Summer 2012

We've had a wonderful summer so far.  We were able to visit my family for the first time since before we went to Germany.  It is so wonderful to be accessible to family again.  We were able to have our first family reunion together.  We took tons of pictures of each other for posterity.  All the kids got to know each other so well that they were acting like they were related by the time we left.  I think there were even a couple of arguments.

I wanted to post a few picture before I forget.  I probably have a few hundred but here are a couple of highlights.

Here's the reunion family photo.  I went through them all and this one seemed like the best.  I had to find one where my kids, Patrick not included, were looking at the camera and smiling.  In addition, I had to make sure I was paying attention and not adjusting a baby or looking weird.  And in every photo, there's Holly, looking perfect.  I have to say, you are fabulous Holly, but I'm just a teensy bit jealous of your photogenic self.

Here we all are posing with my Dad's current obsession.  It's a Cozy 4 home built. I hope he can come see us in it when it is finished.  Even I can admit that would be awesome.

Here are all the kids playing in their favorite watering hole.  It turns out that all you need for fun is a big  pile of sand and running water to entertain children of all ages for hours.

We went to Centennial Park with Holly, her kids, my mom and Heidi and took a little stroll under the waterfall on our way home.  The kids loved it of course.  I wish we would have worn some better footwear, but it turned out fine.  Steve was even able to find a geo-cache.

The kids climbed up on some rocks and posed for us.

And like I said, there are hundreds more, but here are a couple, and if I make time, I will add pics of Patrick's first birthday and the coolest fort ever that my dad started building for the grandkids.  I think I might have some box hockey pictures too.