COUSINS!

Oh man, we had the best visit from Kaden and Sadie! Let's not forget Grandma Lewis, Uncle Joe, and Aunt Sara :) We're sad we live so far away and don't get to see these guys more often.

Where should I start?

Sawyer burst in to tears the day before they were leaving and told me he wanted to go with them on the airplane. It made me cry too! We miss everyone terribly.

Sawyer got to stay up late to go with me to the airport to pick up our highly anticipated visitors - we were all so excited! They walked like this, hand-in-hand through the whole airport with wide grins. They even got to play a round of hide and go seek in the parking garage while we found the van.

Grandma and I were in charge for a week while Sara and Joe went on a 'business' trip to Dominican Republic, for a good cause - Viva Kids. First order of business was to throw a party for Kaden's end of school year, since he missed out on his by coming to visit us. We made angel food cake and played games in the backyard.

Kaden organized the games - Jack wasn't very cooperative, but we still had fun.

Jack was content once he stole everyones' party leis.

Bubbles are always fun.

Jack, taking the party to a new level.

Every day included some form of water (pool, beach, hose, spray bottles, swim lessons etc). This helped keep the hot and humid days of Florida at bay.

Kaden is a fish! He would spend hours diving for the torpedos. He helped me master back rolls. He's a great teacher!

Lots of picnics at the beach, pool, and porch.

We hid an egg with a candy in it each day. The kids never let us forget. By the end we were letting the kids hide the eggs for each other.

Enjoy some photos from their visit.

Canaveral National Seashore visitor center.

Bowling!

Jack enjoyed bowling - as long as it was only his turn, ha!

Go Sadie!

Do not mess with Kaden - he's a serious striker!

We went to the zoo.

I'm pretty sure the giraffe licked Kaden's head!

Pretty cool to feed a giraffe.

The bird feeding is a frenzy - they land on your heads and pretty much attack you for the goods. We had some frightened kids.

I see a goat in this kids future.

Jack and Auntie Sara climbing around - they have a great kids section at the zoo.

The kids wanted to do a cookout, but the weather kept messing things up (afternoon/evening thundershowers). So we did an indoor cookout...way less work and lots of fun! S'mores in the toaster are pretty tasty. Sara created the centerpiece of fire.

Beach time - sunshine, sand, and salt water are a great combo :)

The wave jumping crowd!

This kid always steals my sunglasses, but he won't keep his own on.

Aunt Sara watched all the kids so George and I could go out for our 5th anniversary.

This is how we found them when we got home. Look at them, totally heart broken that we'd left them :)

Hot and sweaty hiking!

I love this photo of Grandma Louisa and Sawyer - great smiles :)

The county has a nature park just a few blocks away with lots of great little trails and a visitor center with a hands-on area for kids. It was so nice to cool off in the a/c after hiking through the heat and let the kids explore.

We visited George at Bristow - he gave us up close tours of his 'office' aka helicopter.

Sawyer and Jack flying the helicopter together - a very real possibility in their future!

So many buttons!!!

Lots of reading - Kaden is a fantastic reader. It was nice that he could read to the younger kids.

Here he is reading one of my favorites with grandma. Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright.

Wouldn't be a get-together if we didn't bust out the geotrax train track!

We got to see Uncle Joe for a minute (ok, a day) on two different occasions. We snuck him up to St. Augustine to visit Castillo de San Marcos - this fort started being built in 1672. Joe is a history buff so it was fun to visit this area with him.

These guys shot a loaf of bread out of the canons for us.

 We also got to visit Joe at his hotel in Orlando and swim in the pool. We love you Jojo!

After the kids were in bed, Grandma whipped out rhubarb pie and canned us some rhubarb sauce - she's the best!

We had non-stop fun. It really was nonstop, and we all got worn out! Haha. Sometimes we played so hard we would find kids passed out all over the place. One of the days I was making lunch and Sadie came in and climbed up to the bar and put her head on the counter. I told her she could go lay down and take a rest. Without a word she went and laid on her bed...I checked on her 3 minutes later and she was fast asleep. We played hard and it was so fun.

Sadie nappin' at the pool.

I love my sister!

WE LOVE COUSINS!
Thank you so much for coming to visit us. We loved being with you xoxo!