We were able to spend time with Jon's brother and sister and their families this last weekend. It was so much fun to watch our children play with their cousins and remember what it was like to play with my cousins.
Ever since I can remember, my family was invited to my grandparent's house (on my mom's side) just about every month to celebrate all the birthdays that would occur in that month. This is one of the things that I've always cherished about my childhood: the fact that we lived near our extended family. This is also one of the things that I hated about living so far away for those seven years we were in Minnesota.
Now that we are around more family, it has been so delightful to get together with them and watch our children's relationships with their cousins blossom. One of the benefits we have is that our children are pretty much younger than Jon's sister's children ... her youngest is Kate's age. So, Jon was able to say, "Watch your Allen cousins all weekend. I bet they never tell their mom and dad, 'no' when they are asked to do things." :)
We had a great time just hanging out, swimming in their pool, and of course, playing Settlers of Catan (we started out with all the expansions and then because of a time constraint, we decided to play with only Seafarers, and Cities and Knights added to the original game). It was a blast! We never did finish our game, but some of you might be interested to know that Jon was winning.
It was such a great weekend, and I loved every minute of it ... especially the triple date we got on Saturday when all the adults went out and the teenagers took care of the little ones. Despite all that this rollercoaster ride has been (moving to Arizona), I am so grateful we came here so we can be nearer to our family.
Comments