A few of our favorite things

What a blessing that my sister lives in the mountains and has a guest apartment, and Tom's sister lives in another vacation community 10 minutes from the beach and she has a guest apartment too! We wish we lived closer to each of them...we would visit more often...but we're thankful for the time we can spend with family.

Of course, Lukas had been asking how many days until we visit Aunt Patrice, then how many hours, then "are we there yet?" We arrived Friday afternoon, and the kids played in the wading pool before Patrice took Lukas to visit Lowes for his ritual pilgrimage. They returned with a new tool box full of plastic pipes, wheels and other small items of hardware for Lukas to create things.

Saturday we went to the beach in the morning, where Natalie loved having the waves lap at her feet. Lukas found smooth rocks on the beach, washed them, and made a fort. Lily, the French Bulldog, helped dig the moat. Konrad crawled and dug in the sand before cuddling up with Aunt Patrice.

Afterwards, Ryan let Lukas play his drum set (a great reminder for me that we need a bigger house before Lukas gets his own) and showed Lukas how to play Super Mario and a few Wii games. It's hilarious to watch Lukas take over 8 minutes to drive around the three laps of a computer race, because he's constantly overcorrecting. Actually, it's not hilarious...it almost gave me motion sickness!

Then the best part...Tom's other sister, Chris and her husband Jim came over, along with Patrice and Patrick's neighbor and distant relatives Solange and Bob, for a fine dinner of a medley of German sausages. More people for Natalie to clap with! Bob caught a picture of all five of The Happy Ones...we don't take enough pictures of our family all together!

Konrad's new favorite thing is to pat someone at the base of the neck. I think he figured out it makes a clapping sound, and here's Aunt Chris trying to teach him to clap with his two hands together...Natalie is anxiously awaiting a new, properly trained clapping partner! I had to throw in a picture of Konrad just smiling, because that's what he does best.

Both mornings, Lukas woke up before we wanted to get out of bed, so he went out to make a "fountain" with his new pipes from Lowes. Here's his creation on the second morning. Natalie had fun reading with Daddy, and she especially enjoyed chasing the two cats and the dog. One of the cats actually let her pet it a few times, which Natalie loved.

Sunday, Tom went sailing with Patrick in his boat. Patrice drove Lukas over to check out the toilet on board and pose for a picture with Dad before they cast off. Here's Patrick raising the sails.

Patrice brought Lukas back and we had girl talk while watching the kids all afternoon until the guys returned. Natalie loved feeding Lily, and she got pretty good at understanding "Natalie, this food is for you" and putting it in her mouth, and "Natalie, this food is for Lily" and offering it to Lily.

Then we came home. What a relaxing weekend...even better than last year! It's wonderful to make such fun memories and look forward to the next time we visit...or the next time they visit us!