Fun with Family

My children are not lacking in the extended family department. Besides having the perfect number of grandparents (4), they also have 1 great grandmother, 5 uncles, 6 aunts, and 16 cousins.

I enjoy seeing the children interact w/ their various family members. Because I love my children and I love my family, it's nice to see them getting to know each other. In May my little (as in younger AND shorter) sister, Sandra, came to visit us for a weekend. Usually when the children have seen Sandra it's been in a new environment w/ lots of other people around. So this time they got to interact on their own turf, w/ more individualized attention. Over supper we told them some riveting "How Aunt Sandra broke her arm the first, second, and third time" stories, in addition to "How Uncle Sid almost killed Aunt Sandra the first, second, and third time (unintentionally, of course)". All very exciting tales, indeed.

Here we are at Dollywood (that's Claire on the right side):



And then after we ate at Brumley's (a fantastic Sunday brunch buffet place):



Then this past weekend we went to my parents' house for the Fourth of July.
In addition to visiting w/ Grandma Sandy, Grandpa Louis, and Grandmother Louise, they also got to spend some quality time w/ their Uncle Sid, Aunt Tina, and cousins Sidney, Lincoln, Rachel, and Prairie. Sid and Tina took us thru the woods to see their beautiful new house (not quite finished).

Claire and Rachel w/ Uncle Sid:



Feeding the goats and donkeys (and mosquitoes) w/ Grandpa Louis:



Having some sort of cousin convention:



Claire "helping" Grandma Sandy in the garden:




Every year there is a neighborhood pool party and potluck at Papa Henry's house on the 4th. This is the second year I've gone since Doug and I got married (we went just about every year while I was growing up). We went a little early so the children could swim for a while w/o lots of other squirmy little bodies splashing and screaming around them.




On the night of the 4th, we went to Tina's niece's house to watch fireworks and enjoy some ice cream and yummy blueberry cobbler (made by Tina's sister, Brenda). We headed back home on Saturday after having lunch w/ Sid and Tina and crew at Fatz Cafe. By the time we got home, the children were exhausted (and so were Mama and Daddy).