Kelly & Parker Visit

At the end of June my sister and niece came to St. Louis and we had a fun-filled extended weekend!  They arrived Thursday afternoon and we went to our house to relax.  It didn't take long at all for the kids to become the best of buddies again.  Charlie and Parker were even paying more attention to each other this time.

 We got out the water table and they had a fun time watering the neighbor's tree, one drop at a time.

Parker wanted her shirt off after Jack took his off.  Monkey see, monkey applies to cousins as well apparently...

Crooked shades!

Friday morning we loaded up the troops and headed to Grant's Farm.  Grandma and Grandpa met us there along with our friends Jules and Adam (& kids).  We rode the tram, fed the goats, rode the carousel, watched the bird show, ate lunch and sampled beer.  Pretty much all the standard Grant's Farm activities.

This is a little blurry, but you can see Jack & Charlie waving to Grandma & Grandpa

Friday evening we ate dinner at my parents' house and just had a low key night there.  The kids played on the neighbors' slide, a little bit of baseball and of course trains.

Saturday morning we hit our neighborhood pool.  Sadly it was our first visit of the season - we need to take better advantage of our neighborhood amenities!  The kids loved jumping in off the side and walking in the shallow end.

Saturday night was another low key night at our house.

Sunday morning we went to a playground near our house.  I don't have any pictures so you'll have to take my word for it.  That evening my parents hosted a family get together so our aunts and uncles could see Kelly and Parker.  It was a nice night and great to see everyone.  There was baseball with Uncle Steve...

 Puzzles....

 Coloring...

 Playing games on Aunt Kelly's iPad with Aunt Jean and Aunt Patty...

 Relaxing time with Grandpa...

 And of course romper room time on the bed....

The next morning Kel and Parker headed home.  We had a really nice visit with them - each time gets more fun with the kids playing together and therefore harder and harder to see them go.  We'll be heading to the ROC in September, so until then we'll have to settle for phone calls and Skype sessions.

Lake Trip

The following weekend we had our annual trip to the lake with my parents' friends and all of their kids (and now, grandkids).  We've been taking this trip every year of my entire life, and it is fun every single time.  Of course, the long weekend has changed quite a bit from the pre-kid years when we would head out on the boats mid-morning and spend the entire day on the water relaxing and drinking, get back to the condos around dinnertime, stay up late, sleep in and do it all again the next day.  We now spend a lot more time at the pool than we ever used to and we plan our days and nights around naps and bedtimes, but we still have a great time every year!

This year was special because three of my four oldest friends had new babies for us to meet!  Laura and Paul brought their 10 month old twins, Tommy and Alex, all the way from San Francisco; Jules and Adam brought their 4 week old baby Lucas (and Evelyn, who is Charlie's age) from Chicago and Steve, who lives in St. Louis, brought his new little guy Collin (and Ryan, who is also Charlie's age).  We were missing the 5th from our little group, Angie, who moved back from England a week later, so she missed the lake trip this year.

 Charlie fell asleep on his first boat ride...

Tommy & Gretchen:

Alex:

 Alex, Jack, Joan, Tommy Eisel (there are two baby Tommys) and Gretchen

Another boat ride:

 Hanging out in the condo (and holding hands for a split second):

  Charlie wearing Jack's crocs....on the wrong feet.  We discovered that weekend that Charlie can say crocodile ("da da dile").

 Feeding fish with Grandma and Grandpa:

 Attempt at family picture