Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Of Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins

One of the things I love about living in Atchison is being so much closer to our family. After living more than eleven hours away from them for three years, it is pretty fantastic to be just an hour away from our parents, and even a few siblings. 

This past weekend we were able to spend a lot of time with Ben's sister, Amber, and her family. I always neglected to bring my camera when we were hanging out with them. Just picture in your mind a room full of grown ups and older cousins watching the Olympics and then a house full of a dozen or so kids running around, chasing dogs, playing outside, eating Oreo cookies, and just having a grand time and you've pretty much nailed it. 

Today we were able to spend some time with my sister, Michelle, and her kids. And guess what...yep...she is just about an hour away. Most of the time Michelle and I meet somewhere in the Kansas City area, and today was no exception with a trip to Crown Center, dinner at Fritz's, and fun at a splash park. 

I love that Connor, Sophia, and Elinor (to a slightly lesser extent) are getting to know Michelle's kids this summer. 

Here are some fun photos from the day. 

We had lunch at Fritz's. You order your food on the telephone and then a train that runs along the top of the restaurant brings you your tray of food. Cheesy? Yes. Awesome? Definitely. 

 After lunch we hit a splash park. Connor was testing the water pressure. 
My nephew (blue swim shorts) splashing around. 
Connor finally gets a chance to use the water gun. They really need to add more water guns to splash parks (this is a universal problem) and also make the water guns less likely to splash parents who are sitting in the shade on the side (may not be a universal problem, but is a problem anytime my kids are playing with the water guns). 
 My nephew again. I think by this point they were all freezing to death because, you know, it was only 90 degrees instead of 105. 
 Little miss Sophie splashing around. 
 My niece. Could she be any prettier? 
 It is hard to tell, but all four of them are actually in this picture. 

We are looking forward to many more moths of living so close to our family and many more opportunities to do some fun cousin activities. 

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