Weekend in Review

You know when you look forward to something for weeks, and then it comes and is gone much too soon? You wonder where the time went? My amazing sister-in-law came to visit for the May long weekend, and she brought three of her adorable children, and the new man in her life, C. First of all - huge kudos to them for even WANTING to make the 8 hour trek out here to see little ole' us. It's not only a long drive, but a boring one. Nothing much to see except prairie and more prairie. Somehow, they survived AND made great time, arriving here a couple of hours before dinner time on Friday. We were SO excited to see their truck driving up. The kids were *almost* as excited as I was ;)

One of the first things I noticed was how BIG O and J had grown. I hadn't seen them in over a year, and you know how little tykes grow like crazy in that time. T pointed out how much my JJ and her J looked alike, and I couldn't believe it. I snapped this photo of the two of them, which doesn't really show the resemblance, but really - these two could be siblings. Crazy. They are so much alike in many other ways, too - like their dramatic facial expressions. JJ is 6 weeks older than J - twins, I tell ya.

Mr. O was hilarious, but OH so grown up. He reminds me so much of his dad. He had fun playing with the FEW boy toys he could find at our place. Poor kid. But, he never complained - just had a blast playing with Bayboo and B. I even got to have him in my Primary class on Sunday, which made my day. He is one smart cookie.

The only day of sunshine we had was Friday, and we didn't have much of it left to enjoy! So, we drove to the Legislative building to have a nice walk around the lake and let the kids get out some of that pent up energy from the long drive out. While the older girls played on the swings, these guys tried to make the teeter-totters work. Bayboo and Mr. O balanced pretty well, even with Miss B hanging around in the middle.

But, it was way more fun to have C see how many kiddos HE equals :)

I think if JJ had joined in on the kid's side, it MAY have finally been heavy enough to balance him out. Maybe not :)

TJ and S had fun on Friday, catching up and giggling... a lot. They have been writing back and forth (through email) and have really become a lot closer. Friday was a good day. We won't talk about Saturday. All I'll say, is TJ turned into a little brown-eyed monster child. That happens when you stay up chatting until 11:30pm, then get up WAY too early the next morning. 'Nuff said.

It was so awesome to see T. We've only seen each other once or twice in the last year, so seeing her here, looking amazing, looking happy, being goofy...great stuff. She's been through a lot in the last year. We love her. Big time. So great to have you, you diva.

And we all loved having Mr. C, as well. First time our family has met him, though Lyndon and I met hm briefly a year ago. He's friendly, polite, funny, talented, and seems to treat T very, very well. We all thought he was pretty great. Oh, and did I mention - he cooked for us? Vietnamese to DIE for, people. Seriously. I can't wait to try making his recipes later. Don't worry, I'll share :)

We stopped for ice cream afterwards, which is always MY favorite part of ANY outing ;) The kids cooperated nicely by lining up against the way next to the nice homeless man, who - as O points out - had a wallet FULL of money. Wish I were homeless! ;)

Mr. J really loved his ice cream cone. He took his time with it - really enjoying every, chocolately moment. Too bad he lost half of it on C's leg. Maybe that's why he cherished every last dollop of ice cream.

I had the strawberry/vanilla swirl soft serve. It's so creamy and good. I loved it a little too much, I guess. Just squished the heck outta that cone.

The rest of the weekend was spent at the museum, at church, and just general hanging out thanks to gale force winds and rain, rain, rain. The kids wasted time watching movies, playing with toys, and playing on the computer together.

Us grown ups ate, talked, ate, played cards, ate, napped, and ate. We averaged a 1:30am bedtime each night, which always makes for a family of happy campers the next day (hence, the napping). We talked about anything and everything and got to know each other better. I discovered how similar C and I are in many ways, and we enjoyed poring over many of their Europe photos, though I wish we could have seen more. Just ran out of time! It was a whirlwind, and then they were driving away. We loved having you - it was wonderful. Now we only have to wait about 6 weeks until we see them again. As well as the rest of our family! I felt homesick as I watched them drive away. It's hard not having family nearby. We miss you already and can't wait to see you in July!