You’ll Indulge Me For A Day… Won’t You?

I’m just waking up from a solid night of sleep after a very busy, yet very fun weekend away for the weekend.  We had the rare opportunity to spend the weekend with family- both old and new!  We got to spend time with my wonderful grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, soon-to-be-cousins, and maybe someday down the road cousins. Really, it was a wonderful time.  But what captured me the most this weekend was the pure joy in getting to play the auntie this weekend.  I found myself in that rare position of finding that for the most part, my own children are old enough to take care of themselves when plunked down into a group of other children. So they spent the weekend running themselves ragged and playing with my children, while I got to take a little time and get to know some of my nieces and nephews better.

Here we have some down time after a bit of an owie…I think Zander was getting a bit tired himself, and was only to happy to play along with cousin Kara on the DS.

Here is my sister Rachel with her strapping young lads.  They weren’t even supposed to be here this weekend, as they live a bit of distance away.  But she packed them up and made a surprise appearance anyway, and it was fantastic meeting my new nephew for the first time.

There was plenty of water fun behind Uncle Bob’s boat- the tube was out for anyone who wanted, and skiis available for the truly brave and daring.

While Abigail went for a few tube rides and a few boat rides, Zander kept his feet firmly attached to shore until the very last hour we were there, when he decided that maybe playing in the water would be a fun thing.  Crazy boy. He could have spent all weekend in the water!

You can imagine how excited Grandma was to have all her grand-babies together for the weekend.  It was a rare moment when she didn’t have a child nearby- and she even lucked out with the differing nap times to get them all gathered for one group picture.  There will be another cousin added to this photo in late September or early October.

The whole weekend was full of whatever we wanted to do, whenever we wanted to do it.  There was always someone to catch up with and visit with, there was plenty of hugging, and way too much eating.  But I have to confess, even with all the food and cousins and activity, there was really only one thing I could have done all weekend long…

Seriously.  How could you not want to just snuggle this cuddlebug all weekend long?  I tried- it’s a shame he had to be shared.  😉