Arizona

We had an extremely fun weekend with the Roe family! It was so nice to get all the cousins together, finally meet cute little Dominic, & see Uncle Pup's new home. Thanks so much to Mom & Dad for the nice room & to Cody & Purvi for providing us with our own private rental car! We enjoyed being able to have a place to spread out, enjoy the nice pool area & partake in the daily happy hours!
We spent Thursday at a neat train park where the kids were able to burn off lots of energy. That night Grandma & Gramps offered to keep the 5 grandkids in their room for the night so the big kids could have a night on the town. We thought they were crazy, but once the offer was on the table, we weren't letting them back down!! It was much appreciated as we had a night out in Scottsdale with awesome food, loads of bevarages & a lot of laughs & good times. All 5 kids were even sound asleep when we returned!
Friday we took walks, enjoyed the weather, shopped & headed to Ryan's new place for a cook-out. He fixed quite the yummy spread for us & the nieces & nephews enjoyed the playground & playing in his backyard.
Saturday morning we checked out the Farmer's Market in Old Town Scottsdale & then watched Jaya's t-ball game in the afternoon. She looked adorable in her uniform & it is hard to believe she is big enough to be out there playing ball already, and even harder to believe she'll be starting school this August! That night Cody & Purvi hosted a fun cook-out at their place. Rory & Carrie, two of my cousins that live in the area, were also able to join us. It had been years since we had been together & it was so great to catch up, meet Jason & see Kierstyn, Ellie & Evan.
Sunday morning Cody & Purvi happened to be joining a new church & Purvi & the kids were being baptized. We feel fortunate to have been in town and been able to share this day with them. Their kids are absolutely adorable, and looked especially sharp all dressed up for church! We enjoyed one last get together at TeePee's Sunday afternoon & then headed back east. We had such a fun time, but our days passed by too quickly!

Story Time

Boo at the train park

Jaya, Filson, Grandma, Sophia

Dominic & Ian

Fun on the train ride

Old West playground

Purvi, Dominic, Cody, Jaya, Brittany, Ian, Gramps

Ready to dive into his cupcake from the Farmer's Market

Jaya ready for action

Dominic, Cody, Filson, John, Sophia, Grandma

Little Buds

Gramps & Sophia

Bubby

Go Jaya!

My Big Bro, still sporting the shirt I loaned him over 10 years ago

Filson & Dad swimming at the hotel

Brittany with the newest great-grand, Evan Liasko (8 wks)

Brittany, Carrie & Evan

Rory, Cody, Ryan, Brittany w/Evan & Carrie w/Ian

Papa & Meme with the restless boys

The Fam

Filson trying to break into Uncle Cody & Aunt Vi's casa

Too Cute!

Sweet Sophia

Fun in the Sun

Filson's buddy Carter spent the morning with us yesterday & it was a great day to get outside & burn off some energy. We are lucky that he lives right up the street & also has a baby brother who is Ian's age. These guys play great together & I'm sure will be into all kinds of trouble in a couple years. And yes, it's almost noon & Filson is still in his pjs. I think it was about 4pm before he finally agreed to get dressed yesterday!Looks like I caught Filson in the midst of an ice cream headache!Baby Finn (Starr & Jenn's boy) stopped by for a visit, too! Ian was cranking that wheel hard, trying to go cruising in his jeep.

A few pics of the boys playing on Thursday. I had Ian dressed for story hour & Filson decided he wanted to match his brother. I tried enticing him with 3 other shirts, but he was insistent on the yellow! He's beginning to be an opinionated little guy.

Serenading his little brother

Fun with the Cousins!

We had an exciting weekend with our family coming to visit. Saturday morning James spent the last day of his 30s by participating in the Azalea Triatholon on the UNCW campus in Wilmington. It was a great morning to be out & fun to get to cheer him on to the finish line. That afternoon Mimi, Neil, Riley & Garrett arrived to help celebrate. We missed having Kim & Jensen here, who were at a soccer tourney in SC. It was a lot of fun to see all the kids interact together & we all had a great time, it just went by too quickly. The last two mornings Filson has asked "Where are my cousins?" as he obviously is missing them like crazy!

Uncle Jimmy-James
The Clark Family after the race

Little Ian, the youngest of the bunch, was showered with attention

And the night was just beginning.....

Holden, Garrett, & Filson

Noisemakers were a hit!

Ready to PAR-TAY!

Riley bonding with her Godfather!

Ian & Uncle Neil

Mimi handing off the lizard she caught for Reece

Filson & Reece