burritos!). Good thing we stay busy during vacation or we'd pack on serious pounds.

We made the trip out to the bay area to visit one of Brad's brothers and his family. Unfortunately, that is when the stomach bug got Honor. Brian had been free of symptoms and fever-free for over 24 hours, and Honor showed no symptoms, so we thought we were 'clean'. Nooo.... She was good for the drive and that evening, but she (and Brian) started getting wild/cranky at bedtime - overtired kidlings. Brian and Honor were to share an air mattress in the living room, but there was room for me to lay between them for snuggles to help calm them down. We all crashed out! Brad tried to wake me to go to bed later, but by then, I was actually comfortable and didn't want to move. Good thing. Honor woke me early in the morning by throwing up - very neatly, but it was good I was there.

She was sick for the next 48hrs. She was in clingy, but good spirits, but she was very fevery and she couldn't keep anything down - if she moved, she threw up. She and I spent a lot of time snuggling - she needed lots of comforting - and cleaning up. I didn't get many pictures. I didn't do a lot of visiting either... we tried to quarantine ourselves as much as possible (couldn't leave because she couldn't move, but we didn't want to get near the baby). At least Brian got to play with his cousins - he's a good 'big brother' - and Brad got some time with both of his brothers in the area. By the time Honor started feeling good enough to move, Brad started turning that pale-green color we were becoming too familiar with. We got on the road anyway - yea, we were that red Ford Edge stopped on the side of the road... I was lucky. I got the 'just queasy' version of this particular bug.. of course, it hit as we were flying from California to Denver, through rough turbulence, but I made it.

Here are some pictures of our trip to the Bay area:



After our return to Brad's dad's place, I took the kids off to visit his other brother and family one more time the next evening. Brad was too ill to travel, but Honor had been fever-free for about 24hrs by then. I wanted to give them a chance to say goodbye to the other batch of cousins. The kids played a bit when we first arrived, then Uncle John came home from work and took a handful of kids off to the waterslide near their home. Brian and Honor had never been on a waterslide before. Brian LOVED it. Honor thought it was fun, but scary. She rode twice. I think that if she had more confidence in her swimming ability, she'd have liked the slide better.



We had a lovely visit with everyone in California - Love you!!

CA family - missing you already

Here are a few more photos that I especially liked, I might have more as I am still sorting:

My nieces Anna and Julia started their grandpa's birthday off right by cooking breakfast - great pancakes!
My sweet nephew William had been saving up hugs for me all year - I was spoiled by all the attention.
Jonny and Honor were usually inseparable - I believe they'd been off on a pretend shopping excursion through the house here, and had arrived to unpack their 'car' - and Dennis was fascinated by what they were doing.
I love this picture - I took it as Dennis crawled over to join the play. Dennis wanted to see what they were taking in and out of the bag (pretend food and other 'shopping'). The bigger kids just made room for him - naturally and without prompting - and let him dig right in to their gathered toys. Very sweet.
Dennis lost interest in his brother and cousin as soon as his Daddy walked in :-)
Annalyn helping in the kitchen - what a beautiful smile!
I was looking through my pictures trying to find one of my sister-in-law and her new son - I guess I never got one!! I take lots of pictures, but I am quite random and disorganized about it. Thank goodness she blogs and I can get a pic!! I love this picture though. Christine in the kitchen, surrounded by kids who are helping to serve up dessert. It is homey, warm and inviting - which is, of course, perfect :-)
I think there will be a keyboard in our future. Honor was determined to play! Thank goodness that her grandma could help her learn a few tunes.
Honor and grandma loved puzzles too.

Flashback to Arkansas

We've made it to DC - after multiple airline delays - and we are staying in an extended stay-type hotel. We'll only be here a week, but I thought we'd more comfy in a place with a kitchenette. We've been busy visiting friends and goofing off the last few days and I haven't been doing computer stuff. Thought I should go back and share some pictures of Arkansas. My sister and her family took us from Oklahoma to Arkansas to visit our parents' graves, and the cemetery was set in some beautiful country.

Brian and Honor enjoyed spending time with the 'big cousins'.
Hillside next to the cemetery.
Look at this beautiful big oak tree!
View from the gravesite - very pretty and peaceful.
Looking out from the entrance to the cemetery.
They took us to see a parcel of land they own in Arkansas. We had a nice walk around their property. I miss seeing so much green! It was very refreshing.

For dinner, and to celebrate 3 birthdays, we went to a Japanese steakhouse for dinner on the way home. Honor wasn't sure what to do with chopsticks.
Brian and Kira try to figure them out.
Honor snapped this photo of the cook flipping her rice dish in the air - the dish is a blur, but I think she caught a good expression on Brian.
She was a very tired girl.
We had a great dinner, and had cake at home later.
We had a great visit with you, and miss you very much already!