the lake

that's where we spent the afternoon today.

the kids LOVED it.

cooper slept almost the whole time we were there....
the rocking of the waves must be soothing.

and maria could have spent another couple of hours on the water without any problem.

marco & maria checking out all the other boats on the water.



ria & i watching our wake.



my mom got ria to help her clean... the boat hadn't been used in a while so it was dusty.


(cooper is in this pic too!!! sleepin' away in his car seat)

bapa letting maria drive the boat. she LOVED honking the horn.



getting in the water...

first we just dipped our feet in...



then ria & actually went for a swim.
(the others thought it was too cold.... pansies!)

she is a little fish. loves being in the water.



although now that i think about it she may like the getting in the water and then climbing out
...and then getting in the water and then climbing out
..and then getting in the water and then climbing out... etc.

on the way in to the docks we had the radio on and ria was so funny walking up and down the middle of the boat dancing to the music.

it was even a little funny when she pee'd on the floor...
i guess swim diapers weren't meant to hold everything!

Pigs

We went and saw them today at the park.

Maria was mesmerized and wanted to keep going back.



Then she got on the slide and didn't want to leave that...
and THEN we found the tractor.



Here she is driving the tractor... it doesn't have a steering wheel so she pretended.



and here she is looking at an airplane, which may or may not trump the tractor.



Cooper started the trip to the park like this...



Then he woke up a little more....
He's got some big, bright eyes...



Then he got all happy and started talking & smiling up a storm...

Saturday Activities

The day started off by some of the family going to finish cleaning up wedding stuff... and the rest of us met up with them at the city park in Lynden.

Swings and slides were enjoyed as well as the little creek that runs thru the park.

Here's TJ & Marco posing. Check out the muscles!



Then we got some lunch and headed over to Edaleen for ice cream! Yum!!



Naps were enjoyed by many and then the slip and slide came out...
and we're not talking about some store-bought slip n' slide...
this was a mondo- even the adults can enjoy themselves- slide











Maria only went down a couple of times.... the rest of the time she looked at us like this...



Chad and Rachel really got things going...







... and you had to be careful...



... 'cause sometimes if you really got going....



... you could end up in the ditch like Rach did...



Baby Eden spent part of the time in the bouncy chair, much to her dismay.



and I'm pretty sure we all ate from the garden...



Hayden & Kayla sure had a fun time....



Oh, and by the way bubbles are a MUST with slip n' slides!!

Later we had a BBQ & fire...

TJ chopped the wood



Maria had a dinner of chips...



& the rest of us had hot dogs & hamburgers....

I love family visits.

I sure am going to miss them when I'm worlds away.

The Wedding

My lil' sis is now Mrs. Brooks.

Her wedding was beautiful. I only have pictures from when we first got there... then life with 2 kids set in and Cooper was hungry while Maria wanted to be held or run around like a 2 year old... I'm just glad that I was actually there, in the audience, for the actual wedding.

Here are some pictures of the decorations...





A friend of ours did a bunch of vinyl "stencils" for us and we etched about a bazillion glass jars.

I think they turned out GREAT!!











Here's Kayla as the flower girl...



and her big brother Hayden...



Here are my two men...



and here's Ria teaching Eden how to pole dance...



Here's cousin Dawn (who was one of the Bridesmaids) with Eden.... I swear, that girl had babies attached to her hip... none of which were her's.

Kayla's owies

This is Kayla.



She is an ultimate sweetheart!
She was feeling bad because she burnt her hand. She touched the exhaust on the 4-wheeler.
I took a picture. She wanted me too. It distracted her from the pain for about 5 seconds.

What is this??

Need a close up??



Mayonnaise.

My mom comes down stairs and says come and check this out...

A HUGE jar that they got at Cash & Carry for the wedding went splat.
Luckily it didn't get my Mom's dress for the wedding which was hanging on the armoire just to the right.

Let the festivities begin!

These two were So excited to see each other.

I don't know what ria's going to do when she's in Honduras and her beloved Ninny is in North Carolina!!