RTS Families BBQ

Tom and I were privileged to host a get-together with three other families in the area who also have kids with Rubinstein-Taybi Syndrome. Since RTS is pretty rare, it's exciting to get together with other RTS families and compare notes.

The first picture shows the stars of the show: left to right, Riley (9), Julia (5), Natalie (2.5) and Hannah (6). Thanks to Catherine for the great picture!

The next picture includes the siblings who came: left to right, Allie and Riley, Lukas and Konrad, Julia, Natalie, Alexa holding Keira (Julia's siblings...you can just make out Keira's blond hair), Olivia holding Hannah.

We had gotten together with Julia and her family before (parents Steve and Catherine, sister Alexa) and today met her little sister Keira for the first time. It was great to meet Hannah's family (Ted and Yonga and big sister Olivia, and Riley's family (dad Bill and big sister Allie) and get to know them a little bit better.

It was fun to see our kids interacting and getting to know each other too! Here Natalie is posing with Bill and Riley. Natalie had a great time clapping with Bill this afternoon...Bill didn't stop clapping with Natalie, which is just what she wants!

Julia showed Natalie how to swing the pool toys (shark and dolphin) on the swing, and Allie and Olivia joined Natalie in chalk drawings.

Natalie got Alexa to clap with her while she played on the slide, and Olivia led Natalie and Hannah in many rounds of "Patty Cake", much to their delight. It's cute how similar Natalie and Hannah look, with their glasses and their hair fixed exactly the same way!

I had to throw in a picture of Keira by herself, since her whole head didn't seem to make it into any other pictures, and she is such a precious little girl!

We were especially delighted with Allie and Olivia, and appreciated how helpful they are with their younger siblings, and how at ease they were with all the other kids.

It was a great day, and we need to do it again soon!