August Reunion

Mila is staring at me while sitting on the sofa.  I can't resist taking a picture of those big brown eyes. 

 In August, we had the pleasure of her company along with her daddy, Uncle D and Uncle Lam too.  Mara and family stayed with Papa and Curly.  Aunt Lene and Uncle Jack were banished to a hotel after what happened the last time they came for a visit. ;-)  Even our cousin Mike joined the party for a few days!  I am ashamed to  say I don't have many pictures from the week.  Uncle Lam has a fancy camera so I let him take most of the pictures.  Now I need to hunt him down before he goes back to Vietnam so I can have some copies.

This is our nephew Maxwell.  This was the first time we met.  He just turned 1 so we had cupcakes together.

Look at that face...Oh my...he is beyond cute.

Cole is Maxwell's big brother.

(Why did I just type that?  Do I think we'll forget how we are all related to eachother?  Mara...here is a picture of your first son Cole...he is Maxwell's big brother, did you know that?)

We all took the train to old town. Taking a train with a big group all meeting at the train station can be a bit tricky.  Cory almost missed the train on the way down. He used his super human speed to run across the tracks with a stroller and a baby at the last minute and just made the train.

On the train ride back this Irish gentleman we know almost started a brawl while trying to get off the train and I had to use my super human strength to hold the train door open so Uncle Jack could jump off before getting stuck on the train to LA.  I love a feisty Irish man who stands up for himself!

Aunt Mara treated the kids to some personalized license plates...Old Town had everyone's name...impressive.

Here is my Rock Star brother in law looking tough while blowing bubbles.  He is currently playing a few shows in Boulder with Colin Robison.  He also is hangin' with my current favorite singer/songwriter Gregory Alan Isokov.  Seriously, he is hangin' with him, like staying at his house and everything.  If you have access to iTunes, go download his album This Empty Northern Hemisphere and play it on a Sunday morning over a cup of coffee.  You can thank me later.  OK...back to the reunion.

While in Old Town, Keith's parents took us to the Mormon Battalion.  They have an interactive talk about some of the Mormon History and how they fought for our country.  It was very well done and impressive.  Sam really got into it but was disappointed to find out we were not really going camping with shotguns...it was just pretend.  I had no idea my son would be so quick to sign up to fight for his country.  Nice but I hope that is never, ever, never the case.  The kids also had a chance to pan for gold.  Really fun and not heavy on talk about religion so it really is enjoyable for all to go to.  The entire experience is free and it was the highlight of the Old Town trip.  (Except for maybe the pitchers of Margaritas Aunt Lene, Keith and I managed to put down at the restaurant.)

Here are the kids on our favorite Hike in Torrey Pines...they are looking for dinosaur bones in the sandy cliffs.

Elise thought is was pretty hysterical that she decided to run through the waves with all her clothes on.  She didn't care that it meant riding home cold and naked. She thought it was definitely worth it. 

We had so much fun with the fam!  Papa and Curly worked their butts off feeding this crew. 

 Thanks Papa and Curly for all your hard work pulling this reunion off!