A visit from the East Coasters

Aunt Bekah and cousin Rosie came out to see us in June. We had beautiful weather and enjoyed some fun in the water and at the beach. The boys love their little cousin, and are always talking about how cute she is.

The babies loved playing in the sand...

D.C. visit

This spring, we took advantage of the introductory sale on Alaska Airlines' direct flight from Portland to Washington, D.C. and hopped on a plane to visit cousin Rosie (oh, yeah, and her parents).

Cousin love...

 

 

 

 We ate amazing food the whole time, of course...

Pizza on the roof overlooking Capitol Hill...

 

Easter with cousins

For Easter we headed over the mountains for a little cousin time. As usual, the kids had a great time running around and having a great time - it doesn't matter how long it's been since we've seen them, they always just pick right back up where they left off. Nine kids = a LOT of noise and craziness but it's worth it. 

Here's the biggers dying Easter eggs...

Out for self-serve frozen yogurt....

The littles checking each other out...

Lots and lots of cousins!

The cousins have been here quite a bit this summer and we've packed lots of fun into their visits!

Wacky Bounce

Gilbert House

Splash! Wave Pool

the zoo

 We also gained two NEW cousins this summer!

Levi

Rosie

 

All the cousins on dad's side

The Zoo: 2011

Last month we embarked on a trip to the zoo, which has become an annual tradition for the boys and their cousins.

We saw some pretty birds:

Some ugly hippos:

 

A bald eagle:

And some monkeys:

 

Oh wait, we brought those.

Family time

A few weeks ago Matt's grandmother came to visit, and his cousin and family also came down for a day. We went to the AgFest, which is a neat little event at the fairgrounds where kids can go do farm things, like hold baby chicks, pet rabbits, dig for potatoes, plant things, and most importantly, burn lots of energy. They were very rarely still enough to even take photos.

Gramaidi with four of her great-grandchildren

Didn't matter that it had been more than six months since we had seen the cousins, they just picked right up where they left off - they love cousins!

An adventure

Last weekend we went on a little three-day adventure--or, as those of you without small children might call it, a vacation--to Washington. (Our definition of vacation requires sleeping past 7am at least once, and dining at a restaurant without getting up three times to take someone to the bathroom. Neither of those happened on this trip.)

Both boys were very excited, and Silas spent two days before we left talking about the "special swimming pool." They did pretty well on the car ride to Great Wolf Lodge, which only took a couple hours.

This is actually the only photographic evidence I have that I was on the trip:

The boys had a total blast at Great Wolf Lodge, which consisted of numerous water slides, a wave pool, a hot tub, and a kiddie pool area, with fountains and water spraying everywhere.

They didn't end up being allowed to use their water wings, but this shows their little "cub den" with bunk beds where they got to sleep:

After one very sleepless night we took two exhausted boys for another short car trip to Seattle. A stop at Seattle's Children's Museum gave them a break from the chlorine while still getting the chance to run out a lot of energy.

We spent the next night visiting our good friends the Dukes, who also have two little boys. Four boys under 4 made for lots of running, jumping, yelling, and pillow fights. It was great to see them again.

On our last day we stopped to see cousin Chase:

Then we made the five hour trip home. They were a little antsy on that one, but I am very proud to report that Titus stayed dry the entire trip--we are diaper-free!