Cousin Time

Living on the opposite ends of the country (Florida and Alaska) my cousins and I did not have the chance to form the same kind of bonds that Wade and his cousins did. But for all the distance we have always gotten along fantastically whenever we have had the opportunity to be together and this trip was no exception. I am excited to think that we have given our four children a chance to start building friendship that will hopefully last as long as the ones we have forged.

THE GIRLS:

The two girls took to each other and were fascinated by each others pacifiers. Kelly was at least 3 inches taller than Jade and at this point in age 4 months makes for an incredible difference in motor skills. Jade tried to keep up with everyone and learned by watching EVERYTHING that Kelly did.

Here they are enjoying dinner together. I put Jade a little to close and she grabbed Kelly's plate and threw all her food on the floor - one of the many moments that made me miss Piper and Vega :)

THE BOYS:

A quiet moment while the boys watched a little WALL-E. One night while the kids were having a game of chase around the house Slater stubbed his toe, sweet little Ryan thought that watching a little WALL-E would make it better and of course he was right. Ryan is very verbal and it was fun to listen to his thoughts on everything.

The boys in action! Slater never did quite get "bRyan's" name right. We have a good friend (who Slater loves) named Brian and while Slater emphasized the Ryan part he never dropped the "b". This was the normal state of the boys - going, going, going. We didn't get any lake pictures of them :( since it is hard to juggle kids and camera at the lake.

This is the only photo I have of all the cousins together. Tammi and I are first cousins (my mom and her dad are siblings). This makes all the little ones second cousins. Ryan is about 2 months older than Slater and Kelly is about 4 months older than Jade.